In Memory of Mitic Sladjana and Dragomir

Following our parents' sudden and close deaths, we are trying to look for as many positives as possible. We hope this page can honour the memory of our parents by raising funds for supporting a meaningful cause in their hometown, where they lived together and worked as engineers.

The month of August marks the 42nd wedding anniversary for Mom and Dad. Our dear parents passed away following COVID complications that have worsened their illnesses. They were hospitalised in two separate hospitals in Belgrade, Serbia, unaware of each other’s condition, when they died 20 days apart on 18th September 2021 and on the 8th October 2021.

The outpouring of love and support from friends and family at home and abroad has been very moving and soothing. For the past year, with my brother and a long line of supportive family members, we found comfort in knowing that many others cared. Many of you wished to be with us or buy flowers on the day of the funeral. With my brother, Bojan, we paid tributes during funerals and the memorials afterwards. Yet we wished to find a more beautiful and meaningful way to remember them beyond and to carry forward their legacy. Looking out for a different way to honour our parents, we decided to support a meaningful cause in the local community of my hometown of Vranje (70 000 people).

Our parents valued and supported education and selflessly helped others during their lives. Since the start of our primary education, our parents have been the best tutors, mentors and role models for us and all other children they met in their lives. They've passed that onto us: to be quick to engage with people and learn the most positive thing from our experiences. Full of support and motivation for education and helping others, they selflessly committed to being there for people. They had wise advice and understanding in everything, so we embraced their qualities and relied on them intensely.

Our parents were scholarship holders, fully sponsored by two prominent local companies in the ‘70s to study and complete their engineering degrees in Serbia. Our father studied BSc in Mechanical Engineering at the University of Nish, followed by a master’s degree, and our mother completed a BSc in Forestry Engineering at the University of Belgrade. A true role model we had in our mother as an engineer working in a male-dominant profession. As successful graduates, our parents continued their careers in sponsoring companies and pursued careers as local company CEO and an officer at the Regional Forestry Inspectorate. Before that, they both also taught in the local high schools for a period.

We wish to support the education and schooling of young people from/around Vranje in the south of Serbia. To date, too many young people in my hometown aren't getting quality schooling/education due to limited funds. We wish to enable this process for them to express themselves through developing moral qualities and intellectual abilities; to allow them to experience a real difference for themselves and their community. With the local institutions, we already have access to assess the needs and help young people in Vranje. In particular, we will help children who have lost one or both parents due to COVID-19 in the past 2.5 years. We ask for your support to implement this idea.

For the excellent overall performance and to celebrate the end of the school year in Serbia this Jun 2022, we rewarded 3 top final-year graduates of the local high school my parents attended.

More people like our parents, a younger generation who can inspire and build the local community with giving and caring hearts, are needed in our hometown. In post-Covid times and economic recovery, we must rely on charitable help to get support for those who need it the most.

Thereby, we take forward a legacy of building a better world in Vranje, Serbia, in a significant way.

Thankfully,

Tijana Mitic