Foreword - Part 02

Sofia was born in 1932, in the village Zhelevo. She was Mihail and Neda’s fourth and only female child, who was loved and spoiled by her parents and by her brothers. Sofia began her schooling in 1938, which abruptly ended in 1940 with the start of the Greek – Italian war when all the schools were closed. That was the extent of Sofia’s education. During the occupation Sofia was very young and worked at home helping with chores. In 1945 Sofia remained with her mother Neda and looked after her in her hours of need when Neda was sick in bed. This continued until 1948. At the same time Spiro got married and brought a young bride home. In the spring of 1947 Spiro and Risto left to join the partisans and in the spring of 1948 Nikola was sent with the refugee children to one of the People’s Republics. Sofia was left home alone without her brothers. In April 1948 Neda died, so only Sofia’s father and Spiro’s bride remained at home, but only for a short time. When the fighting began in Gramos, Mihail, Risto and Sofia joined the partisans and the entire family, some with rifles in hand, fought and worked for the war effort until August 1949.

Because Sofia had to take care of her mother, she was unable to leave with the refugee children during the 1948 exodus. As for her father, he was drafted by the Partisans for 11 months to work in Albania. Sofia was left alone at home to care for her ailing mother.

When the war was about to end many people fled their homes and went to Albania to save themselves from persecution by the Greek regime. Unfortunately Mihail, who had returned to Greece, never made it across the border. He was captured by the enemy on the Greek side before he could escape. As such, Mihail and Sofia were returned to the village Zhelevo where they were persecuted and humiliated by the pro-Greek villagers.

The years 1949 and 1950 were very difficult for Sofia because, on top of everything she had lost including her mother and brother whom she had had to personally bury, Mihail re-married and took a new wife, a widow with children of her own. But thanks to the guidance and help she received from her cousin Velika Trendova (Nikolova), Sofia managed to also weather that storm. Velika was also instrumental in urging Sofia to marry a young man named Nikola Stefov from the village Oshchima who had just been released from the Greek concentration camps on January 17, 1952. Nikola and Sofia were married on June 15, 1952. Sofia went to live in Oshchima, in Nikola’s village where she had three children with him, Risto, Katina and Lazo. The Stefov family left Oshchima for Canada; Nikola in the fall of 1965, and Sofia with the children in the fall of 1966. Nikola left for Canada to be with his brothers and sisters. Sofia later brought her half-brother Giorgi to Canada to be with the family. Sofia has many cousins living in Canada.

Although the Mavrovski family had met Sofia back in 1965, the first time they met Nikola Stefov was in 1987 when Nikola and Sofia came to Bitola. Sofia and Nikola (who sadly died in 2010) had a difficult life and endured much hardship under the Greek regime while living in the village Oshchima. But now they are living in Canada and soon will be going on pension knowing that they did the right thing to leave Greece so that their children would have better opportunities for education and a better life in Canada. The following people are members of Sofia and Nikola’s family: Risto, who is married to Laurie and has two children named Philip and David. Katina who was married to Daniel and had two children with him named Gordi and Laura. Katina is now living common law with Rick. Lazo who was married to Laura and had two children named Nikolis and Luke. Lazo is now married to Grace.

“This is my sister Sofia’s family. which will continue our lineage in Canada,” says Risto Mavrovski who wrote this story (updated by Spiro Mavrovski and Risto Stefov).

“Unfortunately, despite my great desire to go to Canada and all the effort I made with my son Spiro, I still failed to visit Sofia and her family in Canada. Only because of Canada’s strict rules regarding visitors from Eastern European countries,” says Risto Mavrovski.

Spiro’s first encounter with his Aunt Sofia

Spiro’s first encounter with his Aunt Sofia Stefova was back in 1965 when she went to Bitola, Republic of Macedonia for the first time, to visit her brothers Risto and Nikola Mavrovski and their families. She had not seen them for 17 years, since 1948 when she was separated from her brothers by the war, when her little brother Nikola was sent to Hungary with the refugee children and when Risto joined the partisans. After that, while Risto was sent to Albania and then to a hospital in Poland, Sofia remained in the village with her father, divided by the iron curtain for 17 years. The first meeting between Sofia and her brothers was a happy occasion but very emotional. “I remember the meeting like it was a dream, with many tears, with so much to catch up on about the past and with great hope for the future,” says Spiro Mavrovski, Risto’s son.

Spiro however wanted more, he wanted to meet Sofia’s family, his cousins, her husband, but that unfortunately did not happen until much later. Spiro, to this day, has not yet met the entire Stefov family. It was not until 1978 that Spiro got to meet his uncle Nikola for the first time, when Nikola and Sofia went from Canada to the Republic of Macedonia on vacation. At that time Spiro was a student studying engineering at the Electro-Technical Faculty in Skopje. Spiro remembers the exact moment he met them. It was the time when he had an uncomfortable conversation with his uncle about Macedonia.

This was Nikola’s first visit to the Republic of Macedonia. He left Greece in 1965 and went to Canada. Nikola established himself in Toronto and a year later brought his family with him. From the conversation Spiro had with Nikola, Spiro learned that there was a Yugoslav Consul in Toronto who was originally from Zhelevo and who had told Nikola that the Macedonian Question would soon be addressed at the United Nations and that this would bring positive results for the Macedonian people everywhere. Spiro was young at the time but very much interested in politics. He was quite taken by this information and told his uncle that he had never heard of such a thing here in the Republic of Macedonia. There was no talk of such a thing in Macedonia and the church was quite distanced from the

state, let alone supporting it. Spiro boldly told his uncle this and got his face slapped. Nikola, however, insisted that he had personally heard this from the Consul himself and that, as far as he knew, this matter was a done deal. Nikola brought with him a number of Macedonian newspapers published in Toronto, Canada which contained many religious articles about church activities in Canada. But then, when Spiro showed him the Macedonian newspapers “Nova Makedonija” and “Vecher”, and proved to him that there were no such articles about the Macedonian Question, not even about religion, Nikola began to question the validity of what the Consul had told him.

During the conversation that Nikola had with Risto, Spiro’s father, about the past and about the war years, Spiro listened intently and learned a lot of things about his uncle Nikola’s life; his suffering in the Greek prisons in the dry islands, his difficulties while living in the village Oshchima in Greece and his decision to leave his homeland and take his entire family to Canada. From what Nikola was saying, it was a good decision to go to Canada and open up better opportunities for his children and for the entire family. In a separate conversation with Spiro, Nikola spoke about his own children. Nikola told Spiro that Risto, Nikola’s older son, had completed a four year course in Electrical Engineering at the University of Toronto and had acquired a degree in Applied Science in Electrical Engineering and that Katina had gone to college and Lazo was in high school.

Spiro’s second meeting with his aunt Sofia and uncle Nikola was some years later in 1986 when they stayed at the Hotel Molika and climbed Mount Pelister. Spiro remembers them being taken by their unforgettable experience with nature, with the beauty of the mountain and with the aroma and grandness of the fir and pine trees.

Once again Spiro was disappointed with not having met his cousins Risto, Katina and Lazo, that is until 2008 when his cousin Risto decided to go to the Republic of Macedonia to promote his book “History of the Macedonian people”, which Risto had written in the English language and had translated to Macedonian. Before that Risto had written a book, a monograph about his village Oshchima, illustrated with many pictures, which he had brought with him to

Macedonia. Spiro spent the entire night, the first night he met Risto, perusing the book. “I spent the entire night crying and cursing our fate, that it took me so long to meet one of my cousins and still to have more cousins and, to this day, not be able to see them or their children…” says Spiro. Spiro has not lost hope and believes that that time will one day come…

Spiro’s meeting with Risto was emotional. Risto had a great desire to see Macedonia; to visit its many cities, historical and cultural monuments, lakes and beautiful mountains. Spiro spared no effort to take Risto wherever he wanted to go, as Spiro marveled at Risto’s accent and Macedonian dialect, which reminded Spiro of how his father spoke. Spiro took Risto to visit Krusevo, Smilevo, Prilep, Ohrid, Kichevo, Tetovo, Gostivar, Struga, Vevchani, Sveti Naum, Otesevo, Resen and Pretor.

Spiro’s first encounter with Risto was in Skopje just after his arrival from Toronto, which coincided with the arrival of Liube Boskovski returning from The Hague. “I will never forget the conversation when, after the stories he told me about his family, I asked Risto whether he was hungry or not to which he replied ‘I am famished’. It was not that he said he was ‘famished’ but the fact that he used the exact word that my father Risto used all his life when he was very hungry, that I found fascinating…” says Spiro. Spiro took Risto to a nearby restaurant and asked him what he wanted to eat. Risto said: “Surprise me, this is my first time in Macedonia and I want to sample as much local cuisine as possible…” Spiro called the waiter and, unlike how things are done in Canada with a menu, Risto was surprised to see Spiro describe every detail of what foods Spiro wanted and how he wanted them prepared. There was no one else with Spiro and Risto when the waiter returned with a couple of huge platters full of food that looked like they could feed half a dozen people. Risto was surprised at the amount of food brought so he asked Spiro why so much food? “It is for you… eat!” said Spiro. “You first…!” replied Risto. The big surprise was when Spiro said he was fasting at the moment for “Petrovden”, a Macedonian tradition, and that he could not eat and that all that food was really for Risto. Risto ate as Spiro talked and the real great surprise was that Risto alone ate all that food while listening to Spiro talk... Risto was happy that Spiro had come all the way to Skopje from Bitola to

be with him and for providing him with an excellent and delicious meal.

It did not take long for Spiro and Risto to become acquainted and feel comfortable with each other as if they had known one another their entire lives. “This assured me that, it is true, that blood is thicker than water and that we are very close spiritually…” says Spiro. Spiro was sad that his father Risto passed on before he had a chance to meet Risto Stefov and get to know him. Spiro says he has much respect for the work that Risto is doing, carrying on in the family tradition, working for the Macedonian cause, even though he lives far from his country of birth. “Risto, my wish for you and for all of us is to be healthy and happy and, even though we live far apart, some day our families, our children and grandchildren will find a way to see each other or even be together…” says Spiro.

“My father-in-law Petar Stojkovski-Babets, as Santa Claus, along with my mother-in-law Militsa, parents of my wife Lenche, my son Vasko and daughter-in-law Juliana, as actors in the Bitola Theatre, had the opportunity to visit Canada and are filled with beautiful memories of the great hospitality they received in Canada,” says Spiro.

Another memorable moment for both Spiro and Risto was their second meeting in Macedonia in Nize Pole with Spiro’s life-long friends from his childhood. This was during Macedonia’s Independence Day celebration on September 8, which lasted the entire day. Risto felt at home that day and, even though he did not know those people, he felt close to them spiritually like he had known them all his life.

“Let us finish this story with much respect for a great fighter, a sufferer, a martyr, a man who left behind a large part of Macedonia for us, let it be an eternal glory for a great hero, my Uncle Nikola Stefov,” says Spiro Mavrovski.

Risto’s youngest brother Nikola (Kole) Mihail Shkavrev Mavrovski (1937-2007)

Nikola Mavrovski was born in 1937 in the village Zhelevo. He was the youngest son born to Mihail and Neda. Nikola, unfortunately, was born during the worst time in the region’s recent history and, because of the wars, was unable to receive much schooling. In 1940, to avoid being killed by the bombing of the village, Neda took him to Bouf. For the most part, however, Nikola, while living in the village Zhelevo, spent most of his time with his friends while the people of Zhelevo were fighting for their survival. During this time Nikola had a couple of incidents. The first was when he bit and badly cut his tongue, which caused him much suffering, but with great care from his family, particularly from his mother, his tongue healed without permanent damage. The second incident was when he was playing with the children and became paralyzed. His father Mihail took him to Albania to a healer (Odzha) who gave him some sort of water that had healing powers, to wash with, and some other herbal medicines. That episode too passed without permanent consequences. Nikola stayed home until age ten and then in 1947 he was put to work looking after the cattle and helping with chores on the family farm. In the spring of 1948 Nikola, along with many children from Zhelevo and from the entire region, was collected and sent out of the country to be saved from the war. His journey started from Zhelevo and took him through Brailovo and Prilep and he eventually ended up in a dorm in Hungary where he began his education and remained there until the summer of 1955. While in Hungary, Nikola had requested to be moved to Poland so that he could be with his brother Risto. His wish was granted and Nikola was sent to the city Zgorzhelets, Poland. Risto then took him and moved him to Shvidnitsa, where Risto was living. Then, in August 1957 the two brothers left Poland and went to live in Macedonia. During his stay in Poland, Nikola studied the Polish language and carpentry.

On September 1, 1957 Nikola, Risto and Risto’s family arrived in the People’s Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, first in Skopje and then, on September 9, 1957, they went to Bitola and established residency in the hotel “Solun”. Nikola was still a bachelor when they arrived. His first job was at a construction company called “Vranie”. A little later, in 1958, Nikola went to work as a carpenter at the refrigerator manufacturing company where Risto worked. The company then was initially called “Giorgi Naumov” and later was

renamed to “Rade Konchar”. In 1961 Nikola married his friend Vasilka Krste Chukleva from the village German. Vasilka was also in Poland before she came to Bitola. Nikola and Vasilka initially rented a house near the city clock tower but later, with help from one of Vasilka’s relatives, bought a house at Ul. “Sremska Mitrovitsa” no. 5 where they lived until the day they died. Nikola and Vasilka had a son named Mihail. Mihail married in 1987 and had two children, Nikola and Aleksandra.

Nikola’s story was written by his brother Risto so that Nikola will forever remain in the memory of future generations. “Kole (Nikola) was my weakness in life…” says his brother Risto, but does not elaborate as to why or how.

A few words from Spiro Mavrovski about his uncle Nikola

“For him, I think I need to write an entire book, my only relative in Bitola, a man with a big heart, a man who looked up to my father and was forever connected with him. From the time I can remember I always wanted to be around him. As a child I used to sleep over at his house beside the city clock tower where he and my aunt lived. These were the best Sundays of my life. I remember the many outings and picnics by the river Dragor, be it at Topla Voda or in Dihovskiot del where we swam, ate lunch and played carefree… where life was full of happiness. My uncle loved sports, an activity we both shared and connected with. The three of us were always there and never missed an event. We usually met at the playground or at the Mladost sports hall, regardless of whether it was a practice game or real competition. We often visited him at Ul. “Sremska Mitrovitsa” no. 5, not too far from our house. We used to pick apricots and plums from the trees in his yard and sell them at the market. After my father died, my uncle mourned him, a painful mourn that he could not endure. Barely 6 months later my uncle also died. He smoked and drank a shot of rakia or two, but never did he ever overreact or discipline us, even though my father always scolded him and treated him like his own son. Unfortunately my uncle had heart problems but my father, be it in the hospital or at home, was always with him, trying to help him, to comfort him and reassure him that he was going to be fine. I have many memories of my uncle, but there is one that I would like to share with you; our

trip to Skopje and our meeting with the refugee children in Sarai. There were many tears of joy and sorrow that day. There were tears of joy for the survivors and sorrow for the missing, for those who died and for those who remain scattered all over the world. For them and in memory of my uncle I dedicate this beautiful poem written by Vasil Puiovski, a refugee child”, says Spiro.