Visiting the Home of Kosovo's Hero: Adem Jashari

Today we went to the town of Prekaz to see the home of Adem Jashari, one of the KLA leaders who is often referred to as the "Hero of Kosovo". In 1998 he and his extended family members were attacked in their home by the Yugoslav National Army,  where Adem and 52 others were killed. Today we met Murat Jashari, nephew to the infamous Adem, at the Jashari Compound where this all took place.

Murat Jashari taking us into the home. Large picture immortalises Adem Jashari.

Walls of the Jashari home are riddled with bullets.

Once inside we were served macchiatos, juice and sparkling water. Murat returned to Kosovo in 1999 from Germany where he had been living. He raised his children in Kosovo and said he doesn't often talk about the past with them because he believes Serbs and Albanians will be friends again one day and doesn't want his children to be raised with hatred. He gave a great talk about ending this hatred with his generation and looking forward to a brighter future for his kids. He has great respect for those that fought for Kosovo but said it's important to reinvent yourself and recognize the past is the past. He said that the best way to honor people who gave their life for Kosovo is to do well in the present.

Murat invites us in for macchiatos and conversation.

The bodies of all the family members who were killed during the attack are buried behind the house in a beautiful memorial site. There is dark red marble paths that lead from the house where they were killed to their final resting place. Thousands of people come to pay respect to this site each year.

Jashari Family.

Meeting KWN, and My First UN Experience...

Today was my first day interning with the Kosova Women's Network. I met up with them at the Hotel Prishtina where they were holding a member meeting. I arrived towards the end, and sat in with a translator to hear about the two topics of the meeting: economic empowerment and women's health. I first met the Executive Director Igballe Rogova (Igo) when she had me introduce myself to the members. Later on I met the rest of the team- Nicole, Zana, and Besa, who were all extremely welcoming.

Back at the office I had the privilege of meeting Marta Drury, a 2005 Nobel Peace Prize nominee, former Balkans adviser for the Global Fund for Women, Heart and Health Fund Founder, and generally awesome, awesome lady! She was visiting a good friend of hers (my boss!) and would be in and out of the office for the next few days.

I had mentioned to Igo and Nicole my interest in UNSCR 1325 on Women, Peace and Security prior to arriving in Kosovo, and today Igo told me about her plan for me over the next few months - to help her write a book to express the "human side" 1325, a comical collection of stories of people's actual experiences with implementation (or lack thereof). I can't wait to get started.

At the end of the day I had to get to a meeting at the UN UNMIK Headquarters with my classmates for an informal interview with Jolyon Naegele, the Political Director of UNMIK. He led a somewhat pessimistic discussion about the frustrating relationship between Belgrade and Kosovo, questioning whether or not there is good will on both sides, and left off on the note "don't expect big things".

Just strikes me as odd...no?

BUT the thing I was more interested in inside this UN compound, were the odd posters hanging on each of the floors we passed, reminding viewers of what I think should be common sense for UN employees, such as "Exchanging money, goods, or employment for sex is prohibited". They were everywhere, and some even framed. Also, I'm not sure how to respond to the little surprises I found in the bathroom (see below), whether it's hysterical or demented, either way an eye opening experience...

Framed reminder to some of the biggest culprits.

Their most intense acronym yet ("you need us")! Found in UN compound bathroom.

Kosovo! First Impressions

Well, after an only sorta-terrifying and sketchy ride from Belgrade across the border into Kosovo - with 11 of us somehow fitting in just a van and small car - we made it to Prishtina! At one point our hired driver may have attempted to traffic us when we stopped off the highway in a residential neighborhood where he got out and spoke to a man who promptly came out of his house (wearing a shirt that said "Kosovo is the heart of Serbia")...but I guess it all worked out.

One of the first things we did was walk past the Government building (qeveria, in Albanian). Outside of the building there were tents set up, covered in UÇK flags (aka Kosovo Liberation Army or KLA), and many old KLA fighters that appeared to be living there. The sign posted at the entrance to their campsite read "unë jam veq një clirimtar. kështu m' deshti liria" which means something to the effect of "I am already a liberator now give me freedom". 

Entrance to UÇK protest

UÇK tents set up outside the government building

We walked into the tents and were happily greeted by the old men. They showed us some photo albums from the war (gruesome) and explained they were fighting for a seat in Parliament that they believed they deserved since they self-organized and formed an Army to fight for for Kosovo, which previously had not existed. The argument seemed to be that since the Army wasn't established by the State, rather by the people, that the State was not required to treat them as "veterans" and offer benefits. And so many of these people who fought for freedom of their country, who  could no longer work due to injuries suffered from the war, could not provide for their families. They had decided to set up camp right outside of the qeveria until they were given a seat in Parliament, and thus a chance to influence legislation around this matter. Given the rate of pace of things around here, I think I'll be seeing a lot more of these guys.

Photos of those who died or went missing during the war.

 So far, my impressions of Prishtina is that it is a pretty strange but ridiculously interesting place. A huge photo of one of the pioneers of the KLA, Adem Jashari, adorns the shopping mall sometimes referred to as "Boro-Ramizi" in downtown Prishtina, showing respect to the KLA which some European countries and even briefly the US considered a terrorist organization.

Boro-Ramiziz Mall with a photo of Adem Jashari.

Something I noticed immidiately as different from Belgrade was the graffiti. In Serbia there was a large amount of it, and it was extremely hateful - especially towards the US and NATO. Here there is less, and it's more political and frankly more effective. It shows resentment towards the UN, whom many people feel is overstaying its welcome and preventing Kosovo from standing on its own feet. It is primarily directed against the UN Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK) and the European Union Rule of Law Mission in Kosovo (EULEX). I haven't seen anything derogatory towards Serbs, though in Serbia there was certainly a lot directed towards Albanians.

Top reads "Buy Albanian", rest is against UNMIK and EULEX.

Another thing that stood out was these ridiculous looking billboard campaigns by the Kosovo Security Force (FSK). This one depicts what looks to be a child playing soccer and getting his/her arm and leg blown off by an exploding mine. Now, I'm told unexploded mines are a relevant problem, as many of them remain from the days of the war, and I was warned not to go off track if I go hiking, for this reason. But these campaign are just pretty awful.

Downtown Belgrade's Memorial to "NATO Aggression"

Today was a long day. First we met a Professor of Psychology at the University of Belgrade, Žarko Korać. He also served as Deputy Prime Minister in the government of Serbia form 2001-2003, and is now a member of Parliament. He was in Belgrade during the NATO bombing in 1999, when the international community stepped in to stop the hostile military regime of the Milosevic government in former Yugoslavia. He told us stories about how NATO only bombed at night so everyone stayed inside after dark and he would drive around because there was no traffic. Many people lived in bomb shelters during this time, for up to 88 days, but he refused and opted to stay in his apartment. On a brief stroll around the campus he revealed to us that many of the stickers and posters we've been seeing all around the city were anti-NATO campaigns. There is still very strong resentment here.

Later, Sitara and I took a walk downtown and found that the buildings bombed by NATO over 10 years ago seem to have been left exactly how they were on that day. Tall buildings with massive holes smashed through them on several street corners. They all had guards surrounding them and it was clear that we weren't allowed to take pictures. But we did because it was too crazy not too.

Now I'm not sure about this, but Serbia seems like it has the money to demolish and rebuild these facilities that were destroyed over 10 years ago. To me it seems almost as if they are being left there intentionally as a reminder to society of what NATO did to them. All throughout the city there was anti-NATO and anti-U.S. propaganda, and these buildings appear to serve this purpose as well. 

Later, we had to find a way to replace the bikes that were stolen from us a few days earlier because the hostel held us accountable... We somehow came to meet this weird guy who had just come back from a long trip to Asia (and may have been a professional snowboarder?), and he agreed to help us get bikes. But really, he just drove us around in his red YUGO - yes those tiny tin-can cars that I could probably single handedly lift and toss into a dumpster ! What's better, is that he named it the Red Dragon. He was at least entertaining; he told us he was recruited to join the mountaineering squad (the civil service that had to secure bomb sites and help any injured people) when the Chinese Embassy was bombed accidentally by NATO in 1999. He drove us past it and recalled reporting for duty and finding out his task was to pack us the massive quantities of U.S. currency that had been strewn about as a result of the building getting hit. Needless to say, we returned to the hostel bikeless and had to cough up 100EUR to replace those busted bikes we were robbed of. It was our fourth night and we were pretty much ready to leave. Thankfully, tomorrow we begin our trip to Kosovo!

Serbija: Touch-down, make party.

I arrived in Belgrade a few hours after my friend Sitara, who had waited for me at the airport. We hopped in a cab together after a little haggling and made our way to the hostel where the rest of the group had already checked in. We stayed at ArkaBarka, which is a floating hostel on the river Danube. The hostel ended up overbooking so they sent me and Sitara to a boat-turned-hostel called "Remember Me" a little ways down the river, just for that night. Following the river is a nice bike path that can take you all over the city. Naturally, the first thing we all did was rent bikes and check out the area.

Our bike gang rolling through Belgrade

View from the Millennium Tower

We found out later that the floating hostel was hosting a happy hour party. We spent a few hours out on the terrace over the river talking to some local Serbs. It was going well until we mentioned we were all going to Kosovo in the next few days; then it turned into them giving their arguments against the legitimacy of Kosovo's independence, bashing Albanians, referring to Kosovo as the "heart of Serbia", and questioning our motives for wanting to go to such a place. It seems best to avoid mentioning our travel plans from now on...

Arguing on the terrace with some locals

Oh, and I should mention, before I arrived in Belgrade I had a layover in London Heathrow. There I ended up chatting with Reuben Droughns, an ex New York Giants player and Superbowl winner (2008 against the Patriots...I googled him later). Anyway, he was on his way to Belgrade too because he is now assistant coach of the Serbian National Team Vukovi Beograd. He invited me to party with him and his football team the following night; I told him I'd get some friends together and see him there.

Me and Reuben at Freestyler

That night three of us borrowed bikes from the hostel and met Reuben at a club called Freestyler, which was also floating on the Danube river. It was pretty amazing, in a weird Balkans kind of way. We got to be VIP with Reuben and his team, which meant having a birds eye view of the club from the reserved balcony and free bottles all night. There were live performances by locals rappers and lots of dancers. Oh, and when we left we found out our bikes had been stolen, so we had to walk home.. Overall pretty hilarious night. 

 

Early Departure: A Stop in Ireland with a Weird Ending

After a semester of studying the history, language and current events of Kosova, our group was finally ready to take off. We all made individual flight arrangements and agreed to meet first in Belgrade for a few days. The reason for the first stop in Serbia is so we can have a Serbia entry stamp in our passports; without this it could be very difficult to re-enter Serbia once we've spent time in Kosovo due to the lack of recognition of Kosovo as a country.

In an attempt to extend the length of this trip from both sides, I opted to meet my friend Shannon in Ireland a week before I had to report to Belgrade. I flew into Shannon (the airport) and met Shannon (the friend) a day or so later. I had been to Ireland before but spent my time in Dublin. This time I got to see much more of the pretty green country-side.

Inside the entrance to Killarney National Park

A sheep-herding dog.

During one of our breaks on a tour of the Rings of Kerry, we met a happy man who was letting people pet his "baby deer" (aka lambs..?) for a euro or two. He also, for some reason, had a bored chihuahua tied to his truck.

Chihuahua getting no attention.

Me petting the baby deer...

Then things got weird... After a nice week in Ireland it was time for me to begin my Balkans tour. I took a bus to the Shannon Airport at night, with a plan to sleep at the airport due to an early morning flight. I couldn't get past security because I was too early, so I slept on some chairs near check-in. 

I woke up a few hours later, only to find everyone was gone, the lights were off and all the doors had been locked! 

It was pretty bizarre to be completely alone in a closed airport, not to mention a security risk if I was some sort of bad-guy. Luckily there was free Wi-Fi and I was able to talk to some friends online and send them this video of my ridiculous predicament. 

Fieldwork Practice: In-Depth Interview

Another skill that was deemed necessary to our rapidly approaching summer internships was the art of interviewing. To break into this new arena, we were to hold a group interview with Nebi Qena, the Associated Press correspondent in Prishtina.

He spoke to us about the parallel system covering all aspects of life that emerged when Belgrade took over the institutions in Kosovo. Ethnic Albanians were expelled from their jobs and their schools, and thus re-created their own. Nebi told us of community members asking ethnic Albanians for the use of their homes to set up parallel schools, and how this new school system involved sitting on the floor, crammed in a tiny room learning with other kids - all of varying ages and levels of study.

Nebi was also a journalist for Koha Ditore, an Albanian Daily newspaper. He covered the war and was expelled to Macedonia. During the time when many people were expelled and the refugee situation was increasing, Koha Ditore created a section of the newspaper for families to write messages to one another, since locating family members was near impossible. Koha distributed these newspapers free for four months in order to help families communicate in the difficult situation.

I enjoyed his stories and perspectives, and I am starting to get a feel for the reality of Kosovo during the past 10  years. It's also interesting to think about how the people who experienced this war at a young age are now my age and have vivid memories of the horrors of war, which to them seems like just yesterday.