In Drsnik, the second village that Bishop Teodosije visited, the first Serbs had returned only the previous day, i.e. on October 12, and the Bishop was their first guest. Thirty-eight houses have been restored and two more are scheduled to be complete by the end of the year. Despite this, the village is dominated by old destroyed houses overgrown with weeds. We found the local residents at work on restoring the parish home next to the church. They have collected the funds for this themselves but to restore the church as well they will need both financial and technical assistance. The church of St. Paraskeva, dating back to the sixteenth century, still proudly stands even though the interior has been torched. Nevertheless, it is necessary for an assesor to determine the extent of the damage, which is visible to the naked eye. The master builder has already been chosen; it is master builder Vita from Drsnik, who already worked on this church without pay, hoping that God would reward him for his efforts by granting him and his wife a child after 24 years of marriage. Master builder Vita now has four children because "God does not mete out His blessing" and out of gratitude to the Lord he is ready to work on the church again without pay as soon as funding is found. He says that only once the church has been brought back to life will the village also return to life.

First returnee houses in Drsnik near Klina

The Bishop and his monks, accompanied by Colonel Baron, then visited the village of Ljevosa which is located immediately above the monastery of the Pec Patriarchate at the very entrance of the impressive Rugovska Gorge. Ljevosa also was in a working mood; people are preparing fuel wood for the winter. After Bishop Teodosije artfully chopped several gnarly pieces of hard beechwood, recalling his days as a novice, we learned that there are now 25-30 local residents. About 30 houses have been restored in the village but many are waiting for spring to return. Here, too, the greatest problem is the lack of a vehicle to master the precipitous mountain road after the first snowfall. They also need motor saws, not only to prepare fuel wood but also for work on clearing the ruins.

Nearby Brestovik has the most joy and hope, a total of four children, three of them belonging to the Dasic family. Resolute mother Sladjana Dasic says they are determined to stay, especially since a new school has been built not far from their house. Local residents returned at the beginning of the year, a total of 23 households, and are managing to survive for now. They say that their difficult lives are further complicated by wild pigs that have destroyed their entire crop harvest. Since they have no weapons, they placed traps all around but they did not catch a single wild pig, instead, they caught a she-bear. KFOR and the Kosovo police spent an entire day trying to get the trap with the live bear into a truck but without success. Then someone remembered to call a forklift, which had just arrived when the bar keeping the door on the metal cage snapped, making it possible for the bear to escape. As they tell us the story, we all begin to laugh and our laughter mingles with the clamor of children playing in the yard. It is on this note that we part.

Grandmother and grandchild in the home of the Dasic family in Brestovik

Visiting the returnees in Serb villages near Pec Bishop Teodosije distributed donations gathered through the Decani Monastery Relief Fund. The Fund is a non-profit U.S. based charity organization and is chaired by Very Rev. Archmandrite Nektarios Serfes (Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of Americas), who visited Kosovo earlier this summer. Decani Monastery will keep supporting returnees with hope that soon more Serbs will return to their homes.

On the eve of the feast of the Protection of the Most Holy Theotokos Bishop Teodosije concluded his visit to the Serbian returnees in Metohija with prayerful supplication to the Mother of God to protect these courageous and determined people, and to help them persist in these difficult and uncertain times in which they live.

Decani, 13.10.2005
Hieromonk Andrej Seitz