First letter - Introduction

Holy Thursday, 24 April 2008

May the Lord help you my dear, my name is Jovana Radovanovic, I’m in the 5th grade of primary school and I am an A student. I’m 10 years of age, and will soon reach 11.
I live in Kosovo with my parents and my two younger sisters.
The city I live in is called Orahovac and is the only enclave in the Metohija area.
Orahovac is a divided city, the Albanians occupy the larger part of it and have all the preconditions for normal life, and we, Serbs, live on a little piece of land which covers only 300 meters of free territory. Yes, you have read it well, 300 meters of free territory. That is the Serbian part and that is where we live. Power cuts are frequent and it happens that my sisters and I have to do our homework by candlelight. When there is no electricity, I often come up with some new game or a story and time passes more quickly. We cannot go out to the street, because we are endangered by the evil people who are walking across the Serbian part. In the centre of the Serbian part there is a church dedicated to the Dormition of our Most Holy Lady Theotokos. There I pray with my sisters and my parents that the Lord may save the Serbian people in Kosovo and Metohija and throughout the world. Father Velja Stojkovic serves the liturgy. After the divine service Father Velja always invites people for a cup of coffee and a glass of homemade plum brandy so that everyone gather, talk and share their concerns. The church is surrounded by barb wire set up by the KFOR for the sake of its safety. In front of the church there is a huge tank; KFOR is here day and night to protect the church. Life in Kosovo is very difficult, but still we manage to survive with the help of the Lord. The most difficult thing for us is the lack of freedom of movement; as children, we feel this most intensely. I am deprived of my childhood which is devastated. This applies to every child in Kosovo; we don’t think about the things that children should think about, how to play and deal with the childish cares. This is something that the children from Kosovo, especially from Orahovac, have not been doing for a long time. We are concerned with other things. Here every child thinks in the manner of an adult, that is how the life has taught us. Often when we have guests from Serbia they talk with us about different things and they notice our behaviour and admire us. Then I feel really nice since due to talks and songs for a moment I forget who I am and where I live and then I’m very happy, but this doesn’t last for long, because our guests leave soon. Then I’m very sad and when the bus leaves, I raise both of my hands and wave to them with all my heart, and so the bus goes away and we are left behind with the same sorrow, same pain and same desire for freedom. And it goes on and on for all these years…

For the time being this is enough about me, I’ll write about something else on some other occasion. Many greetings from Jovana Radovanovic from Orahovac. May the peace of the Lord be with you.