Pacific Cascades Area
AFS Intercultural Programs

AFS is the leading high school foreign exchange program, with opportunities to live and study in over 50 countries worldwide. 

A LETTER FROM KOSOVO

Editor's Note: This letter is from e-mail messages between several of our local AFS folks, and Arianit Dobroshi, a 16 year old ethnic Albanian living in Kosova. Arianit contacted us through our website and asked if we would share his letter about the importance of AFS in today's world. There are many barriers to peace in the Balkans; yet, judging from this letter, there is hope for the future. Let Arianit's letter speak for itself about the mission of AFS.

Greetings from free Kosova. My name is Arianit Dobroshi. I write from Gjakova in western Kosova, a town with 101,000 inhabitants, together with NATO troops and some other people who were responsible for organizing urgent aid and rebuilding. Many of them are now my friends. They suggested me to check the possibility of being an exchange student. This is how I contacted AFS. I am trying to tell my story so what have happened in Kosova never happen again in the world.

In 1981 we, Albanians made some big demonstrations seeking first Republic and afterwards full independence. In June 1989 Slobodan Milosevic a little known communist leader at that time, promised to Serbs that he would free them from Albanians in a short time. A crowd of 2 million Serbs applauded him and under support of the state controlled television he arrived to be the president of Serbia. On the field where Milosevic spoke (near Prishtina, Kosova’s capital) exactly 600 years ago Serbs, Bosnians, Hungarians and Albanians fought against the Ottomans. The battle was lost and with the battle people of the Balkans lost their freedom for almost 500 years. Serbian Academy of Science tried for many years to represent that battle as call for renewal of the Serbian people and 1989 was time to regain the honor, which they lost 600 years ago.

In 1990 I started school, though 2 months later than usual because of fear of war. Serbs evacuated their children from Kosova; this was enough to realize that we were next targets of Serbs. But it didn’t happen; we continued our school. Now my school building was separated between Serbs and us. The war didn’t happen in Kosova, while in other parts of Yugoslavia it was going on all the time. I remember that before I entered the school Serb principal was very friendly to my sister who was been already attending the school. Afterwards she from time to time closed the door of the school, called the police to beat our teachers and left us to study in cold.

We knew something was going wrong between Serbs and us but we couldn’t understand all that hate. My friends and I decided to take revenge (I was only 10 years old) by beating Serbian children who were waiting for the bus. When I went home I realized that they were not guilty of what our parents and grand parents have done for years.

Beginning of 1998 brought the first massacres against Albanians as a result of Serbian police killed by Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA). Attacks continued all the time (in villages) but (larger) towns were saved from attacks. My town’s population was becoming bigger while the villagers fled their homes and came in town. In the town mainly are destroyed cultural objects. It was not a war; you can freely call it terror. Only women and children were allowed. In the meantime their fathers and husbands lived in the forests. During that time we heard the first news about a terrible Serb plan prepared to perform in spring to get rid of Albanians in Kosova. During the winter KLA prepared for spring’s battle too. Afraid of this the western governments tried to organize talks between two sides. They achieved this only after a massacre happened in a village near Prishtina. It was a massacre just like others except this time in a few hours the biggest world television networks were in the site of crime. Under constant pressure of western countries Serbs went to talk with Albanians. The talks failed, each side accusing the other.

On the following days all foreigners withdrew from Kosova. I was very happy to see them withdrawing because I understood that the west at last is serious. Maybe you don’t understand me if I thank you and all Americans for helping us. Without help of your country today I wouldn’t be alive or would be wondering around somewhere in Europe. In my neighborhood only three (Albanian) families stayed there, one of them was my family. In one neighborhood where population was more concentrated Serbs arranged an action where they jailed 1017 Albanian men, there were some of my friends too. Still today they are jailed in Serbia, accused for terrorism. After the bombing, Serbs all left together with the Serbian police in Serbia. The town was empty; there were not enough people to celebrate our rebirth. Two days before Serbs left, our Serb neighbor greeted my mother, (for the first time) after 17 years of neighborhood. KLA who has been fighting in the mountains for 2 years came in town together with NATO troops. Today every Serb speaking man is in danger in my town. People don’t want to listen that language. They have lost their children, relatives, houses everything. Responsible for that they see every Serb.

For many people war is still going on. Every Friday children, fathers and mothers of the 1017 jailed men protest and require release of them. Without the release of them no one will listen you talking about coexistence with Serbs. Serbs were victims of their state controlled TV. Their president can manage their feelings by TV. We abandoned state television. We were directed toward satellite TV and had access of all major news channels like CNN and BBC. I’m sure that if Serbs could have the chance to learn more about our culture, our everyday life, and forget hostilities caused in the Middle Ages, they would not come here to fight.

My family is safe now though for many other families that is not a reality yet. The problems are concentrated in two particular zones. The first one is a mining town called Mitrovica located near the border with Serbia. A bridge separates the town between Albanians and Serbs. I’m afraid that if we don’t do something it will be a kind of Berlin wall. The other problem is called Rahovec. During the war it was the sight of two massacres on Albanians. Serbs shelled it from a hill overlooking the town. After I felt the terror in my town, every war like that going on now in Chechnya makes me remember the pain of war days. Kosova and Chechnya are extremely similar and I feel too bad being unable to help them. It’s the third millennium now and people are still fighting each other. God help them! Through satellite TV I can see some European and American channels like BBC, CNN and MTV. A month ago on CNN’s Q&A as guests were invited a Palestinian and an Israeli teenager. They are raising a fund through selling calendars called PEACE CALENDAR (www.peacecalendar.com). With those money they build Internet centers where teenagers of both parties can exchange meanings about things concerning them. These centers are crucial for them keeping in mind that they live only half an hour from each other but they have to wait in line to cross the border. That would be a wonderful project between Albanian and Serbian teenagers.What AFS is doing makes me hope that one-day (I hope very soon) nations will live together without having an army between them. I wish to your mission all the best on the new millennium.

Last revision October 22, 2006