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 />
…and while we were passing through one of the main roads, I said: “Oh,<br />
don’t you think that this part of the town has became too rural, that it’s<br />
full of peasants here?” [And she replied] “Oh, you are quite right,<br />
because it’s really like that!”. I had noticed that already, but now I had it<br />
confirmed by her. I mean, it was never like this; you have people without<br />
any taste just taking the pavement as if it were their own, or putting<br />
these containers [the kiosks] wherever they like. The town, the architecture<br />
of the town is really disgusting.<br />
Neither the places nor the people are considered familiar any more. “There<br />
are a lot of new faces around, a lot of faces I have never seen before”, said<br />
Vladimir, while Biljana gave an example of feeling uncomfortable in the<br />
massive presence of “extraneous people”:<br />
A few evenings ago, I was in a bar with some friends and I wanted to go<br />
to a friend’s flat to pick up something. I passed by a cafe which had some<br />
live music on, and it was pretty nice. I had just a quick look inside and I<br />
didn’t know probably 70 per cent of people, I knew just a few of them.<br />
And I used to know all the youth of Mitrovica. There are too many... for<br />
such a small place, north Mitrovica is definitely now too small for so<br />
many people.<br />
The gap between town and countryside appears even wider if we consider<br />
the younger generations. To the youth in Pristina, the war left in its wake<br />
an array of potential and new professional experiences, which made them<br />
increasingly different from young men and women of the same age living<br />
in the villages. The labour market has changed completely, the massive<br />
presence of international organizations having strongly influenced its<br />
structure. 12 New skills, from foreign languages (especially English), to<br />
computer proficiency and an ability to drive are in great demand. This, in<br />
turn, even further marginalizes the youth of the rural areas, “Because in the<br />
villages, for example,” as Ardita said:<br />
There have never been organized English courses. You know, now all the<br />
organizations are looking for local staff, but people from the villages are<br />
not ready for this. Even if they came to live in Prishtina, they could not<br />
work with foreigners, but just to sell cigarettes… or phone cards.<br />
In her comments, Ardita mentioned the work generally considered typical<br />
of people living on the fringes of society, and thus let it be understood that<br />
the gap was not just a matter of differences in salary but also of professional<br />
fulfilment, something that became the privilege of the younger<br />
generation, only provided they were already adjusted to or living in the<br />
capital.<br />
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