In the remote and hard-to-reach village of Mušići near Kosjerić lives a woman as strong as a rock, now well into her ninth decade of life, whom Serbia knows as the Mother of Courage. A woman whose own life has shown that the strongest person in the world is a mother.
Olga Bošković (85) became known to tens of thousands of people after the public learned that she had carried her disabled son on her back for 60 years. Predrag passed away several years ago, but Olga remembers her late son with a smile.
“I live the best I can now that old age has caught up with me. Sometimes my hands hurt so much that I drop a plate. One of my sisters-in-law says, ‘How could your hands not hurt? It’s a miracle you even have arms attached to your shoulders after everything you’ve been through.’ But nothing was ever too difficult when it came to my child. I would still carry him today if he were alive,” Grandma Olga told RINA.
Although he was born with cerebral palsy, Olga fought heroically to ensure that her beloved “Pedo,” as she affectionately called him, would not fall too far behind his peers. She did everything she could to make every day of his life brighter.
“I didn’t want him to grow up illiterate. Even though the school wasn’t close, I carried him in my arms to school every day for four years. He was very intelligent and exceptionally bright. Everyone loved him—our neighbors and relatives alike. During haymaking season they often took him up into the mountains because he absolutely loved it,” Olga recalls.
With a gentle smile, the elderly woman says she fought through life “as if she were fighting at Kosovo.” She was widowed at a young age with children to raise, one of whom was seriously ill. Running the household, working the fields, and caring for the livestock all rested on her shoulders, yet Olga somehow managed to do it all.
“Pedo was always most afraid that I would die before him. That was his greatest fear and his worst nightmare. He worried about who would take care of him. He never wanted to go to a nursing home. But God spared him from facing that fear. Now I am getting older and weaker. We sold our cows, but I still keep sheep and chickens, so they keep me busy during the day. I live with my son, who has serious problems with his leg, and my daughter-in-law. My greatest joy today is my grandchildren and great-grandchildren,” she says.
Predrag was exceptionally talented. Whatever he imagined, he could create from wood with his own hands. His handcrafted works still remain in the Bošković family home, including an entire wardrobe that he built completely on his own.
“He taught himself. He watched one of our neighbors work and learned that way. He made so many things during his lifetime. Every morning I would carry him to the workshop above the house, then I’d go take care of the livestock and work around the farm. In the evening, when he finished, I would carry him back home. He was incredibly talented, and despite the illness that marked his life, I believe we managed to make his life happier and easier. Everyone truly loved him, and that was what mattered most to me—that he was happy,” Olga said.
Olga lives modestly on a small pension, but she says she has everything she needs and never complains. She has a heartfelt message for young mothers: fight for your children and for your husbands, cherish your family, because family is the most important thing.
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Source: RINA, Foto: RINA