UNMIK ON AIR

PRIEST IN MITROVICA

By Zoran CULAFIC

29 July 2003

Hello and welcome to UNMIK ON AIR with….

Mitrovica south – the Serb population here is almost as small as the number of Albanians north of the Ibar River. Only 15 Serbs remain in the southern part of the still bitterly divided town. Amongst them, Sveta Nojic, who retired this month after 40 years as a priest in the Saint Sava Orthodox Church in south Mitrovica. A tiny house in the churchyard has been home to Sveta Nojic, his wife and two daughters for 25 years – and for the last four years, they’ve lived under 24 hour protection by the Greek KFOR.

Arned KFOR soldiers continue to escort Serbs from northern Mitrovica for Sunday liturgy, says Father Nojic, but the numbers have fallen off sharply, he adds sadly. Only 3 Serbs showed up last week, and the priest is worried that this will only exacerbate the emotional and mental no man’s land his people have been living in.

Sveta: In an ethical and moral sense, we are at the bottom, so low, we can’t fall any more, or else we will be buried alive There will be no better days for our people until we return to the faith, to tradition, until we return to what makes human beings human. Without that, there is no future for us, and how long it’ll take I don’t know, maybe 5 years, maybe 10 … 20 years, and 50 years.

Sveta Nojic doesn’t have a high opinion of politicians, the current flock of Serb politicians are all the same, he says, whether they are from the Milosevic regime or the new democratic set-up – the majority, he adds, are only interested in manipulating the people.

Sveta: As you can see, our Serbs just quarrel with each other, accusing each other, fighting … instead of seeing the reality, they only think of how they can break each other’s neck. They care for people only until they get into power. There is a popular proverb – oh my people, oh my strength, oh my people, oh my cattle. Until they get to power they say - oh my people, oh my strength, they promise everything … but right after that they behave according to the second part, oh my people, oh my cattle. They don’t give a damn, until the next election, and I have to say, you cannot say which one is the worse.

Father Nojic did once have the option to stay on in the beautiful mountain resort town of Brejevitsa, where he ministered for some 15 years. But Mitrovica obviously got under his skin, and there was no question of leaving, either to go north of the Ibar, or to get out of Kosovo altogether.

And so for the past four years, the Nojic family, which includes two daughters in their mid thirties, have lived behind barbed wire, under constant KFOR protection. An abnormal situation for anyone, but how much more for a 34-year old woman? Slavica Nojic, the younger daughter.

Slavica: Maybe it’s funny, but I don’t know anymore what normal life is, when you live four years like this, you get used to it, you get accustomed to it and so this became a normal life for me. I do miss the freedom, to decide alone when I go out, to organize my time, but I can’t. Everything is linked to someone else, whether someone can take you out, then you feel free, then you can make friendship … if he cannot escort you, you remain behind closed doors. Something like being under house arrest, I don’t know what else to compare it with.

KFOR soldiers escort her each morning as she travels to her job in northern Mitrovica, and when they bring her back to the church house in the afternoon, there’s an end to her social life.

Slavica: I think it’s sad that young people of my age live like this. I can tell you a fact, a tragic-comical story in fact. I have been out, in the town or in a restaurant less than 10 times over the last four years in Mitrovica That tells you how normal life here is, especially for young people.

For Slavica’s mother too, the thing they miss most is freedom of movement, to at least be able to leave the house from time to time.

Slavica: We’ve lived for four years like this, like in a prison camp, behind barbed wire. We look outside just like prisoners look through their window. Albanians are happy, they walk, look around, got to shops, markets … just across the street, there is everything to buy but we never even thought to go there.

As for us, it depends on us whether we have something or not. There is a small garden here, so always we have vegetables and some fruit for everyday use, strawberries, cabbage, parsley, tomato, and carrots … so we make do with what we have and stay here, taking care of the church of St Sava.

Sveta Nojic has little bitterness. He prefers to remember Mitrovica the way it was before and the way it could in the future, a truly economically vibrant and multi-ethnic city.

Sveta: Do unto others, as you would have them do unto you. Then there would be peace and unity on earth, paradise on earth. If we take care of each other, if we forgive each other, if we respect each other, help each other …

And there is happiness in forgiving each other, in not being spiteful or to take revenge or to offend each other … all that is part of the spiritual wealth we all unfortunately lack.

Retired he may be, but Sveta Nojic clearly still has a lot to contribute.

That does it for this edition of UNMIK ON AIR. Thanks for listening.