“As much as I was looking forward this trip, I also had my doubts. But from the moment I stepped off that plane and met the welcomes from old friends and new, I knew this would be a very fun couple of weeks. I know that some people don’t understand why we have friends in our lives. Some even think that they are just there to stand beside us. Yet I know that they are there for an even bigger purpose. Friends are there to give you a helping hand, comfort you when you are down, and not only stand beside you, but catch you when you fall. Here I have felt the strength of that bond called friendship. I felt that friendship when I played Frisbee and jump rope with the little boy from Slovene. I know I will never forget the look he gave me when we started playing. So even when I am back in Muscatine, I will never forget the help people here have given me, whether they have been old friends or new people that I now call my friends. And even though an ocean separates us, that will not stop me from keeping the friends I have made here.”----Marina Calzaretta
“My trip to Kosovo this year is really something to remember. The people are very kind and giving. When we were at one of the camps, there was a boy making a friendship bracelet. He messed it up and then decided to make a new one, so he gave it to me. He said, ‘Are you going to put it on?’ I said I was going to save it. The bracelet is special to me and I think it was very kind of him to give it to me even though he didn’t have to.” ----Madeline Hartman
“Words cannot express what I have experienced the last 9 days here in Gjakove. The children that we work with in the schools are eager to learn, and thrive on the attention they receive. Probably the most heartfelt moments come from Slovene Village. It’s hard to believe the conditions these families are left to live in, and yet they are full of love. Funny how we come to give to others and ironically we will come home with so much more.” ----Aimee Wedeking
“Lying in bed at 4 a.m. last Thursday, I caught a whiff of burning garbage for the first time since our arrival Monday afternoon. This is actually a small sign of progress in Gjakove. That smell was a near constant companion on my previous trips here; prevalent enough to cause breathing problems for some of our participants days and weeks after our return to Muscatine.” ----Keith Porter
Until next time...Kristin McHugh-Johnston
