My Expedition in Serbian Vlach Country

My birthday was a few weeks away, Nov 7th, and I was searching around for somewhere to go. I was so very close to booking a flight to Tirana, Albania. That might sound like an odd choice since I’ve been a staunch Serbian supporter for all these years, but I really wanted to meet some Albanians on their home turf. You shouldn’t judge a whole race by the acts of a few freaks on Youtube and Facebook. 🙂 It was time to open my mind and go for something adventurous.

Well, that all changed because of the video I made showing my support of  Kosovo’s denial into UNESCO. I received some very scary, nasty, and threatening messages from Kosovo and all over Albania. What was I going to do now?

Eastern Serbia is a region that I haven’t had many opportunities to see. It’s filled with some ancient historic sites, beautiful mountains, canyons and untouched forests. It’s also home to a minority group here in Serbia that has always interested me…… Vlachs.

 

The Vlachs were totally unknown to me until about 2 years ago. Vampires, spirits, magic and superstitions have always interested me.They are big believers in all of them.

The Vlachs are a minority group that are spread between Serbia, Hungary, Ukraine,Croatia, Macedonia, Albania, Greece and Bulgaria. According to the 2011 census, Serbia has roughly 35,000 Vlachs who mainly reside in the Bor and Zajecar districts of Serbia in the eastern part of the country. They have a separate minority council and are represented in the population censuses as a separate ethnicity. The language spoken by the Vlachs consists of two distinct Romanian subdialects spoken in regions neighboring Romania: one major group of Vlachs speaks the dialect spoken in Mehedinți County in western Oltenia, while the other major group speaks a dialect similar to the one spoken in the neighboring region of Banat .The majority of them follow the Eastern Orthodox faith.

I hadn’t had the opportunity to befriend any of them until last year. One of the students, Marko Radojkovic, signed up on our summer work and travel program last year and we became fast friends. I worked with him a lot on his English and how to get through the U.S. Embassy visa interview. He told me when he returned from the USA, he would take me to see how the Vlachs live in his hometown of Majdanpek.

Majdanpek is a little town of 7,000 folks nestled in the forests and hills of eastern Serbia. The town is famous as a copper mine district, since the early 17th century. The origin of the name is based on words majdan(related to Turkish madän, mine) and river Pek – mine on river Pek. Throughout its history, mining development was held by many foreign owners (Czechs, Belgians, Austrians) , and was extensively exploited. Today, it’s controlled by the Russians.  The town was industrialized in the mid-20th century, by the industrial program supported by SFR Yugoslavia’s Government of that time, and the personal influence of J.B.Tito (marshal and lifetime prime minister since the end of WWII until 1980). He once referred to it as “The Golden City”.  Through the late 20th century, the town was in a period of industrial progress and one of the most developed areas in copper mining and metallurgy.

I took off work for three days and decided I’d spend it at his place on Friday, and Saturday and Sunday in Donji Milanovac. I met Marko at the bus station in Belgrade early on Friday morning. We boarded the 8:45am bus to Majdanpek. It’s a long trip (3.5 hours) as the roads are not very developed and the bus stops in all the little towns along the way. Marko brought along a little bag full of snacks and a little bottle of homemade rakija, dunja mixed with apple, that made our ride a little more bearable. The bus ticket was only 1300 dinars ($13) for a round trip ticket and it was surprisingly empty. We took up the the 5 seats in the back of the bus and chatted about randomness for the entire ride to Majdanpek. The worst thing about Serbian buses is the lack of a bathroom. You need to make sure you take care of business prior to boarding or you have to ask the driver to pull over on the side of the road. 🙂

 

Marko told me a lot about the creepy tales of some of the places along the way. We passed this little abandoned house along the way that was known to be haunted. They say that people can hear a baby screaming late into the night from the depths of the old house. No one has been able to stay in the house for an entire night. It would make a great episode of Ghost Hunters.

 

We finally arrive into Majdanpek. The surrounding area is amazingly beautiful. There are untouched forests with a spatter of farm houses and abandoned homes. My first impression of Majdanpek was how massive the  mine that’s located right beside the town was. They say it’s one of the biggest copper mines in Europe. It’s currently owned by a Russian company and is one of the biggest employers in this region.

 

The town of Majdanpek is surrounded by forests and almost every single resident lives in an apartment complex. You don’t see very many homes at all. We jump off the bus, grab our bags and head to his family’s clothing store that’s right in the center of Majdanpek. There’s a lovely little church right in the center.

The town has a downtown area that’s at the bottom of the hill and an uptown area that’s on the top of the hill. It’s no wonder we didn’t see many overweight folks, because it’s a workout to go from one side to the other.

We meet up with his mother at her lovely little clothing store. She’s a very cheerful and welcoming woman. We grab the house keys from her and head up to his apartment. The apartment is a charming little thing that has been remodeled with care. The mother had some hot Vlach pie waiting for us in the oven. It was delicious! It was made with layers of crust with meat and cheese inside it. We ate till we couldn’t eat anymore, showered, drank a coffee and waited on his parents to get home. They had a surprise for me!

The father and mother arrive in a big yellow van that they use to haul their clothing from Belgrade to Majdanpek. We grab our stuff and jump in the van. They still haven’t told me what we are doing, but we stop off at the tourist organization in the town center. A tour guide hops in and we are on our way to some surprise location. The tour guide is a middle aged lady who speaks English very well. She accidentally mentions something and I know where we are headed, Rajko’s Cave! This is the one tourist site that I had really wanted to visit in Majdanpek, but they had told me it was closed for the season! 🙂 We were going to have a private tour of the cave!

 

Rajko’s Cave is a nature lover’s dream!  The total length of the cave is 2.304 meters while the tourist path is 1.410,5 meters. Air temperature is 8 degrees Celsius and relative humidity is 100%. The cave consists of two physically separated caverns: an underground river channel and a spring cave, both of which have two floors. A series of attractive groupings are found in Rajko’s Cave: The Egyptian Goddes, the Snail, Stump with Mushrooms, Sleeping Bear and several cave halls. The Rajko’s cave has the highest quality of cave ornaments.

According to a legend, Rajko’s Cave was named after a leader of “hajduks” (outlaws fighting against the Ottoman rule) Rajko, who attacked and robbed people on the way from Donji Milanovac to Majdanpek and hid his prey in the cave. They say the area has been ripe with treasure hunters who have dreams of stumbling upon the riches of Rajko.

 

The guide takes on an hour long trip through the depths of the gorgeous cave (video available here). She fills us in on all the facts and mysteries surrounding the cave. I’ve been in numerous caves in my life, but this one takes the cake!

 

They tourist organization and Serbian government have done a great job making this cave tourist friendly. They have beautiful lighting in most areas and pristine walkways and stairs in all the locations. Rajko’s Cave is a must see on any visit to Serbia! You won’t be disappointed!

 

We depart the cave to explore the surrounding forests and hills. Marko’s parents and the guide head back in the van while Marko and I decide to walk the 3-4 km back to Majdanpek through the dense forests. The area around the entrance has some bbq pits and picnic tables for all of their summer campers. We sip some of the water that’s pouring out of the cave depths. The water is cold and refreshing and very clean!

 

November was a great time to come to this part of Serbia. The trees were an amazing array of different colors! The pictures do it no justice. We wander around this large lake that’s a few meters from the cave.

Marko tells me more legends of the area while we walk up this big hill surrounded by thick forests and layers of orange leaves. I’m hoping to catch site of some of the Vlach witches! 🙂 There’s an episode of VICE Serbia that shows some of the strange customs of the old Vlachs that was filmed right around this area.

They show how some of the Vlach magic believers hang doll heads throughout the forest to rid themselves of evil spirits so that’s what I wanted to see. Well, I would have probably crapped my pants if I had, but it sounds good to say now. We reach an old wooden fence in the middle of the woods where there are bits of clothing wrapped around many of  the little trees. 😮 We don’t know what it was for, but it spooked me a bit. A little later, we run into an old farmhouse up on a hill. There’s an old man entering into his gate with some wood on his back. I wanted to speak to him, but thought better of it.

We continue on our mission and run into this old bridge that’s made out of broken slats of wood. I’m glad Marko knew about the loose slats, because I would have fell through one or two of them if I had been alone!

We come out of the clearing by the Majdanpek high school and one of the biggest indoor swimming pools in Serbia. It was built during the Yugoslavian times for the Yugoslav National Swim Team to practice in. They don’t have enough money to keep the water heated in the winter months so it was closed. The high school is in very rough shape. There was spray paint and broken windows on many portions of the building. It was Friday evening so school was out, but there was a group of kids sitting on the front steps of the school. We walked around back to see this large monument that Tito had built. It had a large open space in front and seating for some kind of outdoor speeches or performances. The monument was in a similar condition to the school. It had been spray painted on, busted in a few places, and wasn’t worth much of a look.

The sun was rapidly falling and dinner was ready so we headed back to Marko’s house. Momma had prepared a delicious Vlach meal for us to eat. It was something called vlaski kacamak. It reminded me a little of cornbread-like substance that you place on a plate and then spread this thick, delicious stew of peppers, pork, and sauce all over it! It was terrific! I ate more than I should of while chatting with the family.  Marko had to do all the translations so he was starting to get a headache. 🙂 I hear that from a lot of people who aren’t used to speaking in other languages.

Time to head to downtown to check out the nightlife. We didn’t want to stay long because we had to get up early to explore a few more things and then head to Donji Milanovac. We took a long, easy, downhill walk downtown which was nearly empty for a Friday night. The thing I noticed most was the lack of cafes and bars. The majority of Serbian towns have a trillion of them, but not Majdanpek. We stopped in one of them that was pretty full. Marko’s cousin was in there so they chatted away for a bit while I sucked down a couple beers.

I saw this little kafana type place on the corner with a bunch of old men in it and told Marko that we had to go there. The old, places are usually some of my favorite places to visit in Serbian towns. I never go alone, but since he was with me we headed inside. It was a lot nicer than I had expected. We watched a little bit of Rocky I on tv, chatted with the waitress and threw down three or four beers.

It was time to head home. Marko didn’t want to catch a taxi which are only 70 dinars in Majdanpek so we walked the whole way uphill! It just about killed me, but didn’t seem to phase him. 🙂

The parents had my bed made for me and I crashed for the night in the home of a Vlach.

Continued in the next article……. If you want to see the video I made of this first part of the trip, click here.

 

 

Serbia… Land of Billionaires

Yugoslavian money

It isn’t everyday you can move to a country and be surrounded by former billionaires. Serbia is one country that can boast that fact. Almost everyone that lived in Serbia during the 1990’s can brag about not just being a billionaire, but a MUTLI-BILLIONAIRE!

The U.S.A and other world powers love to put sanctions on “unfriendly” countries. It is usually the first step in punishing a nation for not abiding by their rules. This is a disgusting act that leads to mass starvation, shortage of life saving equipment, supplies, fuel, and it seems to punish ONLY the regular civilians. It also leads regular hard-working people into committing criminal acts just to feed their families!

During the 1990’s, Serbia was the heart of Yugoslavia. Yugoslavia was made up of Serbia, Montenegro, Slovenia, Macedonia, Croatia and Bosnia. Slovenia was the first one to declare its independence. The world was reacting to the fall of the “Iron Curtain” and the break up of the U.S.S.R.  There were some very brutal wars fought in this part of the planet to preserve the Yugoslavian lands.

N.A.T.O decided it would be best to slap on sanctions. For those of you not familiar with the term “sanctions” , as a noun, it means a threatened penalty for disobeying a law or rule. It keeps other nations from trading with them and keeps them from providing any financial assistance to them and keeping the “sanctioned” country from gaining access to its international funds. The majority of countries are drastically harmed by this act, Serbia included. Many of the families I have had the pleasure of talking with survived by smuggling gas, cigarettes, clothing, food, etc from their neighboring countries. This also lead to something called hyperinflation. Hyperinflation is extremely rapid or out of control inflation. There is no precise numerical definition to hyperinflation. Hyperinflation is a situation where the price increases are so out of control that the concept of inflation is meaningless.

worthless money

Many of the Serbian families worked very hard during this time in their history. Once they received their monthly pay they would rush to the store to use their paycheck before prices would skyrocket. I was told that many families would work all month and only be able to buy a few loaves of bread! 😮 Can you imagine???  If you ask many of them how in the world they were able to raise their kids, they will just shrug their shoulders. Many of them would share and trade what little they had and help their neighbor. Maybe you were good at fixing cars and your neighbor had a lot of tomatoes. You would fix their car for a bag of tomatoes. I think this is what has made Serbians the tough, unflappable people they are today.

Hungarian bill.. Largest ever recorded

The highest record of inflation was in Hungary held the record for the most extreme monthly inflation rate ever — 41,900,000,000,000,000% (4.19 × 10¹⁶% or 41.9 quadrillion percent) for July 1946 amounting to prices doubling every 15.3 hours.Yugoslavia ranks 2nd on the all time list with prices doubling every 1.4 days  See the chart below.

Highest hyperinflation

This  lead to bills in the billion dinar range! 😮 It looks and sounds good to have a billion dollar note, but when it won’t buy a loaf of bread it looses all of its glory!

500 Billion Dinars

It sounds like I am surrounded by a country full of Warren Buffets, but life was hard. I can sit here and imagine the stress that was put on all of these Serbian families during this time. They survived and continue to survive to this day!

Gotta love the Serbs…

Long live Serbia….

Please join our new Serbia page… SAY SERBIA! http://www.sayserbia.com/ and if you are capable of donating a few dollars, dinars, euro, pesos or whatever  to my documentary “Yankee Doodle Went to Serbia” please do!!!! Every little bit helps! Here is my donations page https://www.wepay.com/donations/serbia-through-american-eyes

The first episode of Yankee Doodle went to Serbia “RUMA”is going to be out in a week or two! Here is an update from Srem Tv……http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vksV7jyP9VY I need your help!!! I have lived on my savings for 3 years now. This first episode wasn’t cheap!!!! We had a very professional crew with us. One professional cameraman, sound guy, two lighting guys, one producer and one assistant producer. We had top of the line equipment and stayed 5 days in Ruma! We wanted to go all out on our first episode. If we can’t find more funding to make it this way, I will just strap a camera on my head and head out on my own. 🙂 😀 😦 I never ask Serbians in Serbia for a dinar, but anyone else that has a Visa, Mastercard, American Express credit or debit can donate. I have only had 15 people donate to this. 😥 If you can’t donate, please share to your friends that can! HELP ME SHOW THE WORLD WHY I FELL IN LOVE WITH SERBIA!   Hvala puno!!!!

 

 

An American’s View on The Balkan Wars and Serbia

I just received a wonderful message from a fellow American. He sent me a message last week offering to assist me with the production side of my web series…… “Yankee Doodle Went to Serbia”!  He has assisted  Boris Malagurski and a few other high profile people in the film industry. I am honored to have been given this opportunity to work with such an experienced person!

My countrymen are very divided on their support of foreign intervention. Ron Paul, a Republican, was the most outspoken opponent of Operation Merciful Angel in 1999. He drummed up a lot support from both Republicans and Democrats in the last election cycle. I am not a supporter, but totally agree with his views on our foreign policy!  I can’t say that I am always against military intervention, but I think we should rely on the United Nations for that. Just my opinion…

This gentleman wrote me this response to my question “WHY ARE YOU SO PASSIONATE ABOUT HELPING SERBIA?” Hope you enjoy his thoughts on your country, people, and our involvement in your affairs :

“Hey Charles, it’s good to hear from you, man.

It’s kind of hard to explain how I feel about Serbia, or exactly why…but I’ll try. First, like most Americans, I really didn’t know much at all about Serbia before the wars in the 1990s, only what  I was told by the media – which was 99% bullshit propaganda, as all we know now. But that got me interested in what the hell was going on and why we were even involved at all, and why NATO was attacking these people in their own nation, who had not threatened any NATO member nation (which is against all international laws, and even the NATO charter, etc.). Just prior to the war in Bosnia, I worked in aerospace electronics for about 10 years, so I knew quite a bit about our military and weapons systems that we worked on – especially the Air Force, of which I also knew many people directly, from pilots to many other tech jobs.

So, with the first Gulf War in Iraq, I sort of understood the thing, and terrible as it was for the innocent people, Saddam was an aggressor and it felt like we were doing the right thing, more or less. With Yugoslavia and Serbia, in particular, I had a very bad feeling and I just KNEW what we were doing was wrong, very wrong. So, I started doing a lot of research and the more I looked past the blind one-sided mass media b.s., the more I found that showed me my suspicions were correct. Without rehashing the entire thing, which is very complicated, the US and pretty much all western so-called democracies lied about everything and made Serbia out not only to be the “bad guys”, but the ONLY bad guys – and nothing could be further from the truth. The were war crimes and evil deeds on all sides, and as I said last time, including NATO, which are actually among the worst war crimes of the entire nightmare…and innocent Serbian people were given zero understanding or sympathy from the media, even NOW – which tells me all the more that this whole thing was a tremendous lie and crime against humanity.

Anyway, I did a lot of research (for years, actually) back then and began writing a book (not published yet, but maybe I will one day), and nearly everything I found basically validated the Serbian point of view in most cases – or at least it was clear that they were not alone in doing evil deeds (which were almost always exaggerated if not completely fabricated by the media, NATO, US and other govts, etc – sad but true). The Bosnian and Albanian muslims and Croatian forces, with American supplied weapons committed most of the worst atrocities in the entire war, like “Operation Storm” in Krajina by Croatian and NATO forces (the biggest ethnic cleansing event in the entire war, more than 200,000 innocent Serbian people were either murdered or forced from their homelands where they had lived for centuries – the media didn’t said barely a word about it, since the victims were Serbians). I’m sure you also know about the KLA, which was on the US State dept list as a terrorist organization along with Osama bin Laden until they suddenly became “friends”) actually became the leaders of the official Kosovo govt after the war – and they continue to murder and violate the human rights of Serbian people in their own lands even to this day, without even a word of protest from anyone in the UN or any US President (of either party).

It’s really the most disgusting thing I’ve ever seen in my lifetime, and it’s one that really makes me ashamed to be American…although it’s not like I had anything to do with it, personally, but I’m sure you know what I mean. I mean we know there is a lot of injustice in this world, but something on this scale and to have our own govt and many others, and the entire international mass media just be completely biased against Serbia, and still not say even one word about the many crimes against innocent Serbian people in Kosovo – wow, that really tells you something is very wrong with this whole picture. Like the old expression, “The silence is deafening”.

In any case, it’s fair to say that I’ve learned a lot about Serbian and Balkan history, probably more than most people, and definitely more than 99% of American people. So, in the years after the wars, I’ve met and known several people from Serbia and like you, I was just really blwn away by what kind and good people they are. I don’t know if they ALL are, but every single one that I’ve met is very cool and SUPER intelligent. I’m a little on the brainy side myself, for an American that is, and I am always amazed by how smart these people are! Their education system must be awesome – but I think there also has to be something genetic there as well, because…well, these people are VERY intelligent, and also just humble and very cool in my experience. And I’m sure you know better than I do that there is no doubt that Serbian women are probably the most beautiful in the entire world…at least in my opinion.   🙂

Such a wonderful culture, too, and I don’t know man…you probably know this feeling too, but just everything – the food, music, culture, their sense of humor, pretty much everything about them and the amazing beauty of the place impresses me. I can’t totally explain it other than to say that to me there is something very special about Serbia and its people that “strikes a chord” with me, to put it in musical terms.  😉  It’s just something that I feel and know inside and it’s very interesting and cool to see another person like you experiencing similar things – and even moreso because you’ve been actually living there. Of course, we know that deep down all people are just people no matter where we are or come from…but there is definitely something very unique and cool about Serbia.

So, I hope that gives you some idea of where I’m coming from, and I think it’s great what you’re doing to help with sports equipment there and all that stuff. Very cool, indeed, and I hope that continues to be successful and grow so that you will be able to help more and more people that, unfortunately, not many people in this world are willing to do much of anything to help. They are good and caring people, more than most I’ve met in this world, and they deserve to have other good, caring people help them however we can – not because they are weak or stupid, but on the contrary they are generally stronger and much smarter than us!! It’s just the right thing to do, regardless of the stupidity and corruption in both our govts – if we can help regular decent people have better lives and make some good friendships along the way – everybody wins!

Anyway, take care and I’ll talk to you soon.   ;)”

Srbija kroz oči Amerikanca

Američko viđenje Srbije i ratova na Balkanu

Prošlog meseca primio sam fantastično pismo od jednog mog zemljaka Amerikanca.
Poslao mi je poruku u kojoj se ponudio da učestvuje u produkciji moje web
serije „Yenkee Doodle went to Serbia!“.
Bio je asistent Borisu Malagurskom i nekolicini velikih profesiolaca filmske industrije.
Izuzetno sam počastvovan što mi je pružena prilika da sarađujem sa tako iskusnim
profesionalcem!

Moji zemljaci vrlo su podeljeni kada je u pitanju podrška vojnih intervencija u stranim
zemljama.
Ron Pol (Ron Paul), republikanac, bio je najveći protivnik operacije „Milosrdni Anđeo“
1999 godine. Osvojio je veliku podršku kako republikanaca, tako i demokrata, u
poslednjem izbornom krugu.
Ja lično nisam njegov pristalica ali se u potpunosti slažem sa njegovim stavom po pitanju
naše spoljne politike. Ne mogu da kažem da sam uvek protiv vojne intervencije ali
smatram da u bi u takvim situacijama tebalo da se oslonimo na Ujedinjene nacije.
To je ipak samo moje mišljenje..

Ovaj isti gospodin, odgovorio je na pitanje koje sam mu postvio: „ZAŠTO TAKO
STRASTVENO ŽELITE DA POMOGNETE SRBIJI?“ – Nadam se da ćete uživati u
njegovom stavu o vašoj zemlji, narodu i našoj umešanosti u vašu politiku:

„Hej Čarls, dobro je što te čujem čoveče.
Teško je objasniti kako se osećam po pitanju Srbije, kao i zašto se tako osećam.. ali
pokušaću. Prvo, kao i većina Amerikanaca, pre ratova ’90, ni ja nisam znao mnogo toga
o Srbiji, osim onoga što sam imao priliku da saznam iz medija – a 99%su bile laži i
izmišljotine, kao što svi znamo.
Upravo to me je nateralo da se zainteresujem šta se dođavola tamo dešava, zašto smo mi
uopšte upleteni u to i zašto NATO napada ove ljude, u njihovoj zemlji, zemlji koja nije
članica NATO-a i ne predstvlja nikakvu pretnju ni za jednu od zemalja članica NATO-a
(a što je protivno svim međunarodnim zakonima, NATO povelji itd.)?
Neposredno pre rata u Bosni radio sam u avio-elektronici oko 10 godina tako da
sam bio prilično upućen u naš vojni oružani sistem koji smo razvijali – posebno u
vazduhoplovstvu, gde sam lično poznavao mnogo ljudi počev od pilota do onih koji su
radili na izvršnim mestima.

Kod prvog Zalivskog rata u Iraku ukapirao sam da, bez obzira koliko je to bilo strašno
za nevine ljude, Sadam je bio agresor a mi smo, čini se, radili pravu stvar. Manje ili
više. Kod Jugoslavije, posebno kod Srbije, imao sam veoma loš osećaj i jednostavno sam
ZNAO da je ono što radimo loše, veoma loše.

Počeo sam dosta da istražujem i što sam više istraživao i gledao spram jednostranog,
izmišjenog, mišljenja masovnih medija, sve više sam pronalazio dokaza da su moje
sumnje osnovane.
Bez ponovnog razmatranja cele stvari, koja je sama po sebi komplikovana, SAD i sve
ostale zapadne, takozvane demokratske zemlje, lagale su o svemu i napravile Srbiju ne
samo „negativcem“ nego JEDINIM „negativcem“ – a ništa ne može biti dalje od istine od
te tvrdnje.
Ratnih zločina i zločinačkih dela bilo je na svim stranama, kao što sam prošlog puta
rekao uključujući i NATO, koji je možda počinio i najgore zločine u celom tom
košmaru… Nevini srpski narod nije dobio nimalo razumevanja i medijske pažnje, čak NI
SADA je ne dobija – što mi još jasnije govori da je cela ova stvar bila velika laž i zločin
protiv čovečnosti.
U svakom slučaju, mnogo sam istraživao tada (dugo godina, tačnije) i počeo sam da
pišem knjigu (još uvek neobjavljenu, ali verujem da ću je jednoga dana objaviti) i gotovo
sve što sam otkrio u svojim istraživanjima potvrđuje srpsku stranu gledišta – ili bar u
krajnjem slučaju jasno potvrđuje da oni nisu sami učestvovali u zločinima koji im se
pripisuju (a koji su gotovo uvek preterano prikazani ili u potpunosti izmišljeni od strane
medija, NATO, SAD, i drugih zvaničnika – tužno ali istinito).
Bosanski i albanski muslimani i hrvatske snage, snabdeveni američkim oružjem počinili
su većinu najgorih zločina u čitavom ratu, kao što su operacija „Oluja“ u Krajini
počinjena od strane hrvatskih i NATO snaga (najveće etničko čišćenje tokom čitavog
rata, gotovo 200.000 Srba je ubijeno ili proterano sa viševekovnih ognjišta – mediji nisu
progovorili ništa o tom stradanju s’ obzirom da su žrtve bili Srbi.).
Siguran sam da znaš za OVK (UČK), koji je bio na listi američkog State Deprtment-
a kao teroristička organizacija zajedno sa Osama Bin Ladenom sve dok naprasno
nisu postali „prijatelji“, tj. lideri zvanične Kosovske vlade nakon rata – a koji i danas
nastavljaju sa ubijanjem i kršenjem ljudskih prava srpskog naroda unutar njegove
sopstvene zemlje bez reči protesta bilo kog zvaničnika UN ili predsednika SAD ili bilo
koje političke partije u SAD.
To je zvanično najodvratinja stvar koju sam video u svom životu i stvar koja me
definitivno čini da se osećam posremljeno što sam Amerikanac.. iako nemam nikakve
veze sa tim lično, ali znaš na šta mislim. Mislim.. znamo da ima mnogo nepravde na
ovom svetu, ali zamisli vagu u kojoj su naša vlada i mnoge druge, kao i kompletni
internacionalni masovni medjiji potpuno okrenuti protiv Srbije, a istovremeno sa druge
strane nema nijedne jedine reči o mnogim počinjenim zločinima protiv nevinog srpskog
naroda na Kosovu, reći ćeš – Wow.. nešto ozbiljno nije u redu sa ovom slikom.
Prosto zvuči kao stara izreka: „Tišina je zaglušujuća“.
U svakom slučaju, tačno je da sam naučio mnogo o istoriji Srbije i Balkana, verovatno
više nego većina ljudi, i definitivno više nego 99% Amerikanaca. U godinama nakon
ratova, upoznao sam nekolicinu ljudi iz Srbije, i isto kao i ti, bio potpuno raznesen
saznanjem koliko su dragi i dobri ljudi. Ne znam da li su oni SVI takvi ali svaki koga sam
ja upoznao veoma je cool i SUPER inteligentan. Ja inače više naginjem toj intelektualnoj
strani, za jednog Amerikanca, i svaki put sam iznenađen koliko su ovi ljudi pametni!
Predpostavljam da je njihov obrazovni sistem zaista zadivljujuć – ali takođe verujem da
je i nešto genetski jer.. pa.. ovi ljudi su VEOMA inteligentni, a ipak veoma skromni i
veoma cool, prema mom iskustvu. I… verujem da to bolje znaš od mene, nema sumnje

da su srpske žene verovatno najlepše žene sveta … bar prema mom mišljenju. J
Takođe, tako divna kultura, i ne znam čoveče.. ali verovatno i ti imaš isti osećaj, prosto
sve – hrana, muzika, kultura, njihov smisao za humor, skoro sve u vezi sa njima i
njihovim neverovatnim prirodnim lepotama me fascinira.
Ne umem u potpunosti da objasnim, osim jednostavno da kažem da postoji nešto
veoma specijalno u vezi Srbije i njenih ljudi, što me prosto „udari u žicu“, da se izrazim
muzičkim žargonom. J
To je nešto što znam i osećam u sebi i veoma je interesantno i cool videti drugu osobu,
osobu kao što si ti, da doživljava slične stvari – ako ne i više jer ti zaista i živiš tamo.
Naravno, svi mi duboko u sebi znamo da su ljudi samo ljudi bez obzira ko su i odakle su
došli … ali definitivno postoji nešto jedinstveno i cool u vezi sa Srbijom.

Tako da, nadam se, sada imas neku ideju o tome odakle sam. Zaista mislim da je
fantastično sve što činiš kako bi pomogao u nabavci sportske opreme kao i sve ostale
stvari koje tamo činiš. Veoma cool zaista, i nadam se da će se to nastaviti i uspešno rasti
kako bi bio u mogućnosti da pomogneš što većem broju ljudi, koje, na žalost, svet ne želi
da pomogne.
Oni su dobri i brižni ljudi, više nego mnogi koje sam upoznao na ovom svetu i zaslužuju
da im dobri i brižni ljudi pomognu, koliko mogu – ne zato što su slabi ili glupi, nego baš
zato što su generalno bolji i pametniji od nas!
To je jednostavno najispravnija stvar koju možeš da uradiš, bezobzira na glupost i
korupciju naše vlade – ako možemo da pomognemo običnim, poštenim ljudima da imaju
pristojne živote i usput stvorimo brojna prijateljstva – svi dobijaju!

U svakom slučaju, čuvaj se i čujemo se uskoro.“