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