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easons, and because of the NATO bombing, Rozafa stopped attending
school in fourth grade, and Baftjar was not able to obtain his certificate as
an electricity technician.
Skender [age: 34, male], also from Vucitrn, arrived in Florence two years
ago looking for work. He was also prevented from returning to Kosovo
because of the deteriorating political situation there. He vigorously criticized
what he called the “double nationalism”, both Albanian and Serb,
recalling the cultural and ethnic pluralism that once existed in Kosovo, and
before this, in socialist Yugoslavia.
Musa [age: 30, male] and Naim [age: 26, male] are two young men who
came to Italy between 1992 and 1993, looking for work and for escape
from the economic and political crisis of the former Yugoslavia. Musa was
born in Mitrovica where he worked as a professional welder. In Italy, his
first job consisted of cleaning car windows at traffic lights. He brought his
wife to Italy a few months after his arrival. He claimed to be happy in Italy
because local doctors assisted his wife in her efforts to become pregnant.
They now have six children, all of them born on Italian soil. Naim was
born and lived in Vucitrn, where he attended an Albanian school for six
years. He joined his brother in Italy in 1993. Because of their Yugoslavian
passports, he, like Musa, had no difficulty entering the country. It was,
however, much harder for him and his friends to obtain residence and work
permits. He receives news from Kosovo only rarely and with difficulty. He
does not know how many Romany are still in the region, though he and his
friends are aware that most of their possessions, including their homes,
have been either confiscated or destroyed. In Italy, Naim works for a delivery
agency. His main concern is finding a house; even though he has all of
the necessary documents and possesses enough money, most of the Italian
landlords do not want to rent land to the Romany.
Lecce and Brindisi, Southern Italy
Psychosocial Notebook, Volume 2, October 2001
Of the Kosovar Albanian and Rom families who fled illegally across the
Adriatic on very fast motor-ships or motorized dinghies to avoid being
spotted by the Italian police or other forces, many arrived in Brindisi,
where a Caritas Diocesana reception centre is located. This is where
Gezim [age: 39, male] and Violça [age: 30, female], both from Deva,
found refuge, together with their two children. Gezim and his wife are
Muslim. He has a degree in Commerce and worked as an entrepreneur
before 1998, while Violça cared for the home. Today, their living and
health conditions are precarious, especially for Violça, who contracted a
case of thrombosis in Kosovo. In Kosovo, the family also witnessed
killings and was subjected to military intimidation violent enough to force
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