RATKOVAC, Croatia — Latter-day Saints, along with 26 missionaries from the Croatia Zagreb Mission, planted the first increment of 1,450 fruit trees at an elementary school in Ratkovac, Croatia, Nov. 20.
Ratkovac is located in a region that suffered heavily during the Serbia-Croatian war of the 1990s. Local residents have spent years rebuilding family farms and the farming economy of this region; and Latter-day Saint Charities has assisted by providing fruit trees and livestock.
The Church hopes the effort will help rekindle the economic strength of the farming communities in the project area and reestablish self-reliance among the people.
The remainder of the trees will be planted next spring as the Church continues to lend help to those in need in Croatia. The Croatia Zagreb Mission covers Croatia, Slovenia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Kosovo, all of which suffered greatly in the recent wars.
