Brothers Stevo and Dusan live in Croatia in complete dark, and since they have 80 euro Yugo, they don't have the rights for social help

Village Cikote in west Slavonija, in the area of Pakrac, is one of the rare villages that still doesn't have electricity. But, It wasn't always the case. The power cords went through here in the seventies of the previous century, and all of the locals gave their contribution and the light was shining up to the war.

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Since then, it can happen that there is no brandy in this village, no tobacco, or bread, but there always must be petrol and candles. Two brothers are living in this village in complete dark, and since they have a Yugo which was worth 80 euros they don't have the right for social help. 

Around half a way between Pakrac and Pozega, several kilometers south from the main road, in the hills of Psunja, there is a village Cikote. Not even wolves can find this village at night, in complete darkness, when the last candles went out, reports portalnovosti.com.

Two brothers live at the very entrance of the village, Dusan and Stevo, both born in Cikote, in the same house that they are living right now. The older of the two, Stevo (77) has the last name Krajnovic, and the younger one Dusan (72) has the last name Barac. Dusan never married, and Stevo's wife died two years ago. He has two sons, the older one lives in Pula, and the younger one in Germany.

- It's not bad here in Cikote. If we only that damned electricity - Stevo said, and the brother continues.

Foto-ilustracija: Profimedia/imageBROKER

- You see, almost 40 years ago, each house gave a cow as a contribution to get the electricity and for expansion of the road to the village. And we don't have electricity for 20 years now. We got these solar panels, and the road is not as it used to be. It is slowly deteriorating. While everybody wish for a brighter future, we here in Cikote wish for brighter past. That was life. There were young, there were children, a lot of work and electricity, the fields were plowed, and there were songs often. I have been working as a trader for 15 years in a local shop - Dusan explains.

The ideal life in Cikote was suddenly stopped in 1991 when the order came to escape, Stevo and Dusan packed the most necessary things and they headed to unknown, worried and afraid, like all others who advanced towards Bosnia in a row of people.

They didn't know why they were running, what is actually happening and where will they end up. They didn't move far, they settled in Bosanska Gradiska where they stayed for 13 years. They managed somehow in the foreign lands, they worked for food and some money. But every night before sleep, images flashed in front of their eyes of their birthplace.

Foto-ilustracija: Profimedia/Alamy

- We returned in 2004, and there and nothing remained of our house. Everything was burned down, destroyed, stolen. We started from zero, we rebuilt and we started living completely from the stat. My pension is 107 euros, and my brother pension is 120 euros. We are making ends meet. It's not simple, although we don't have some expenses. We are not paying for electricity, water, rent, we don't have a phone. Everything is tight. The greatest problem is that the closest shop and doctor are 26 km away, in Pakrac. You can't get sick, and must not run out of bread - Stevo said. 

To somehow reduce that distance from the doctor, shop, pharmacy and city facilities, they bought a car. And not just any car. They got a Yugo 45, for 80 euros.

It's not much, but that Yugo helped them. However, there is a famous catch 22. Red Cross and Social Welfare center say - you have a car, you don't have the rights for any kind of help! They would have told them the same thing even if they had a Rolce Roice, and not a Yugo which costs incredible 80 euros.

- We have concluded that it is better to have this Yugo instead of getting that little money. Here, if something goes wrong, God forbid, we will arrive at Pakrac in half an hour. We are lost without this car - Dusan explains.

Printskrin: Youtube

Although they have no electricity, Dusan and Stevo aren't in the complete dark, at least during summer. Three years ago, their house, and two more in the village, got small solar panels, enough for weak light.

According to Nikola Ivanovic, deputy mayor, there are serious promises that Cikote will get electricity on spring.

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(Telegraf.co.uk / Portalnovosti.com)