[Serbians wanted to get rid of us and take over our land. We had not had our freedom since Tito, the president of Yugoslavia, died and Milosevic became president. Milosevic wanted war with everyone, not just Kosovo. Thinking about what he did to both Bosnia and Kosovo makes me hate him more everyday.]
http://www.masslive.com/living/republican/index.ssf?/base/living-0/111329245 5140\990.xml&coll=1 SPRINGFIELD REPUBLICAN (MASSACHUSSETTS, USA) Home to Kosovo Tuesday, April 12, 2005 By BLERINA ADEMI Springfield Central High In 1997, Serbians attacked Kosovo. Although I was only 10, I knew what was going on because it was obvious. Serbians wanted to get rid of us and take over our land. We had not had our freedom since Tito, the president of Yugoslavia, died and Milosevic became president. Milosevic wanted war with everyone, not just Kosovo. Thinking about what he did to both Bosnia and Kosovo makes me hate him more everyday. My family and I went back and forth to many different places to get away from war. Everywhere we went, war come to us! All the time, it seemed we were saying, "Come on we have to leave now!" The sad thing about it was, no one family was ever together. It was as if half stayed back home, and the other half had to leave. This is what the Serbians wanted, to have us all separated and to never see each other. When the time came for my family's separation, I couldn't believe it. It was in 1998 when my mom, two brothers and I left for the city. My dad and two brothers were left in the mountains. That hurt me; it killed me. I wanted to be home and I didn't want to leave but I had to. I didn't even get to say good-bye to my friends because there was no time. The last time I saw them was the last day of school. We went to Pristina, the capital of Kosovo. A few weeks later President Bill Clinton sent in his troops to support us, after he had already warned Milosovic to stop the war. We thought we were going to die in Pristina! Thank God for the Americans who saved our lives! Two months later at the camp, my family was told we had to go to America or wait until the war was done and return to Kosovo. I got in touch with my two brothers in Germany who left before war. They told me to tell my mom to go to the U.S. It was very sad because none of us wanted to go to the U.S. without knowing where the rest of our family was. I kept thinking: would they be dead? Where could they be? In jail? In the mountains? All these questions increased my depression a lot. Our decision was made. My family, including my dad and three of my brothers, came to America. My older brother in Germany returned to Kosovo to say good-bye before my father's departure. This brother, no longer a minor, did not qualify to leave with the family. Four years later, I returned to Kosovo for this brother's wedding. My stay was short and I didn't travel around much but I could see big change in Kosovo. The war was over, thanks to the Americans, and many people had built nice houses and settled in nice areas of Kosovo. There were still some burned houses but mainly because the owners may not have survived the war or went to a different country. My family finally finished building a new house while I was there, right where our old house was demolished. This past winter I got to return again and, this time got to observe much more and to meet my new nephew - Erlis. I was so happy to see my brother Bujar again and sister-in-law Vlora. They took me to a lot of different places. I could see TV's influence on people's fashion and heard a lot more variety of music. Rap and hip-hop are really popular there. It seems that what any other country has, my country has it now too. Some people in Kosovo didn't seem to care as much as they used to about helping others. There are selfish people everywhere, but there seemed to be more these days in Kosovo than I remember. As the saying goes, "a man is a boss," men still take more control than women. Still, everyone has a lot more freedom, especially the girls, which they always wanted. Yes, a lot of changes, good and bad. However, the most important is that everyone is surviving with what they made and people are back in schools. Here are some excerpts from the diary I kept on my visit to Kosovo this winter. Dec. 12, 2004: It took me 24 hours to get to Kosovo. I was on the plane for 12 hours and the rest of the hours were stops: Washington, D.C. and Vienna. I met a man on the plane. He was going to Bosnia. He told me that he had worked in Macedonia and had gone to Kosovo once for a job. He basically works where countries need help. I would like to do something where I can travel for my job. I love to travel so that would be nice. When I got on the plane in Vienna, I met 15 girls from the U.S. They were dancers going to perform in Kosovo. They were really nice and we had a really good conversation. Dec. 13, 2004: Today is a new day for me, everything is different. First thing I did when I got up was give my baby nephew a bath! He is so cute. He is sick at the moment, though he is generally healthy. I go to see other family. It is very nice seeing them again but they don't seem too happy. I think they seem unhappy because I didn't bring them anything. But I didn't come here to bring anyone anything. I came here to take care of my baby nephew and see my family. I guess war can change people more than I thought. Dec. 15, 2004: Today after I gave the baby a bath and I ate, my brother takes me to Kosovo. It is full of young and old. It is nice to go once and see. The boys are crazy! When they see a nice looking girl, they follow her but only if she is alone! I'm not alone so that is good! The city girls dress very open but the country girls are more respectful. They don't want to embarrass themselves by showing skin. They have much more respect for their parents. The girls in the city don't even say where they go. Now that's a change. Teenagers just go out and they stay out as long as they want. I saw little kids smoke. If I smoked, my parents would kill me. They have trust in me because I would never smoke. Plus, I always yell at anyone in my family who smokes. Dec. 23, 2004: For the past week, I've been home with the baby. He is not sick anymore. He makes me so happy. If he cries, I just smile at him and he starts to smile even if he is still crying! I love him so much. Today is my sister-in-law's birthday. One of my brothers from Springfield came two days ago for the holidays and it is his birthday too. The days are going by really fast. I can't believe it! A lot of my friends in the U.S. wrote to me probably but I haven't check my email. I'm having second thoughts about coming back. I really like it here. It feels really good spending time with my brother here. Dec. 25, 2004: Today I was hope with the baby and my sister-in-law's mom. We had fun. My family from the U.S. called. I talked to all of them and they miss me! I miss everyone too. Vlora's brother Elvis helped me do some math homework. He is smart at math. I can do math only if it is explained very clearly. He helped me and I was thankful for that. Elvis took my journal that I keep with poetry and read one of my poems in English. I didn't know he spoke English. When he translated the poem, I was a little mad but got over it. I usually write when I'm angry to get the anger out because I don't have a sister to talk to when I get mad. I did write a poem about my brother how I miss him and how I have seen him in years. It was written in Albanian and when I gave it to him he cried. This made me cry too but it was happy tears. Merry Christmas to all. Dec. 28, 2004: Today I am going into a city called Prizren. I have been doing my homework. That's why I haven't been writing much. Some more family came but not everyone has called or visited. I guess people do change. I'm really sad because all these days I haven't see any of my old friends. I think they moved or got married. Girls in Kosovo usually get married earlier because if the get to the age of 24 and are not married, they say they are "too old." I think this is really stupid because I would not want to get married at 19 or 20. I went to America young and have become like an American but I understand my culture. I have respect for my parents even though sometimes the rules they have for girls make me mad. Still, I'd rather keep peace between my family then go to a movie with a friend (male) and have them get mad at me. My friends understand and don't force me to go. Dec. 30, 2004: Today I relaxed a little bit because I was really tired from not sleeping all night. I just don't want to leave here. I know I'm going to miss it a lot. You know what I haven't told you. Well, it's kind of strange because it's just how people are. hehe. Well, three people already tried to talk to me about getting married. They asked me if I wanted to get married!! I was very shocked because I'm only in high school. I thought they were crazy so I asked one of them, "How many marbles did you lose?" Get it? haha. Well, they didn't get it so I had to explain it. I told them no I don't want to get married at this age and if I wanted I'd find one myself. They just want me to bring them to America or they want to get married for money. I don't like the way they are presenting themselves. They need to stop and think and say to themselves, "What am I doing, where is this going to take me? Obviously nowhere." This is my story for today. Dec. 31, 2004: Today we have family over because of New Year's Eve. There is a lot of food, like salads and a lot of meat cooked in different shapes and with different stuff. In fact, we might open a restaurant! The baby is being very good tonight. He is not crying. He looks so cute in his suit with a tie! I took a lot of pictures. You'll see them! Jan. 1, 2005: I can't believe the years are going by so quickly. Last night I had a really good time. It was the best holiday I ever had. I was so happy to spend New Year's with my Bujar, oldest brother, for the first time in 11 years. He is happy too to have two of his siblings here. You know I might not go back...But I have a home in the U.S. So I can't stay here. Jan. 2, 2005: It's been three days and I haven't slept yet. Tonight is my last night! I keep waking up the baby but he doesn't cry. I leave in one more hour. I'm really sad to leave. I will miss them here. It has been an interesting trip. I met some selfish people and some nice people. I also had a great time laughing at my brother's English! But he was trying, so I give him credit for that. You know when you say to someone, "Don't listen to them." Well, my brother would tell me, "Don't hear them." He used "hear" instead of "listen." Learning English (proper English) is not easy. I think since I came here, I started to forget some English! My trip back was very tiring because of plane delays. I met a few really nice Albanians from Kosovo and Albania. There were going to Florida. I traveled back across the Atlantic with them. I also had a good conversation with a guy from Salt Lake City. He majored in Arabic and was telling me how he travels around. He has seven brothers and sisters. I though I was the only one who had a lot of siblings! From Washington to Boston, I fell asleep and felt like it took two minutes to get there! At left, the village of Strofc in Kosovo from which Central High student Belerina Ademi feld Serbian oppression in the former Republic of Yugoslavia in 1999. Below, Ademi's sister-in-law, Vlora, prepares food for the 2005 New Year's feast, inset, in the Ademi home, bottom, in Strofc. At left, middle, Blerina enjoys the holiday in Kosovo with nephew and Vlora's son Erlis, 7 months. Serbian News Network - SNN [email protected] http://www.antic.org/
