Velemir Petrovic

72 years old

“My grandpa was a trough maker, he used to work in the woods. He made troughs for feeding pigs. My father learned the trough trade from him, and I learned it from my father. Today, I’m a poor man, I have no strength left in my hands, I can’t work. If only God would give me a retirement pension.”

Manufacture of wooden troughs is a traditional trade of the Bajas Roma people. It is exactly this trade that influenced the settling of the Bajas near rivers and woods. Velemir is one of few trough makers left, but does not produce them anymore. He made this specimen for the Museum of Personal Stories.