Our ‘last’ day in Pristina: from Fushë Kosovë to a government roundtable to Zanzi

By Lenka Šimšić  

23 June 2022

After finally getting a decent night's sleep, we all gathered at Newborn for the last time at 9 in the morning. We got into cabs and headed to Fushë Kosovë to meet with the Ideas Partnership. Anne had told us that the group in 2018 felt it came too close to voluntourism which is why they didn’t go in 2019. However, since the organisation asked us to come back and the meeting was deemed important, our group would be the first to return. After some big confusion amongst the cab drivers on which road to take, and one cab even being pulled over by cops, a slightly frustrated Bartha managed to make sure we arrived on time after all.

The stark contrast in living conditions between the Roma, Ashkali, Egyptian community living in Fushë Kosovë and Pristina was painfully obvious. The visit was at times uncomfortable, due to being told we could take pictures with the kids and not being able to talk to any of the people there. Some in our group felt it was an important visit while others thought it was inappropriate. Despite differences in how we felt about it, I think it left our whole group with a heavy heart, a big realisation of our own privilege, and a confirmation of this community being the most marginalized in Kosovo.

Back in Prishtina, we had a quick lunch at one of the rare healthy places we’d come to love, Sonder. Afterwards, we headed to the organisation I had presented on: Kosovo 2.0, an online news magazine that operates as one of the few independent media outlets in Kosovo. Besa Luci told us about the organisation with passion and afterwards our group of course was eager to ask questions. While the organisation itself impressed me since it highlights the taboo topics in Kosovo’s society, Besa additionally impressed us all with her intelligent analysis of Kosovo’s situation. She, for example, highlighted the colonial discourse on development in Kosovo when it comes to women empowerment and other aspects. We enthusiastically bought about half of the magazines available and me and Sara quickly interviewed Besa for our project. This was a bit intimidating seeing as she seemed annoyed at the questions we were asking, which also made us reflect on the relevance of a Kosovar identity. Throughout all our interviews the thing that stuck to me most was that identity is fluid and personal, which Besa once again reiterated.

We rushed to get to the government building for our meeting with Elizabeth Gowing, co-founder of the Idea’s Partner ship and now advisor to the Prime Minister regarding Kosovo’s minority communities. Sadly, PM Albin Kurti was only able to quickly say hi, but our meeting with Gowing was still quite interesting. I was impressed with her self-awareness regarding the sensitivity of her position especially as someone who wasn’t born in Kosovo.

We ended the day with a dinner at Rings, the same place we ate the first night in Prishtina. We all reflected on something that had changed for us, quite an emotional moment for all. The whole group reflected on how special this experience had been and how comfortable we all felt with each other. For me the trip was very different than I expected, and I was reminded of thinking about the human face behind political narratives. As a student born in Amsterdam to Serbian parents, I knew of Kosovo, but I had no idea about the people of Kosovo. This trip taught me about their resilience, hospitality, and kindness.

While we were all prepared to leave the next morning, our flight got cancelled so we got another day in this vibrant city which I was secretly quite happy with. We ended the night dancing away in Zanzi bar and with a sunrise walk followed by a pack of about 20 stray dogs, another family we found in Prishtina.