For most of us, turning on a tap and having hot water in the bathroom is something we hardly ever think about. For Dragana Ranđić, from the village of Ševarice near Šabac, this was, until recently, a luxury beyond her reach. Today, thanks to the renovation of their family home, everyday life looks completely different for Dragana and her son.
Dragana lives with her adult son, who has autism and difficulties with mobility and communication, and requires constant care and assistance. She is his main source of support, and living in an old, deteriorating house without a bathroom or running water made their already challenging daily lives even more difficult.
Every day, Dragana would go to the well in their yard and carry buckets of water into the house. This was how she provided water for cooking, washing, cleaning and personal hygiene. She bathed her son in a small tub in the middle of their living room, pouring water over him from a jug. Tasks that most of us complete in just a few minutes required extra time, physical effort and a great deal of patience.
When representatives of the Ana and Vlade Divac Foundation first visited the family, they found extremely difficult living conditions. Yet one detail left a particularly strong impression: despite the poverty and lack of basic amenities, the house was remarkably clean and tidy. Dragana was doing everything she could to provide her son with a dignified life, but there were some challenges that her determination and love alone could not overcome.
Since this part of Ševarice has no public water supply or sewage system, bringing running water into the house required a special solution. Water was piped in from the existing well, a pump was installed, an entirely new bathroom was built, and a septic tank was constructed.
In addition to these essential improvements, the roof was replaced, new flooring was installed, and all windows and doors were replaced. The contractor also repaired the existing electrical wiring and painted every room at his own expense, while donors from the local community provided essential new furniture.
The renovation was made possible thanks to the generous support of the Foundation’s long-standing partners and donors from the Serbian diaspora, Anka Erne and Jovica Spasić, as well as contributions collected from citizens through donation boxes previously placed at Belgrade Nikola Tesla Airport. Thanks to their support, Dragana’s old house has been transformed into a much safer, more functional, and more comfortable home.
But the biggest change cannot be seen in photographs of the renovated rooms. It can be felt in every day of Dragana's life.
"I can't begin to describe how much it means to us to finally have a bathroom and running water in the house. I used to have to carry buckets of water from the well for everything, and it was especially difficult when I needed to bathe my son. Now everything is so much easier. It has made an enormous difference to our lives."
For Dragana and her son, the renovated house is much more than a nicer place to live. It means less physical effort in their daily routine, better hygiene and greater safety. Behind the new roof, windows and renovated rooms lies perhaps the most important change of all — a little less worry and exhaustion in the life of a woman who has carried so much on her shoulders for so many years.
Dragana's life has not suddenly become easy. Caring for her son still takes up almost every moment of her day. Yet some things that once required enormous effort have now become simple everyday tasks. Water flows from the tap, there is a bathroom in the house, and Dragana can finally put down the buckets.
