Psychosocial Notebook - IOM Publications - International ...

Psychosocial Notebook, Volume 2, October 2001
the nicest experiences of all. I have never had any problems, absolutely
no problems at all. There were no conflicts, I mean, I keep only the nicest
possible memories that one can keep. Even now, at home, where I have
a satellite dish, sometimes about one or two o’clock in the morning when
I cannot sleep, I switch on the Turkish TV and listen to Turkish music, I
cry my eyes out, I cry like a little baby. …I cannot be as happy as I used
to be before. Apart from that, I can function as a normal person, but only
partially. It means that I can be fine for, I would not know how long, for
example for five, six, seven days and then a phase would come when
something takes me back to the past. A song, that happens often, or a
scent, the sun, the wind. I don’t know, those are the most basic things
people do not seem to notice. When such things disappear, one realizes
how important they are. I miss my fork and spoon, my plate, bed, my
walks along the town, I miss the Albanian language the most (she slowly
starts crying). No matter how strange it could sound, I miss Albanian
language. And Turkish, too, I miss the khoja five times a day and I miss
the mosques. Life in a single-ethnic environment is definitely not for me
(wipes the tears away)… [We] had our ritual, every year before going on
holidays we would go to the eighth floor, there was a terrace and we
would go sunbathing. We did it again, ignoring the planes that were flying
and the bombs that were falling on the barracks. We were splashing
each other with water and having fun and we were at home with ourselves.
Well, if something was to happen to us, it could happen any place.
At night we would not go to shelters, we had our schedule. One day it
was my place, another day – hers, and on the next day it would be some
other neighbour’s place. We were drinking coffee, alcohol, playing cards,
listening to the music. We were doing our best to forget the bitter reality.
[(G27): Serb woman, 25, from an urban environment, teacher of English
as a foreign language. Her best friend is an Albanian woman living in the
same apartment block].
Question: What were your relations with the Shiptars before 1989
when you say they deteriorated? Was there any friendship?
Subject: Yes, there was. My Albanian neighbour, she used to come to
our place at least twice or three times a day. We talked to
each other after the war and she moved into our flat. We
phoned twice. She told me not to worry and that they’d buy
us a flat.
Question: Do you think they’ll pay for your flat?
Subject: Yes, they will, they said they would.
Question: Do you think that you’d be able to live together in Kosovo
again?
Subject: Yes, I do. Not all Albanians are terrorists. Not all of them
want to separate. A lot of them want to live together with us.
My neighbour, for example. She’s like that. We used to work
together. There was an Albanian, a Serbian and a Turkish
woman at work. We all worked for the same person. We
couldn’t even eat an apple without sharing it first.
[(G5) Serbian man, aged 50, with a meaningful experience of solidarity
with his Albanian neighbours and some hope for a future of coexistence
of Serbs and Albanians in Kosovo].
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