Education Serbia Project #17206

Support for Children in Flooded Areas of Serbia

by Pomoc deci

Project Report | Feb 9, 2024
Sad Memories

By Pomoc deci | Pomoc deci

Milica with her grandmother, 2014

Dear friend,

Do you remember the flood in Serbia that happened 10 years ago?

Some of us may forget about it, but those who survived it, they still remember.

Milica and her grandmother survived it, lived in a collective center and were wondering when they would have a home again.

When Milica was twelve, she survived the terrible trauma when she lost everything during the terrible floods that hit Serbia. She was living with her grandma and both of them had sad times watching everything they had was lost in the flood.

Milica and grandma were in the collective centre in Krnjaca, with many people who lost everything. Milica was one of 20 children who received stipends for the whole school year from Pomoc deci.

To be able to do that, we were supported by many people around the world who knew the importance of providing for children who are vulnerable or are in a situation that made them vulnerable.
From June to August 2014, we were travelling across all the flooded areas and were making lists of children who needed assistance for the coming school year, we contacted schools and preschools to see if their children would be able to continue the education in their buildings or would have to temporarily go to some other schools and were collecting stories and needs of those most heavily affected by the floods.

Now Milica lives alone, and needs support to finish her studies. Her grandmother is not there anymore and Milica is still fighting her flood trauma. She is also a big winner, just a little to finish studies.

Help us support Milica and other children that are survivors of the floods to achieve their goals.

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Oct 15, 2023
The Best in Us

By Ljiljana Vasic | Pomoc deci

The Best in Us

Djurdjina is a second-year student at the Faculty of Traffic and Engineering in Belgrade. She came to Belgrade to study from Krupanj, a small town near Loznica city. Big floods hit her town in 2014. That was when she and her family became homeless. Like all families who experienced this, they went through a very difficult period, not only financially, but it also affected them very much on an emotional level. The flood and losing a house left them with an indelible mark.

Despite all that, when arrived in Belgrade, Djurdjina entered two universities, decided to be a hard-working student to make it easier for her family.

And really, Djurdjina`s effort gave her family the strength and joy they needed to go on, to feel proud of her, wanting to continue and live better. Even as a first-year student, Djurdjina achieved the right to free education and the right to a student dormitory, where she still lives.

Moving from a small town to Belgrade was a big challenge for her, but the desire to fight and succeed was stronger. Now, her family is waiting for her to become her person, with a university degree. When speaking to Djurdjina`s parents, when mentioning her studies, they have a smile on their faces.

They were lost after the floods, and say that it wouldn`t be possible for them to support Djurdjina`s education, because they lost home, all their belongings, their gardens, sources of income, jobs. They are thankful to us, for providing Djurdjina`s opportunity to fulfil her potential.

And we are thankful to you, for supporting her education with your donations. Seeing her proud, successful, cheerful and motivated makes us want to do even more for all children like her, who are ready to show the best they have and make our society a better place.

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Jun 23, 2023
A Letter from Bojana

By Ljiljana Vasic | Director

Good luck, Bojana

Dear friend,

For the first time, we will share with you a letter that we received from Bojana, the girl that lost her home during floods in 2014 in Serbia. When I was calling her a few days ago, she said she will send us a letter of gratitude. It was seven p.m. and she was still working on a field collecting raspberry, doing probably one of the most difficult work you can do in the field. You are almost all the time on your knees, or in a squat, and you are picking something so small, very gentle not to flatten small raspberries. I didn`t know that. Bojana told me. This is a letter that Bojana sent:

“Dear Pomoc deci,

You may remember, the floods started on May 14, 2014. The rain was falling and carried everything before it. I was 9 years old, while my sisters were 8 and 6 and the youngest one and a half years old.

We were scared. Our father and grandfather barely saved us from the house that we lost in the floods the same day. The water was tearing everything apart and caused landslides. One day life was normal and the next we were left with nothing. It all happened when I was little, but it was difficult and those images remain in us today. The thought of it makes us cry. It's so hard to stay without your home and everything in it.

The scholarship that I was receiving all these years meant a lot to us, and not only to me. We live with a father who is very ill. Every dinar is precious to us, because dad has to pay for medicine, then for every check-up, and they are so often. It was very important for me, because I could also buy things I need for school from the scholarship. In the summer, I go to collect raspberries to earn extra money for my younger sisters and myself. I am excellent at school and just several days ago finished high school. This is my diploma. My next step is to plan how to enroll in a University in Sabac city where I can continue to study economics.

If you stay with me, it would be so much easier for me, knowing that I really have a chance to make this plan into reality.

Yours Bojana”

This letter made us sad and happy at the same time. We will really do our best to support Bojana and many other young people to take a path to education and life that they wish to have. Even small your donation can change someone’s life, and when it is a life of a young person, it is investment in the future, for sure.

Yours,

Pomoc deci

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