Goran and Sanela Aksentijević have lived in Canada for years, but after the pandemic, they returned to Serbia with their family. Goran decided to renovate his grandfather’s property in the village of Drača near Kragujevac, where he now keeps a flock of around thirty Romanov sheep.
After 12 and a half years of living in Canada, Goran Aksentijević returned to Serbia at the end of 2021 with his family. Together with his wife Sanela, he decided to renovate his grandfather’s property in the village of Drača near Kragujevac. Although he had never been involved in agricultural production before, Goran had always thought about returning to the countryside.
„I worked in a restaurant in Canada, in the kitchen. I started as a helper and then became a cook, and later the head chef. I also had a small business for snow removal. We first thought about what we would do and how, and we decided to try it in the countryside. Currently, we live in the city because we don’t have the conditions for the whole family to move here, but the plan is to one day live here in the countryside. On your own land, in your village, in the city. We don’t have as many worries anymore, I am here, working for myself, for my family, for the property, it is much easier and less stressful than there,“ said Goran Aksentijević, a farmer from the village of Drača, Kragujevac, reported by RTV.
„I lived in Canada for 24 years. When I met my Goran, there was always a sense that we would return one day, the children came one after the other and we have three of them. The pandemic made us talk more and think about what we would do and how, and then we decided that it is better for the children to have a social life here, that it is much easier on our property. We also brought our dog Leo, who is Canadian, we simply couldn’t leave him, everyone told us we were not normal, but he has such a soul that he cannot be abandoned. As you can see, we are raising sheep and every member of our family is important to us, including him, who was part of our family there, so he came with us on the plane,“ said Sanela Aksentijević.
Today, in Drača, Goran has around thirty Romanov sheep, which, as he says, are grateful for maintenance, fertile, and provide high-quality meat and milk. He is on the verge of having thirty registered heads in order to qualify for government subsidies.
„I did some research on Romanov sheep on the internet before deciding on them. Their best characteristic is their fertility, as they give birth to two, three, four lambs, and sometimes even more. Their meat is very tasty and good for eating, they are easy to raise, and are quite resistant to diseases and cold weather, where winter does not bother them too much. I am thinking of completing that production system by making sheep cheese and drying the meat, I just need to build a cold room. I hope that at some point I will have the opportunity to live off this and engage in this, that is my goal to move here with my family,“ Aksentijević announced.
Neither Goran nor Sanela regretted leaving Canada and returning to Kragujevac, as they told us that their desire is to live off their work with their family in the countryside.
