Foreign exchange student shares senior project
By Valjeta Kosumi
Centre Foreign Exchange Student
Before coming to the USA, I never really thought about the subjects I would pick at school. Maybe because in my country we don't have the opportunity to choose our favorite subjects; all 14 classes are required.
But here, it was different. I could choose all the classes I liked, or at least that I thought would be useful to me.
I took two computer classes, two English classes, and also the yearbook class. These are just some of the classes I took, and I think they've been really helpful to me.
In the future, I want to study media, and I've been trying really hard to learn new things and give my best, especially in English classes.
I'm a junior, but I'm taking the junior and senior English classes. Since November 2003, I've been working on my senior project, which is about my country and me. Part of my presentation is going to be a video with clips and pictures, and also with my voice in the background telling the stories.
I'm 17, and I can say that I've had a really interesting life, including good and bad things. Most of my life experiences have been in my country.
Kosova (co-SO-va) is a small country in Europe. Its neighboring countries are Albania, Macedonia, Montenegro, and Serbia.
Hundreds of years ago, Albania and Kosova were just one country, one territory. Back in 2500 B.C., that territory was called Iliria.
Through the years, different enemies such as the Romans, Greeks, Ottoman Empire, Italians, Germans, and Serbs, invaded these places. The territory is not the same anymore.
In various world conferences, many parts of our country were given to other countries, including Italy, Greece, Macedonia, Montenegro, Bulgaria, and Serbia.
The Kosovar territory ended up under Serbian rule. For hundreds of years they tried to assimilate our people, but they didn't succeed.
My grandparents, parents, and I were born in times when there were no human rights for Kosovars. We had to attend schools in private houses because that was the only place we could attend lectures in Albanian. Everyone was forced to talk in Serbian; at work, Albanian was forbidden.
I was growing up and dreaming of being free, just like all the children of the world. We couldn't watch TV in our language, we couldn't play outside without being afraid of Serbian soldiers.
This situation went on and on until 1998. The world wasn't paying attention until the real war broke out. It was terrible. People were being killed, massacred, just because they were Albanians.
Serbs would kill everyone, even pregnant women and little babies. They did not have any mercy. Every day was getting worse and worse. We were seeing terrible things on TV. We were scared to think that something like that may happen to us.
The situation was tense, and the war was getting closer to our city. We were confused and didn't know what to do. It was even dangerous to go outside to buy food or go to the doctor.
On March 24, 1999, NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization) started the bombing campaign against Serbia. They could not reach a compromise, and that was the only option left to stop the terror.
My family and I experienced many bad things, but not as bad as people who lived in the countryside. We were forced to leave our house and go to another part of the city, to my grandma's place. We lived there for almost three months; 14 people in a very small house.
It was a problem to find food at that time and also dangerous to hang around the city. We were isolated. Several times we tried to leave the country, but it was impossible.
In early spring we even stayed for six days in the mountains (in our car), near the border. The Red Cross helped us with food, but we had to walk four kilometers (two and one-half miles) to get to them.
We just wanted to try to leave and go some place where we would not be scared, insecure, or traumatized. At one point, we just decided to wait and see what was going to happen. We were prepared to expect the worst, death.
We didn't know what to believe or do anymore. For months we hadn't heard from our relatives and friends. The phones no longer worked and many people had fled to different parts of Kosova or other countries.
We were living in bad conditions, too. Sometimes we didn't have enough food for everyone; we had to save supplies and money because no one knew how long this war was going to last.
We needed bribe money to give to the Serbian soldiers so they wouldn't kill us. The electricity would go off at 7 p.m. and it wouldn't come back until the next morning. Most of the time we didn't have a water supply either.
That was the toughest period of my life, and I really hope that no one ever has to experience what I've gone through. I have lots of sad stories to tell. Some of them have to do with me, but I am not going to write about them now. Who knows, maybe I'll write about them someday.
Basically, this is just a short version of a part of my life, the worst and the saddest part.
My senior project is going to be about my experience during the war and after the war. The introduction is going to tell some details about the history of my country.
I will be writing in the next articles how we survived the war, my life as a refugee, my life after the war, and especially about my experiences in the USA.
