Kosova miscellaneous

I had no idea what it was like to fall in love with a country. I left two things is Kosova: my shampoo and a large part of my heart.

Tung, shoku im.

Goodbye, my friend. And goodbye everybody we met along the way. Hopefully I'll see you sooner than later.

Illegal mining

For some living in the Kosovar village of Zhilivoda, mining is the only way to make ends meet. With the Kosovo Energy Corporation (KEK) snatching up any coal deposits they can find, some Zhilivoda land owners have chosen to take advantage of the deposits found in their backyards and dig on their property. The mines are not regulated by any safety standards and miners could work all day for three days but earn only 50 euro, which will be split four or more ways. Just two months ago, a miner in Zhilivoda was killed in a collapse just a few hundred yards from his house.

Bajrush Berisha

Bajrush Berisha is the community leader in the Roma village of Plementina. Roma in modern Kosovo are extremely discriminated against. The children have to work twice as hard to achieve half of that of an Albanian child. "Who (were) the poorest people before the war and after the war?" he said. "The answer will always be the Roma and the Egyptians."

Refka Terrnava

Refka Terrnava lives in the shadow of the power plant where her husband worked until 2004, when he accidentally severed his leg at the knee. There were no emergency vehicles at the plant, so some co-workers drove him on a tractor to a nearby health clinic. When they finally got there, everybody at the clinic was on lunch break. Refka's husband bled to death.

Venas Berisha

Wants to buy a rifle to protect his four sisters from stray Kosovar dogs, refers to himself as "Bill Clinton's brother".

This used to be a family blog

Sorry, Mom.

This is, after all, a photoblog

So I had to post an image with this reminder: I am going to Kosovo. There wasn't anything better to post to represent a trip that may or may not involve roaches under the mattress, daily Serbian protests, homeless Albanians and an illegal mining operation in an unstable cave. See you when I get back. Have a good spring break.

Also, you can track our progress at http://unlkosovo.blogspot.com/.

Garden Square assisted living

Crete, Neb.