March 2, 2023
Help our first family of 2023: Julijana (9) and Sofija (6) Stojanovic have lived the hardest lives we have ever seen
At first glance you would never assume that Julijana (9) and Sofija (6) Stojanovic have lived the hardest lives we have ever seen. Our first family of 2023 is a story of hope, bravery, and survival.
We are greeted by two girls who are shy but welcoming, clean but visibly dressed in hand-me-down clothes. They invite us into their home which is literally falling apart around them. However, our volunteers are stunned by the cleanliness of their modest house. In their young lives they have already seen more suffering than most do in a lifetime. First, the deaths of their beloved uncle and grandfather, followed by unimaginable abuse by their father who abandoned them shortly after.
The two girls live with their mother Ivana and grandmother Ljubica in the village of Rutevac, near Aleksinac. Their uncle hung himself and soon after, unable to cope with the grief of losing his only son, their grandfather also took his own life. They found no support in the only other man in their lives, their father. The girls and their mother were mentally and physically abused by him so severely that the police intervened with a restraining order.
The immense stress worsened their grandmother’s health, who already suffered from near blindness and difficulty moving. They live on social assistance and child allowance, a miserly total of $250 a month. They have no water besides a pump inside the house, but even that water is not drinkable. There is no indoor toilet or kitchen and they have never seen a washing machine. The family has never owned a TV so the girls go around the neighborhood to watch cartoons.
Despite the cards dealt to these heroic women, this remains a story of hope. We were moved by their immense love for each other and we promised Julijana and Sofija to return soon with help. Ivana, the girls’ courageous mother, survived domestic violence while mourning the loss of her dad and brother, but she needs us to keep going. We need to be there for her so she can continue to be there for her girls and their grandmother.
Our plan is to immediately provide clean water, an indoor toilet, kitchen, furniture, fridge and washing machine to this exhausted family. But we cannot do it without you, please donate generously:
• Credit Card: https://28jun.org/donate
• PayPal: https://www.paypal.me/28jun
• Facebook Fundraiser: https://www.facebook.com/donate/901650581036534/
• Bank Transfer Austria (EU):
Name: Humanitäre Organisation 28.Jun
IBAN: AT372011184561424300
SWIFT(BIC): GIBAATWWXXX
• SMS: Pošalji 1 na 1733
• Tekući račun:
Ime: 28. Jun
265 – 1110310003427 – 97
Šifra plaćanja: 287 ili 288
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