My Kosovo
It might sound strange but my entry to the Erasmus+ competition “My Special Person- Our Story” is about a lady I have never met in person, with whom I have never had any communication at all, to be honest, I even do not know her name. All that I know is that she lives in a tiny village in the western part of Kosovo and she truly represents Kosovo and my experience there to me. Moreover, she somehow represents the essence of life to me.
What to think about a place that everybody has heard of but only a few have visited? How to feel about the country that is known for strange food, a weird language, complex history and corruption? What would you do if, one day, you would end up in a place like this? This is what I was thinking when I landed in Pristina, in the middle of the unknown for me.
I believe it was a bit surprising for my family and friends when I announced that I will move abroad for six months. I was never the one who was dreaming about working in a farm in Australia or becoming a babysitter in the USA, I even did not feel that I would like to study in Europe after hearing all the inspiring stories from my friends of their experiences. The bigger was the confusion of my close ones when I told that I applied for a project in Kosovo.
The only question they had was: “Why?’. I have to admit that even now, after the experience, I do not have an answer to that. Somehow deep inside I knew from the beginning that moving to the middle of the “unknown” is a right decision. To illustrate it, I had two weeks to write a project, I had no idea how or what but eventually I managed to do that, while waiting for the result from the national agency I was telling everyone with excitement how I will move to Kosovo soon. So, when I made my first steps at the airport of Pristina I was a bit confused, but it felt right, it felt like home.
It took me about three months to understand my new community with its habits and values, to become familiar with my new job and colleagues, to understand a bit of the language people were speaking around me, but moreover, to understand my role in all of it. After becoming more comfortable in the new environment, I decided to spend some of my free time in an orphanage near my (new!) hometown. Now I can say, that it was one of the best decisions of my life. Memories of all the great moments I had with those children and their smiling faces, was a great treasure to take back home with me.
But the beginning was jumping in the middle of the unknown once again. Since the organization is Italian and I do not speak a word of it, it was difficult to communicate with anyone. So, when I arrived there the first day, I had much time to wander around the house before I met any children. And this is the story of how I met my special person. She was there, on the wall: a picture of the most expressive face I have ever seen. I was amused!
This picture had everything: joy, sadness, life long experience, spark of hope and sufferings. Look at that picture. What do you think: are those tears of joy or tears of sorrow? I believe, it is up to you. And this is what I realized, standing there couple minutes before meeting the children who really changed my life, that it is really up to us how we see people, things, places or adventures around us.
I “met” my special person every single week for the next three months. When I left, I took it with me back home. And probably that very special lady does not even know that her picture is on someone’s wall 2000km from her, reminding someone every morning that everything is up to ourselves.