Polyparty-ism - Search for Common Ground

we had good conditions, we were not
to be pitied, but war broke out and
problems and stresses began so we
ended up in this state. There we
planted potatoes and other vegetables.
We never suffered for food."
The oldest son, Shaip, finds work
as a loader in the markets of Skopje.
"I earn a little just to soften the pain,"
says Shaip, adding "Malina is truly
far away from the city, but for us it
was the best place on earth."
Among the members of this family
is Ferat's uncle, Emin Abazi, an old
man. Ferat says "I consider Uncle Emin
as a very close member of my own
family. He has no children, and his wife
died 15 years ago. Ever since then I
have undertaken to look after him. We
look after him as much as we can."
Ferat just a few months ago had
surgery done on his right toe. "My toe
has gone rotten," he says. "Doctors
said that it is from the cold.
Sometimes I have enormous pains.
Sometimes, from the huge pain, my
whole leg stiffens, but I have to be
patient," he says.
Merheme, the only girl in this
family, together with her brother Sali
study at Liria high school. She has
forgotten long time ago what dreams
and desires are. You can read on her
face desperation, pain, sincerity but
mostly you can read destitution.
Like many other internally displaced
persons, Ferat has no identification
document, and what is worst
has no money. "I don't even have a
medical card," he adds.
Shaip speaks of the elementary
school in Malina. "I finished my primary
school there, but now I have no
document, because together with my
house, all of the certificates got burned."
He says that he had really wanted
to continue his schooling, but his situation
do not allow him anything like
this. "I cannot, because I have to
work to secure something to eat."
During our conversation we were
drawn to the memories when the conflict
began. "I remember it like it was
today," says Shaip. "The war in
Tanushevci began with the holiday of
Bajram. My mother had prepared
baklava and we could hardly wait for
the moment to sit on the table together
and try the sweet. And do you
know what happened: we never tried
that baklava. War broke out and we
were forced to leave hastily."
In the house where they live at the
moment, the members of the Nebiu
family are faced with many problems.
"Every time it rains," says
Mukades, "raindrops fall from the
ceiling. I want to clean, to keep order
as one would do in a true house, but I
have no detergent nor other things
necessary to keep it clean. This is
what happens when you are forced to
think only about food. If we only had
a little more money, this house would
have been different."
In the village of Malina, according
to other foreign organizations and
initiative has been undertaken to
rebuild houses in the villages of the
Skopje Karadak mountain, the house
of Ferat Nebiu will be rebuilt this
summer.
Everyone hopes in this family
that with the coming of summer their
Golgotha will end and that they will
return to Malina which, according to
Shaip, is the most beautiful place in
the world.
(The author is a journalist
with Fakti)
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Internally displaced people have
become prisoners caught
between fear and hopelessness
Around 550 internally displaced
citizens have lived for
more than a year and a half in
the so-called "women's block"
of the campus dormitory "Stiv
Naumov" in the Skopje district
of Avtokomanda.
Families consisting of four or
more people spend their days,
eat and sleep in rooms of a few
square meters
Emil Zafirovski
Two years have passed
since the war crisis in
Macedonia, but the refugee
shelters are still filled with
internally displaced people who
are not returning to their
homes. Some of them don't
have a home to return to anymore,
because their homes
were destroyed, and some of
them do not want to return
because they say they do not
feel safe in their homes in the
crisis areas. According to the
latest re-registering of displaced
people from the crisis
regions, there are 9,000 citizens
that live out of their homes.
About 2,500 of them are
accommodated in the 12
refugee shelters around the
country and the rest are staying
with their relatives or friends.
Around 550 internally displaced
citizens have lived for
more than a year and a half in
Life on the margins, February 2003