WORKING IN S MINE AND HER LIFE IS NOT EASY: We spent a day with Milica (33), the youngest miner woman in Serbia! (PHOTO)

Foto: ST/P. DIVAC

 

Milica has been the youngest miner in ‘Kolubara’ mine and at the same the youngest in this profession generally.

She has been employed in Field D, the largest mine of Kolubara, as a conveyer system operator.

FAMILY TRAGEDY

-This area has always depended on mines; at least one member from every family has been working here. My father, for example, has always been at the same workplace, so for me it is not strange at all that I have been doing this job, too. After all, this is what I went to school for - Millica assured us after a working day we had spent with her and her colleagues.

Her primary job is to supervise the track and, although it sounds easy, she needs to be completely focused, ready to react at once when production problems occur.

Putting out fire has not been unknown for her, neither has tightening the track with the colleagues locksmiths, and the fact that she has not been spared form hard work is confirmed by the fact that Milica has been using her half an hour break to pick up the rest of the ore fallen from the tape with a shovel.

- The responsibility for other people’s lives has been enormous. During the summer the track can often catch fire because of extreme heat and dust. In theory my job is to call my colleagues so no greater catastrophe would happen, but due to the fact that time is crucial, I often use the fire extinguisher myself. On the other hand, during the winter slipping might occur and then I use the shovel to throw sand and pebbles on the track. If there is a jam in the bunker, I have to react so the ore would not get spilled. In average one must keep their eyes wide open for four to five hours all the time while the track is open, and the rest of it is physical work - Milica said, being one of the eight women at the job.

Every year around ten million ton of ore is being dug out. The ore is then transported via two track systems, which means that five million tons of coal annually goes through Milica’s hands.

NOT AN OFFICE TYPE

She kindly laughed at the question whether she has ever imagined herself doing a more feminine job, and she revealed that all her life she has aspired to male jobs.

-I was playing football for 15 years, even for the National selection team, but due to an injury I gave up my sports career. Waiting for a job in my professional area, I volunteered in the Army and spent two years as a guardsman in Topčider and then I was invited to work within the area I had qualified for. I was not thinking for very long, the salary was good. But the Army was not as id had used to be, this was still a little bit more extreme. I am not fit for the office surrounding, it is boring for me. Here something is always going on, running, in a hurry- the youngest Serbian miner said.