|
Report on the Visit of group of women and men from the
Serb Enclaves to Prizren and Decani on June 21st 2009
On June 21, 2009 in the organization of the Helsinki
Committee for Human Rights Pristina outreach office, an excursion was
carried out with participating members of the Serbian community from the
enclave Staro Gracko, Lipljan municipality.
The excursion started at 7 a.m. and ended at 6 p.m.
A total of 50 citizens, mostly women and young people,
have visited the cities of Prizren and Pec, as well as the monastery
Decani.
In Prizren, they toured the city center, visited the
Orthodox Seminary, the seat of the Rasko-Prizrenska eparchy, the Church
of Wholy Salvation and the Church of Godmother Ljeviska. They freely
walked throughout the city center. They visited the mall Ben-Af, where
they purchased various items for personal use. The citizens of Serbian
nationality had a warm welcome by the inhabitants of Prizren.
The participants of this excursion were amongst the
first Serbs in Kosovo to visit objects of the Serbian Orthodox Church in
Prizren, only a few days after the objects were renovated and accepted
by the bishop of Prizren Artemije.
In Prizren, the vice president of Kosovo's Parliament
Presidium joined the Serbian citizens in touring the city streets.
In Decani, the group visited the monastery Visoki
Decani. They were greeted by the head of the monastery and lunch for the
guests was appropriated.
In Pec, the participants of the excursion toured the
city and the Patriarchate of Pec. The participants in the excursion in
the Pec Patriarchate were welcomed by Mother Dobrila, who then told them
a brief history of the monastery.
The participants were pleased and have publicly
thanked the Helsinki Committee for organizing this excursion.
Explanation: due to an epidemic at the elementary
school in Staro Gracko, this excursion had to be slightly altered
because the number of children applying had drastically decreased. This
is why the age structure of the excursion participants underwent certain
changes. Namely, this time, it was a mixed group in terms of gender and
age.
A bus of "Barileva Tourist" from Pristina was used for
the excursion. Participants in the excursion were not escorted by
members of the Kosovo Police Force and KFOR. The whole trip and visits
unfolded in the best possible way. All participants either in groups or
individually moved freely and communicated in Serb language between
themselves and with locals and sales persons in the shops they visited.
It was an accident - and provocation-free excursion. All the
participants in the excursion were very pleased with it, and thanked and
praised the Helsinki Committee for having organized this trip and visit
to the aforementioned places. They were all eager to take part in
similar, future excursions and visits.
Helsinki Committee deems such visits as highly useful
for they help dispel fear of some members of the Serb community. In
parallel they help make members of the Serb community more visible in
some urbane milieus.
This project was realized with the financial help of
Academy for Educational Development (AED).
GALLERY::: |
