Rajko Obradović (31) did not even manage to step on his native Lika soil, nor did he manage to play properly on it with other children, when already at ten months old, on August 4, 1995, he found himself with his family in a column of refugees in “Storm” who sought and found refuge in Serbia. But the love for that place where he was born, where his soul was born, grew with the years, maturing into a serious decision, such that to the lyrics of the old song: “Oh, Lika, does anyone love you?”, he answered: – With all my heart, I am returning to you.
Rajko was born on October 4, 1994, in Knin. He was ten months old when they set off, back then it seemed on a journey of no return: him with his parents, grandmother, grandfather, father’s sister, uncle, and their two children. In the columns, they told him, one group of people went from Klapavica to Srb and then to Lapac, another to Udbina and Lapac.
-First we came to Kula to relatives, and in 1997 we moved to Belgrade. There were moves there as well, in the end we settled in New Belgrade, in Block 45, so I am a block child. My sister was born there in 2000. I went to elementary school ‘Branko Radičević’, then to the Fifth Economics School in Rakovica, and to the Faculty of Law. I consider Belgrade mine too, I grew up in it, but I always strived to come to Lika. In Serbia, I made friends for life and they come to visit me here. This year I went to Belgrade three times, I would go more often, but dealing with livestock requires 24-hour supervision – says Rajko.
The year is 2018, Friday, June 22. Rajko graduated from the Faculty of Law at the University of Belgrade. In the evening he watched the broadcast of the Serbia – Switzerland match at the World Cup in Russia, the next day celebrated the end of his studies with family and friends, and already on Sunday set off where his heart was pulling him – to Lika, to his village of Klapavica. He didn’t even think about looking for a job in his field, he doesn’t think about it even now: at 31 years old, he is a model farmer, an exemplary host who now has about 130 thoroughbred cows and 30 cattle in his barns.
-Livestock farming has been our family tradition for centuries. Except in the period when we were in exile – Rajko tells ‘Večernje novosti’. – When they returned to Klapavica in 2000, grandma and grandpa started with one cow and five goats. And I got into the whole business with dad. We started with sheep, that was our primary activity. Along with that came a few cows, according to the cow-calf system. The main product there is meat, so the breeds we raise we only fatten, we don’t milk them or use them for milk production because they are genetically predisposed so that after the calf stops suckling, the cow itself stops lactating. However, a family tragedy happened, my father passed away suddenly in 2022 and we had to choose one activity. I chose cows even though I loved sheep much more, so I still have a couple of them now, just for my soul. However, cows are primary and I have a fine herd of 120 to 130 thoroughbred heads and another 30 cattle, both young and large, in the barn at the manger.”
Until this year, Rajko sold fattened livestock to others, as he says, but now he decided to sell meat, to find a reliable partner, a restaurant owner, and to have a “healthy story” together, given that the Obradović estate is registered as organic.
-Slowly over time we also acquired modern agricultural machinery. I have several tractors, among them this new one that we got this spring with the help of EU funds, as well as everything else that goes with it: a baler, mower, rake. There are still many things missing, but over time we will acquire them. Among those tractors is also the ‘IMT 533 de lux’, the one on which we escaped. We brought it back to Lika. And we are not the only ones, there are more such ‘returnees’ in the vicinity of Gračac. Now it is idle, but it worked this year too, mostly in mowing. That is, in fact, the best tractor in the world. It took 14 days to get from Klapavica to Kula, and it returned a bit faster, with the help of a tow service – Rajko is honest.
He truly loves this Lika land. That is the unambiguous impression he leaves during our conversation. But, somehow it seemed to us that along with all the obligations, it is a big burden that he is still alone. Rajko, however, “measures” differently. It was the same when he decided to return.
-After 1995, I came for the first time when I finished the first grade of elementary school. In me, the love for this region, which was obviously deep in my being, simply blossomed then. Since then I have always loved, loved being here very much. While I was studying, it happened that I couldn’t come for two months, so a crisis hit me, and I came every chance I got, whenever I had free time. Now, after eight years, I can say that I have not regretted for a single second that I returned to environments such as Klapavica and Gračac. It is uninhabited, there are infrastructure problems, but my mind is peaceful. I set my own work, and if I want more, of course, I have to work more. But I am my own master on my own land and I am happiest, to be honest, here in this house.”
At the peak of the season, he says, his mother and uncle help him. His grandmother passed away last year, and his grandfather this winter. He is mostly alone and it is not easy for him to cope with all the obligations. We ask him if in almost deserted Lika, which two centuries ago had 200,000, and now barely 50,000 inhabitants, there is any female hand worthy of the Obradović home?
FOR A BETTER POSITION OF COMPATRIOTS
As a young educated man, Rajko also dedicated himself to working for a better position of Serbs in Croatia. He is the president of the Council of the Serbian National Minority in Gračac. Recently, he volunteered for seven days at the “Pilipenda” camp at the Krka Monastery, organized by the Serbian Democratic Forum (SDF).
-40 Serbian children from Lika, Banija, Kordun, Istria, and Slavonia participated in the ‘Pilipenda’ camp. In Gračac, there are 200 children in total, 70 of whom are Serbian. Out of that number, 55 of them attend Serbian language as an elective subject in schools. This year, for the first time, we also organized the Saint Sava Academy in Gračac – says our interviewee.
-Of course the goal of every person is to have their own family. Here it is challenging in winter, our first store is in Udbina, and the better stocked one in Gračac, about twenty kilometers from here. The problem of a woman marrying a man in the village exists everywhere, but despite all those difficulties, someone of quality is found to follow all that. When it’s a healthy story, an exception is found. In Klapavica there are only five chimneys, five permanently inhabited houses, but no children. The last child born in the Gračac village of Klapavice was me. Now it’s up to me to change that – Rajko answers us with an enigmatic smile.
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Source: Novosti, Photo: Igor Marinković