Little Trip to Janjevo

Tom took me for a little drive to an area near Llipjan a few nights ago. We went through several villages before we got to Janjevo. I couldn't believe that the road(?) we were on was the main road through the village. It became progressively more narrow and steep and finally we turned around. There was a group of Roma people outside sitting and I was very excited to observe that the women were dressed exactly as I always thought .... you know, the stereotypical head kerchiefs and gold hooped earrings. I'm always very self conscious about taking photos of people but on our way back through the village I told Tom he had to take a photo of them. I doubt they spoke any English but he did ask permission and they seemed very friendly. But before he could get the shot a group of very happy and excited little girls ran up and insisted upon being photographed. They were really cute and Tom couldn't resist taking a few pictures of them. He did eventually get a photo of the ladies but you have to zoom into it to see the hooped earrings. I'll have to fix that photo before I post it here.

The next day Tom was telling his Serbian language assistant about being up there and he told Tom that that is a mixed area and that there are a lot of Croats living there with the Albanians and Romas. Apparently the Croats came to the area in the late 13th century to work as craftsmen at Novo Brdo where there was a flourishing silver mine and city. At one time Novo Brdo was larger than Paris. Who knew?

When the silver played out and Novo Brdo declined some of the Croats stayed and it wasn't until the mid 20th century before a lot of them (their descendents) moved back to Croatia. At this time there is a significant number of Janjevci living in Zagreb.

Tom's L. A. also told him that the church we saw there isn't a Serbian Orthodox church like we presumed. It's actually a Catholic church, Sveti Nikola. A few years ago a British KFOR officer said something about there not being any Catholic churches to attend Mass in and Nik told him that he knew where one was. So the next Sunday, to the astonishment of the villagers and the delight of the priest, about 20 KFOR vehicles showed up with a number of British soldiers and they attended Mass.

Anyway, here is Tom's photo of the little Roma girls who shared their smiles and laughter with us. I wonder what their lives will be like living up there where it seems like they are a world away from modern Pristina. It seems impossible but it's only about 20 kilometers from Janjevo to Pristina and I'm sure they can see the lights of the city from there.

For a companion photo to this one, go to www.woophy.com and put Janjevo Kosovo in the Search area and it should come up. You'll also see that it has received a lot of views, and a couple of comments and a rating! Wish I had taken the photo but Tom gets the credit.