Kosovo Pomoravlje Summer School: Freedom Is Won at Home

Seven days on Šar Mountain, without phones, surrounded by peers they had never met before. Children from different parts of Kosovo and Metohija spent their days learning, playing, making friends, and discovering that the beauty of the world, freedom, and even a full football team can be found and built at home.

“Where Are You From, Children?”

“Where are you from, children?” an elderly man from Štrpce asked us, raising one hand while lowering the other to place a pitchfork of hay into the cow’s manger.

“We have children from Kamenica, Bratilovce, Bosce, Berivojce, Koretište, Parteš, Vitina, Grnčar, Mogila, Lipljan, Gušterica, Dobrotin… And there are also children from here – Sevtse, Bitinja, Gotovuša, Popovac, and Jažince,” one of us answered spontaneously as we walked behind a group of children who had come to Štrpce from different parts of Kosovo and Metohija for the fourth edition of the Kosovsko Pomoravlje Summer School.

The old man’s eyes filled with tears. He gently wiped them with the sleeve of his blue work coat  the kind his generation had carried into their barns from the abandoned and devastated factories and industrial plants where they had once worked.

“And where are you from?” the conversation continued, this time with the volunteers.

“We’re from all over too: the Netherlands, Belgrade, Kraljevo and Kruševac,” explained Nikola Rakonjac, an engineer from Kraljevo. Yet somehow, this answer sounded much more ordinary than the first one.

Still, as we walked along the road climbing into the mountains, Nikola, one of the volunteer helpers, seemed to be thinking about why he was there that day. Then he said:

An Oasis of Meaning in a World That Often Feels Meaningless

I came here for somewhat selfish reasons – so that I could enjoy myself, so that I could feel, even for a tiny moment, some of the love these children carry within them. News from Kosovo and Metohija is usually filtered in a way that shows only the darkest side, as if this were a place of constant war, as if suffering were all that exists here.

But there are people here who work hard, who raise their children, and there are also people who strive to make those children’s childhoods more carefree and beautiful.

And then I realized that the main reason I am here is to find myself in this oasis of meaning, surrounded by so much that seems meaningless

At some point, somehow, someone  perhaps not without reason, and perhaps not even with bad intentions convinced people that they had to leave Kosovo, that sooner or later, somehow, they would have to go somewhere else.

And we often say, far too casually and without thinking, that children should go out into the world, leave for a while, and see what is beyond their home. The very same world that, despite the unprecedented abundance of modern life, takes time off work and comes to Šar Mountain in search of water from a mountain spring.

Learning Through Play on Šar Mountain

They jump barefoot across the cold mountain streams, chasing away the first waves of what seems like unbearable cold with their laughter. Then, with their feet numb, they join the other children in searching for tadpoles.

The children laugh, stumble, get dirty, wash their faces, and start all over again.

Later, tired, they sit down on colorful mats and write in their notebooks about what Italy reminds them of, what Cuba has to do with Picasso, and how they might draw a song, a pain in the soul, or joy in the heart.

They are learning how to learn while they play.

Helping them along the way are teacher Bogdan Mitić from Lipljan and Ivana Otašević Veljin from Pančevo, both licensed instructors in the NTC learning system developed by Professor Ranko Rajović.

“This Is More Important Than Any School Trip”

Perhaps the most moving and meaningful impression from this year’s Kosovsko Pomoravlje Summer School came from an uncle from Goraždevac. He said that he had never seen such organized and dedicated work with children, even though he often took them on trips.

This is more important than any school trip – this comes first, and everything else comes after. There’s no point in taking them to Paris if all they do there is look for McDonald’s.

Little Archaeologists at the Holy Archangels Monastery

Archaeologist and professor Marko Aleksić taught the children how to look beneath the surface, search for a deeper meaning in everything, and see the past and future within the present moment.

The bells of the Holy Archangels Monastery called the faithful to evening service, marking the end of his lecture. “Little Archaeologists and the Code of the Knights” was held on the foundations of the endowment of Emperor Dušan.

Carried by the song “We Are Children of Heaven,” which the children sang at the Church of the Holy Virgin of Ljeviš at the very beginning of their trip to Prizren, we also enjoyed several excellent basketball shots in the gym of our Theological Seminary. And then came a birthday celebration for Mara in the churchyard of the Church of St. George, thanks to Father Jovan Radić, his wife Jelena, and their sons.

For Children Who Don’t Remember Celebrating Birthdays with Friends

Every year, one of the children celebrates a birthday at the Summer School. One of them, now a young man, former participant Stanoje Kocić from Binč, has actually celebrated his birthday there twice.

When asked when he last celebrated his birthday with so many friends, he gave a short answer:

“I don’t remember.”

This school was created for children who don’t remember celebrating birthdays with friends, playing football in the street, spending time with their classmates, or having children from the neighborhood to play with.

Among those who have attended over the years is Nikola Stanković from Slivovo, who at the time was the only pupil at Petar Kočić Elementary School. Stanoje, who had just one friend in his class in Binč. Mihajlo and Marina Jović from Manuta (Zebince), the last children living in their neighborhood. Bojana and Milica, sisters and classmates in the only remaining combined class at Desanka Maksimović Elementary School in Bratilovce. And Jefimija Vasić, the only Serbian girl to complete the fourth grade in Lipljan this year.

Seven Days Without Phones

Before arriving at the Summer School, the children did not know one another. But almost all of them shared one simple wish – to have a full football team to play with at least once during their summer break.

And that can be seen as the starting point of this whole story.

Seven days on Šar Mountain, surrounded by peers, without phones.

Waking up, stretching exercises, walks, language, music and art workshops, Sunday liturgy, countries of the world, manners for children, an outdoor night cinema, a talent evening, and quizzes were just some of the activities prepared for the blue and red groups – the younger and older elementary school children, nearly forty of them in total, who attended this year’s Summer School.

Freedom Is Built at Home

Encouraged by the dedication of teachers and supporters who recognize that the Kosovsko Pomoravlje Summer School is an important place for children from Kosovo and Metohija, the organizers work every year to make the program even better.

Over the past four years, the lecturers have included local teachers and educators, as well as teachers and religious education instructors from central Serbia, Professor Dušica Filipović, and poet Stevan Milošević. There have also been people who have spoken about growing up in Kosovo and Metohija from outside the region, such as Professor Vera Radović and Professor Ranko Rajović.

Yet the goal has grown a little further – while, most importantly, remaining rooted in Kosovo and Metohija.

Through stories, games, and colors, children learn to paint their own childhood in a way they would like to remember it.

They learn that only by looking deeply into Simonida’s painted, hollowed-out eyes can we catch the gaze of the Mona Lisa.

And that freedom, just like the beauty of the world, and just like having a full football team to play with, is built at home.

And That You Don’t Have to Leave.

“When I hit the tambourine, jump, and when I shake it, turn around your own axis!”

“But I don’t have my own axis!”

Teacher Saška is leading a music workshop. She repeats the rules of the game and uses her hand to show the children how they should turn, but Lenka shakes her head again and looks around worriedly.

“But I really don’t have my own axis!”

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