Life in Kosovo

Kosovo for Beginners

Try to imagine life in Kosovo... Serbs and Albanians hate each other. One must not speak Serbian language (and no difference is with Bosnian or Croatian language) in Albanian region and vice versa. People unite hostility towards each other and uncertainty about their future... This summer, I had spent two weeks in Kosovska Mitrovica, Pec, Pristina and this text is my observation of the spot


By BELMA BULJUBAŠIĆ
from Sarajevo, BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA


For contemporary world Kosovo represents one of the riskiest places for living. This is the environment in which the most important things are your name and language, depending on which one would (or would not) be welcome for a visit. Whichever solution they find for Kosovo, it wouldn't be a good one. It is the fact! We can't experience anything nice here, was the unanimous opinion of both Albanians and Serbs from Kosovo.

Kosovska Mitrovica (once known as Titova Mitrovica) constitutes two parts - North Mitrovica (where Serbs live) and South Mitrovica (where live Albanians). The two sides share a bridge over the Ibar River, and every crossing from one side to the other is a very dangerous trip. Incidents on the bridge are often and every access to the bridge is a genuine risk. You can pay it with your own life, say people from both sides of Mitrovica.

North Mitrovica is smaller part of town with near 15,000 citizens (including about 7,000 students). After Kosovo crisis in 1999, North Mitrovica practically became a city of students. Previous University of Pristina moved to North Mitrovica, and nowadays it is the place exclusively attended by students of Serbian nationality, while the Albanian students are studying in their own facilities of University of Pristina. Night life in this part of city proved to be very interesting, and it was quite a surprise for me. We are in very stressful situation for years, and we must have something to relax. This is our way to do it, say young people from North Mitrovica. Albanians are considered the worst enemy and are never called for joint "hang out". Employment seems to be a delicate subject here, too. People mainly work in private shops such as cafés, markets, etc, and could be seen on every corner. Older people spend most of their time in buffets being disappointed about their lives and their destinies. Nobody knows what will happen with Kosovo, life is really stressful, they claim.

National Icons and Religious Simbols

Throughout North Mitrovica, schools and cultural institutions are full of photos portraying war criminals: Ratko Mladic, Radovan Karadzic or Slobodan Milosevic, but if I asked someone why would they set them in this type of institutions, they would always give the same answer: These are our national heroes and they must be here. Youngsters spenda lot of of their time in front of TV, where they mainly find trash and cheap program broadcasted for citizens living abroad. Another popular pastime represents local competitions in religious symbols. A person wearing the most religious symbols (like crosses, chaplets, etc) is considered the biggest patriot in society and, as such, the winner of the competition.

South Mitrovica is bigger part of town where only Albanian language can be heard, while Serbian language is unwelcome. Albanians don't discern accents and dialects, so, if you don't speak Albanian, try to communicate in any other language but Serbian, otherwise you are in danger of being treated as one 'of them'.

For example, when we went visiting famous Patriarchate in Pec and monarchy in Decany, we had to pass through huge part of Albanian territory. It was a dangerous trip, so we were under the guard of police. However, when our bus passed there, Albanians had stopped all their works and focused on insulting us. They showed middle fingers, threw at us stones, cups, bottles, anything found around them, for the Serbs are number one enemies and they don't want to speak with them. We were with Serbs, so we were the enemies as well.

The Capital in which Bill Clinton is treated as God

The capital of Kosovo is Pristina. Before Kosovo crisis it had about 200.000 citizens, while nowadays Pristina counts between 600.000 and 700.000 citizens. The increase in figures happened after the crisis, when a number of people arrived from Albania. Pristina today is a modern city, and you can see a lot of new buildings. There are lot of cultural and musical events organized. The official language is Albanian, but one can also speak Serbian (it is not as risky as in South Mitrovica).

When we were to visit in Pristina, my friend from Croatia said: Can you imagine reaction of Albanian people if I would ask what is the second biggest town in Serbia? Is it Pristina, maybe? And I really couldn't! For, the first sentence you hear from an Albanian is: Here is Kosova, not Kosovo. Serbs call it Kosovo, and we say so! On the other hand, it is warmly recommended to speak English, for the Americans are famous in Pristina. The main square in the city is called after William Bill Clinton, entire block is devoted to him, American Independence day (July 4th) is nationally celebrated for couple of days and one of well-known fashion stores is named Hillary (like Clinton's wife).

The hatred works both ways, because the Serbs don`t like Albanians either. They say that Albanians are wild, stupid, primitive, dirty... They are don't have basic culture nor style. They don't want to see how one can easily meet young people with attitude, behaviour, and style equal to those seen in other European cities. Luckily, we still can hear different opinions. Even though Albanian majority don't like Serbs, one can hear young voices from Kosovo/Kosova stating that Serbs and Albanian used to each other. But, it was before 100 years ago and is ancient history now.

To sum up, general situation in the Kosovo is horrific. I never felt that much hatred inn my whole life (stemming from both parts). You could breath hatred without understanding it. I still don't. That may be the reason why I don`t know what will happen with Kosovo/Kosova. If someone would ask me whether I would go to Kosovo again, my quick response would be: In some other life, maybe. I have had it enough! But, really!