LIFE AT THE TSRIKVENITSA HOME

LIFE AT THE TSRIKVENITSA HOME

At this point we would like to present the reader with an article published in the newspaper “Voice of the Aegeans”, which talks

about life and education of the refugee children from Aegean (Greek occupied) Macedonia housed in Tsrikvenitsa. Here is what was written in the article:

“The town Tsrikvenitsa is located on the Croatian coast near the beautiful Adriatic Sea. It is a tourist town and in it is located a nice and tidy home belonging to the Yugoslav Red Cross. This home houses 292 refugee children from Aegean Macedonia. The Yugoslav Red Cross is responsible for their care and has done everything in its power to make this place beautiful and comfortable for these children; victims of war.

The buildings where the children live are located along the sea coast and are surrounded by nice large park. The home has its own beach where the children spend much of the day sunning and swimming.

Hygiene in the home and in the outdoors is exemplary. The children are well looked after and kept clean and tidy.

The home management team makes sure everything is provided for their needs and for a comfortable life. That includes good nutrition and new clothing.

Much attention is paid to educating the children. The teachers are mainly responsible for that but so are the staff and management. The children are encouraged to learn everything possible about life including the necessary cultural habits of today’s society and so they are educated in the spirit of today.

There is the elementary school ‘Gotse Delchev’ within the confines of the home, in which children learn their native Macedonian language. The children are provided with all the necessary conditions and resources for normal learning. This includes textbooks, school materials and teaching aids. The school has its own library with about 450 books which are used regularly.

Last year many children strived to learn and achieved very good results. They made a pledge to Marshal Tito that they would finish the school year with very good results and indeed they were successful in doing so, with an average of 3.83 (out of 5). Following

its success, this school was rated number one in Tsrikvenitsa Region. It was rated ‘best school in the region’ by the Trustee Committee for Education.

The pioneer organization is working actively. The pioneer unit has twice received praise from the Tsrikvenitsa local committee of the National Youth Organization. There is also a youth organization, a wing of the Red Cross, which has been very active and has received a diploma from the People’s Republic of Croatia’s Main Board.

Much attention is given to cultural education which has shown satisfactory results. The home has its own pioneering choir, folklore and singing and recital groups. The cultural education activities are run by the teachers and by the administration which helps this wing to function and stay active. The pioneer choir and folklore groups in Tsrikvenitsa received much praise, not only for their general activities but also for their participation in the district festival in Rieka, in May of this year, where they won first prize. This year the pioneers performed in Rieka, Tsrikvenitsa and surrounding regions, and during the summer season put on performances for the working people vacationing in the ‘Terania’ resort in Tsrikvenitsa.

There are various household groups in the home. These groups work in the kitchens, do seamstress work, knit, do laundry, work in the gardens, etc. Through these groups the older children are taught how to do basic household work. They also help out with some of the work in the dorms as well as keep the yards and parks clean and tidy.

Great attention is paid to physical education. The children participate in physical activities such as soccer, volleyball, tennis… Sports that are useful for physical development.

All the people who work in the home are dedicated to improve the children’s lives. From all of this it is apparent that the children are well looked after and are living in good conditions for versatile development so that one day they will become true socialists.”

To better reflect on the lives of the refugee children in the children’s homes we will include another news article published in the

newspaper “Voice of the Aegeans”. This is the most authentic way of capturing a picture of the time. The event is a holiday in Ohrid and the title of the article is “The meeting...” Here is what the article recorded:

“The time was 19:30 hours. There was great movement at the train station in Skopje. Groups of boys and girls, men and women anxiously walked around and talked. Everywhere I heard similar questions being asked. Will they come tonight? I told them I have a letter. They will pass through Skopje on August 8, said one girl. A group of about 30 boys and girls entered the station at that very moment. They were all well sun tanned. We asked them where they lived. One of them said that they lived at the ‘11 Oktomvri’ home and that yesterday they returned from Galichnik where they spent a month of their summer vacation. They came here to meet with other compatriots and to exchange thoughts and experiences. They wanted to learn more about the Aegean children living in Osiek and Slovenia. Giorgi Nakovski from the village Krchishta told us that when he came to Yugoslavia with his friend Ilio Karadza and the other Aegean refugee children fleeing the Monarcho-Fascists who were burning their villages with artillery fire and bombs dropped from aircraft, without giving any regard to innocent people and children, he first came here to the People’s Republic of Macedonia, to his free homeland. Not only were they saved, but within 18 months they were educated and managed to become semi-skilled craftsmen, exceeding all norms on a day to day basis. Our conversation ended the moment the train entered the station. The children waiting for the train moved towards the cars like an irrepressible wave in a storm. We could hear Macedonian revolutionary songs emanating loudly from the two train cars they boarded.

‘Welcome back. How was your vacation at Lake Ohrid?’ I asked.

‘Excellent. We will never forget the time we spent there. We are all grateful to the Macedonian Ministry of Social Welfare for giving us the opportunity,’ one of them said. Tsana Domovska from the village Krchishte informed us that there were 86 children from Aegean Macedonia residing in the home in Osiek. They were all in school and learning a trade. In mid-1948, she said, they left their

village because life became impossible. Many children were killed playing in the yard of their own homes when they were bombed. The Monarcho-Fascists were ruthless. The children had to flee, she said. They crossed the border and came to free Macedonia. Here the Yugoslav Red Cross did everything to make them forget their troubles and suffering from the war, she said. When they arrived in Osiek, she said, Zahariadis’s treacherous clique put Greeks in charge of the home who then begun to gradually poison the children and make them hate everything Macedonian. They spoke against the interests of the Macedonian people as well as vilified the same Yugoslav people who were trying to help them, she said. They spoke against the CPY leadership and against Tito and refused to allow the children to learn their own Macedonian language. That’s when the children began to demand the removal of the Greeks, she said. After that the children were looked after by Macedonians which completely changed their lives, she added.

Today, she said, the children are proud of their accomplishments and their contributions in accelerating the pace of constructing socialism in their free and glorious homeland.

The children delivered on Tito’s request to learn, she said. The children dedicated themselves to learning tirelessly in the schools and in the factories in order to become worthy citizens and builders of their country so that the Party and Comrade Tito would be proud of them. In the factory ‘Mara Trikotazha’ where about 30 Aegeans work, the children’s desire for Tito is expressed through songs. They begin work with a song about Tito, she said, and after that they follow the rhythm of the running machines...