Photos from Prizren - July 16, 2008

----Kristin McHugh-Johnston

Visit to Prizren

I travel around the world for my job at the Stanley Foundation. So you would think by now I would be used to the disorientation that sometimes comes with traveling nearly half-way around the world in little more than 24 hours. I’m not. I am always amazed at how quickly an airplane (even with a long layover) can take me to a new culture. And I continue to be amazed at how difficult it is to adjust to the time difference that goes along with global travel (we are seven hours ahead of Muscatine time).

In 2005, the Muscatine Kosovo group spent the night in London on the way to Pristina. As you know by now, we didn’t have to spend an entire night waiting to catch a flight to Kosovo. The good news is that eliminating the overnight layover helped us stretch our budget. What we saved in Euros has been erased by jet lag.

Another Familiar Place
Liz travels back and forth between the US and Kosovo often enough to understand how jet lag can be difficult to deal with for the first couple of days after arrival. I suspect this is why she scheduled our group to visit the beautiful southern Kosovo city of Prizren on Wednesday afternoon.

One of our 2005 guides told us Prizren was once the capital of Kosovo and was part of the Roman Empire. It doesn’t take long to realize some of Prizren’s prized buildings are more than 1000 years old.

This was my third visit to Prizren. Keith and I spent an afternoon here in 2002 and the group spent a day here in 2005. We started our visit at a museum run by the Albanian League of Prizren. Our adults were fascinated with what they learned, but as you can imagine, the youth from Muscatine and Kosovo were not as enthralled with the museum.

I could almost see the signs of relief on the youth’s faces when we gave them the option of visiting the city’s historic Turkish bathhouse or Prizren’s famed fortress. A handful including Ric Smith, Kelli Hindrichs, and Diana Baker toured the Turkish bath. The rest visited the ancient fortress.

The fortress overlooks the entire city. Visitors must endure a mile-long steep, winding, and narrow road to reach the fortress’ crumbling entrance. I remember questioning my sanity when I made the walk in 2005. Today I was questioning why I didn’t learn my lesson last time. I (and many of the adults in the group) stopped frequently to catch my breath. In the end, I am glad I made the hike. The view of Prizren from the fortress is still breathtaking (literally!).

A First Hand View of Destruction
Large construction cranes and newly constructed apartment buildings are the most obvious signs of Prizren’s expanding prosperity. But the path to the fortress has not changed for the better since our 2005 trip. The area just below the fortress was a Serb enclave up until ethnic violence in March 2004 destroyed the hillside neighborhood. Then, riots swept across Kosovo after a group of young Albanian boys drowned in the river that divides the flashpoint town of Mitrovica (in northern Kosovo).

The burned-out shells of former houses and shops are frozen in time, save for some added weeds. For our new travelers, this former Serb enclave was their first glimpse of the widespread destruction Keith and I saw throughout Kosovo in 2002.

I must admit I was stunned the former Serb enclave had not been rebuilt. The international community demanded Kosovo’s majority ethnic Albanians guarantee the rights of the several thousand Serbians that remained here after the 1999 war, as well as those of the other minorities as a condition of independence. KFOR billboards plastered throughout major cities and Kosovo roads urge Kosovars to “Be Tolerant.” I do believe Kosovo has come a long way since the 1999 conflict. But the ruins of Prizren’s Serb enclave are a vivid reminder that the deep seated mistrust between the Kosovars and Serbs will likely take a very long time to heal.

Until next time...Kristin McHugh-Johnston

Novosell School Photos - Wednesday, July 16

On Wednesday morning, the adults and youth divided into two groups and worked at two different schools. I was at the Novosell, a Catholic school in a Catholic settlement several miles outside Gjakove proper. Here are some photo highlights.

Art with Jon

Song Class with Lori

English Class with Aimee

----Kristin McHugh-Johnston

Return to Slovene Village

We started the day in the place where this great exchange first began on a blustery night in November 2002: Slovene Village.

Slovene Village, located on the outskirts of Gjakove, is a displacement camp. Built by the Slovenian government immediately after the 1999 war, Slovene Village was intended to be temporary housing for people who lost everything. Eight years after the fighting ended, roughly two-dozen families still live in Slovene.

Keith Porter and I first visited Slovene Village in 2002. Residents live in white-rectangular buildings that are no larger than an American semi-trailer truck. At one time there were shared kitchens and outhouses and a large recreation center where Liz held weekly classes for Slovene’s youth.

Slovene was clearly dilapidated age when the group visited in 2005. Liz had warned me ahead of this trip that Slovene was rapidly “falling apart.” I thought I was prepared for the worst, but my audible gasp as we turned into the drive told me and my fellow van passengers that conditions were far worse than I had feared.

Music Among the Rubble
Slovene’s entrance gate and sign are no longer there. The large pile of trash and rubble at the entrance was, unfortunately, familiar. But the overflowing gray dumpster Keith and I saw in 2002 and the group witnessed in 2005 was strangely missing. The outhouses long ago lost their doors, windows, and floors (it is hard to imagine they are still in use). Fire has clearly damaged some houses. Concrete slabs are all that is left of others. The recreation center where we shared so many memories in 2002 and 2005 is now boarded up.

But my despair at the living conditions was quickly replaced with smiles. The camp’s youth greeted us with cheers of joy as our vans pulled to a stop. They were excited to see us, but even more excited to see Liz. It has been several months since she has visited Slovene Village, although her youth volunteers continue to hold weekly classes in the camp when the weather is good.

Weather is crucial during a Slovene visit because the recreation center is now closed. A rocky, weed-infested field adjacent to the camp now serves as the music “classroom.” No one seemed bothered by the less than perfect classroom setting. The Shropshire volunteers and our Muscatine youth launched into a great rendition of “Skip to My Lou” and the Slovene Village youth quickly joined in with such enthusiasm it was sometimes hard for the adults to contain their laughter. In short order, the Slovene youth were signing old favorites including the interactive “Popcorn” song.

If I didn’t already know I was in Kosovo, I could be forgiven for mistaking the scene for the Wesley United Methodist Church music camp. It only continues to prove what I have said before: music and laughter are universal, no matter what language.

Future is Unknown
Slovene Village’s future is more uncertain than ever. Since Keith and I first visited in 2002 there have been numerous reports that the camp would close “soon.” Liz reports the electricity was cut off to the camp for several months after our 2005 visit in an attempt to force residents to leave. Burim, Liz’s Kosovor program coordinator, told me today that residents received a letter in recent days telling them the camp would close in two weeks. Residents have formally appealed to local government officials for more time to find alternative housing. It is unclear whether those appeals will be taken seriously or fall on deaf ears. We may learn more in the coming days. The group is schedule to return to Slovene a few more times before the end of our trip.

Rapid Weather Change
Stifling heat greeted our group as we landed in Pristina yesterday and nightfall did very little to ease the sticky conditions in Gjakove. Our group arrived at Slovene Village armed with sunscreen and extra bottles of water to help ward off another day of hot sun. But within an hour of our arrival a sudden and unexpected thunderstorm began pouring buckets of rain on the anointed classroom field. As the rain pelted the van windows as we pulled away from Slovene Village, I couldn’t help but wonder if the rain was actually tears for the residents who seemingly have nowhere else to go.

Until next time...Kristin McHugh-Johnston

New Videos Available

I have posted two videos from the trip thus far. The first covers our travels from Muscatine to Gjakova: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9BqSZhOBB7g

And the other is a video a made for blogger Charlie Brown about Slovene Village: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZIUBuN4iNQ4

Slovene Village is a camp for people still displaced by the 1999 war. It is one of several places where Liz Shropshire's youth volunteers run music activities.

-Keith Porter

Return to Slovene Village - Day One Photos

Our first stop after a full night's sleep was Slovene Village, a dilapidated camp for people displaced by the c1999 war. Those who still live there have nowhere else to go. Here are a few photos I took in the hour we were there (we were driven away by a sudden and unexpected thunderstorm). My story is forthcoming....after I get some sleep. ----Kristin McHugh-Johnston