“The Gift that Keeps on Giving”

A Child Landmine Survivor Struggles to Build a Life

“Seven years after the Kosovo conflict ended, NATO bombs continued to explode (this fall) in the mountains of northern Albania.  This time, however, it was a reassuring sound.  Up in the hills, men in protective gear were setting off bomb lets that alliance warplanes scattered along the Kosovo border during the 78 days of hostilities.

Within earshot but miles away, men and women combed other hillsides, inch by inch, on hands and knees, searching for landmines planted by combatants in the ground war between Serb forces and Kosovo’s ethnic Albanian separatists.

For isolated villages such as Dobruna, it’s been seven years of death, amputations, shrapnel wounds and blown-up farm animals, seven years of blocked-off grazing lands, forests and water supplies.  The explosives have choked off any hope of development here, denying more than 25,000 people access to parts of their land…

Most residents fled the day NATO began bombing Kosovo, March 24, 1999, in a campaign to halt attacks by Serb forces on ethnic Albanians in the breakaway province.  They returned to a familiar landscape made lethal by landmines and booby traps.  Dobruna had become one of the border’s most explosives-contaminated villages…

(Excerpted from Washington Post, “Years After War in Kosovo, Land Mines Scar Albania,” December 10, 2006, Barbara Frye)

1. Korab Mula, Dobrune, Has Albania

Korab Mula was born on April 20, 1982, in Dobruna, a village close to the border with Gjakovo, Kosovo. He was brought up in a poor village family. 

When the blasts were heard, back in June of 2000, village residents ran out from their homes and found Korab nearly dead.  He had already lost both arms and was unconscious.  His legs were injured as well.   He was immediately transported to the hospital in Gjakovo, Kosovo, and twenty minutes away. Korab was treated by NATO doctors at an Italian field hospital, and eventually sent to Italy where he was fitted with conventional arm prostheses.  Later, in 2004, he was fitted with new prostheses in Slovenia, but they also proved problematic. Korab reportedly began suffering from periods of apathy and depression.

Korab’s greatest hope lies with electronic prostheses, which can be purchased and fitted in Croatia or Italy.  The entire procedure will cost around $ 25,000.  With the new and improved electronic prostheses, Korab has a realistic chance for vocational training and even a  job.  “I want to live with hope,” Korab commented.  “The accident was a terrible setback, but with the help of good people from around the world I believe that I have a chance for a normal life, for some happiness.” He often stresses that “… after the accident -- the world seems much more beautiful to me, and I want to enjoy it, I wish to fulfill my dreams and obligations like all my village friends “

Recently he has been married. A young girl from another village of Has area had seen him in local TV. When her parents asked her to marry in Kosovo, she noted that she better marry Korab Mula who she had seen in local TV. And this became true. Last summer the marriage ceremony was organized. Now he is looking to start a new life in Kruma city.

We appreciate the efforts that people are making, in the name of God, to support the poor boy.  For sure they will have a place in God’s heart.  This is what the family of Korab prays. And us too.

Action Taken so far:

Thanks to the individual support provided by individual donors at last year’s Night of 1000 Dinners 2007, Korab is attending a Special English Course in Krume and is checked by Alb-Aid nurse at home on regular basis.  Korab has been examined by Slovenian medical specialists and has been advised that the best option for him would be to get Electronic Prosthesis because manual prosthesis are not practical for him. Because he has lost both arms he still needs a family member to look after him almost at every step. As such he finds himself pessimistic and traumatized.

Assistance Required:

He needs support to continue Vocational Courses as well as to organize recreation activities in order to make him feel that he is not alone. If possible, the best would have been to raise enough funds to buy a small house in Kruma city where he can also attend a vocational course and start a job because in Dobruna there is nothing he can do.

2.  Dorian Daci- Burrel, Dibra

Dorian Dajci is UXO victim.  On November 10 2001, Dorian and his brother, Eltion, were playing with a grenade they had found near their house in Burrel when it exploded resulting in serious life-threatening injuries for both boys.

Before the accident, Dorian was one of the most intelligent children in his sixth grade class, full of energy and had lots of friends.  Now, he spends his days and nights shut inside his family’s apartment, not even leaving to go play outside.

Dorian lost both of his hands as a result of the injury, has serious burns to his face and has been diagnosed legally blind.  He was hospitalized for 5 months following the accident in the Military Hospital in Tirana.  ICRC and a German NGO supported Dorian to obtain further medical treatment in Germany where he was fitted for prosthetic hands, plastic surgery to his face and neck, eye surgery, and a cornea transplant to his right eye.  The cornea transplant to his right eye did not take and Dorian remains unable to see.  After the accident Dorian stopped attending school as he was no longer able to read or write as a result of his injuries.  Since the accident, Dorian’s family moved from Burrel to Lac town, as it is considered to be a more developed urban area with a better future for their sons.  Dorian is from a family of six, of which neither his mother nor his father have a permanent job.  Dorian does not like to leave the house as he feels very self-conscious of his injuries.

Action Taken so far:

Thanks to the individual support provided by individual donors at last year’s Night of 1000 Dinners 2004, 2006 and 2007, Dorian attended Secondary Foreign Languages School in Tirana and now he is in the III-cnd class.  Dorian was examined by Slovenian medical specialists in July 2004 and has been recommended to the Slovenian Institute of Rehabilitation to receive a thorough one month rehabilitation programme. This programme will involve fitting Dorian with new useable prostheses and will teach him various methods to promote his self-dependence.  His mother plays the role of tutor to help him with essentials as he has lost both arms and he is blind.

Assistance Required:

 

Funding is needed to continue to support him to attend IV-th year of Secondary School with transport, school materials and accommodation. There is a possibility that Dorian’s vision can be restored.

Funding is needed to send Dorian abroad where medical treatment is advanced and help can be provided.

3. Fllanxa Murra, Burrel

 Fllanxa is from Burrel. She was injured in 1998 when she was only 9 years old while playing near her house.  She lost both legs as well as three fingers on her left hand and was hospitalized for more than three months.  She was an excellent student and had just finished the VIII-th grade.  However, following the accident, she quit school and became socially isolated inside her house.  Her family is not able to provide Fllanxa with transport to school, nor are they able to provide special tutorage so she can catch up on her backlog she suffered as a result of the accident.  Her life has changed completely, for she is now fourteen years old and is unable to read or write.  Yet, Fllanxa remains a girl full of energy and eager to learn. Now she is in the 8-th class. 

Action Taken so far:

In 2001, when visiting the Slovenian Institute of Rehabilitation to have her prostheses fitted, Fllanxa captivated the staff’s attention immediately.  They collected funds and purchased a laptop computer for her.  Furthermore, the Director of the Institute of Rehabilitation privately funded a project to provide Fllanxa with extra classes so she could catch up with her peers at school, learn computer skills and study English. Fllanxa has now returned to school and is well on her way to catching up with her peers.

Thanks to donations made by individual well wishers of the Albanian business and diplomapts at the Night of 1000 Dinners, Fllanxa is making good progress. Currently she is in the eth class of primary school.

During 2007-2008 she has received support for special catch classes, English, transportation to and from school and school supplies to complete compulsory School

Assistance Requested for Fllanxa:
 

She needs further support to attend High School. The support is needed to attend English and special catch up classes as well as for school materials, transportation to and from the school and to participate in recreation activities.

4. Gazmend Geca - Krume, Has

Activity at the time of the Accident: Grazing cows- playing with the other friends. His family is made of 7 persons. He has 3 brothers and 2 sisters. He is the II-cnd child of the family. His family is poor and his parents are not employed

Gazmend Geca is a UXO victim from Kruma, an area which was heavily shelled with cluster munitions during Kosvo conflict by Yugoslav Army. His dramatic history begins 8 years ago when he had an accident from KB1 in August 2001. One day while Gazmend was playing with his friends near his house, he found a strange object. Gazmend and his friends became curious and started to bang it. But it suddenly exploded. He fell down. He often recalls “ I awakened when I found myself in the hospital. I had terrible aches and I could hardly see. I had partly lost my vision. There I learned that I had lost my right eye forever as a result of KB1.”

That year he abandoned school, because it was very difficult for him to attend lessons as he had lost vision in his right eye and he had problems with his left eye. The drama for me had just started.

Gazmend is encountering many difficulties in school performance and outdoor activities. After the mine accident he lost the sight of the left eye and was unable to reach high results in the school, although he liked very much to study and his parents wer urging him all the time to do well. He often didn’t attend school and demonstrated low school performance. His teachers were concerned, especially when they compared Gazmend’s results with his performance before the accident. His performance at school at the beginning was less than satisfactory whereas before the accident, Gazmend was one of the top students in his class.

Action Taken so far:

With the support of ALB-AID, thanks to donations made by individual well-wishers at the Night of 1000 Dinners 2003-2004, 2006 and 2007 Gazmend started attending school on a regular basis. With the additional support provided by his tutors and private lessons, Gazmend has been working hard to catch up with his peers in his studies.  In addition to his private classes in routine subjects, he also attended English and computer classes on a regular basis. Thanks to special classes provided by his teachers he became the best pupil in his class. He completed Primary school and started Secondary Professional School in Tirana for Hostelry Currently he is in the Third Year. ALB-AID is supporting him with to pay the accommodation and school materials.

Assistance Requested:

He needs further support to complete the III-rd year of High School. The support is needed to attend English and special catch up classes as well as school materials, accommodation and psycho-social support

5. Pal Suka - Shkoder

As usual, together with his friends Pal took his goats to graze up in the forest which was not too far fro their house. It was a nice place to play football as well in the military Playground of the former Army Unit. The Army abandoned the buildings in 1997 leaving behind scattered ammunitions.

There was no any other place in the village where the children could play. Although the parents have told them that it was dangerous to go there, the children had no other choice.

That cursed day, together with his cousin Pal went through the bushes at the side of the playground to look after the ball. While searching for the ball, they found a mysterious object that they had not seen before. It was a grenade scattered from the army. The two children did not have any idea that it could kill. They stared to bang it.

“Suddenly an explosion was heard and I fell down, -This is all what I remembered- I could not move. I heard a severe pain in my arms. I tried to move but I couldn’t .My both arms were badly damaged. Blood was bleeding and I felt I did not have my arms.  A few meters away I noticed my cousin who was lying in the grounds as well. I noticed that blood was bleeding from his face as well. He raised his hand to try to touch his eyes … Pal’s eyes are covered with tears….

He was sent to the nearest hospital to cut his lower parts of the arms has been sent to Slovenia 6 times to repair and maintain his prosthesis. The story Pal is neither the first nor the last. There are more than 300 children allover Albania wounded by mines, UXO’s and ERW.

Pal silently looks at you as if he wants to say I need helping order to become a doctor, a teacher, why not a writer….

His family is poor made of 7 persons His father is a farmer who has to feed 4 children. Because the school in his village is very far from his house and because the terrain is very tough, Pal has moved to his aunt in Lushnje, 100 km away from his home to attend school. Pal is attending school regularly thanks to the support of US Embassy and N1K funds.

Action Taken so far:

Pal has been supported with funds raised through the Night of a 1000 Dinners 2004, 2006 and 2007 to re-turn to school and catch up with his pears.

Thanks to the donations made by individual well-wishers at the Night of A 1000 Dinners he has returned to school and is attending it on  regular basis at his aunt in Lushnje. With the additional support provided by his tutors and private lessons, he has been working hard to catch up with his peers in his studies.  In addition to his private classes in routine subjects, he also attends English and computer classes on a regular basis. He is in the 9^th form of Primary school and his teachers say that he is among the best pupils of the class.

Assistance Requested:
 

He needs further support to complete primary school IX-the class. Funding is needed to attend English and computer classes, as well as special catch up classes and to buy school materials.

6. Suela Alia

Suela comes from a poor family close to the border with Gjakovo. Her family has made her living up in the mountain breeding goats and sheep.

Her story is a bit different. She was only 5 years when a piece of a rocket exploded in the yard of her house. It was March 12 1999. The Kosovo conflict had just started. The Serb army regularly bombed the Albania territory and the villages along the border. They did not care that they were killing innocent children like her. They were angry with the Albanians. They wanted to attract the Albanian army in the conflict by shelling Albanian territories….as they were totally paranoid…

The little girl was playing in the garden. She had no idea of what war is. Cheerful as little kids are. Her parents occupied with spring agricultural works. None ever imagined in the village that the paranoid Serbs were going to target civilians inside the Albanian border. The villagers were careless. They could not understand that the war was knocking on their doors. It was eleven o clocks. Flowers had started to flourish… the weather was improving. After cold winter days the it was warm again. Little Suela was enjoying god rays of the sun. A terrible noise was heard, then a blast and smoke.  The splints (shivers) of the rocket hit her on the chest .She fell down and lost her conscious. Her father as he was digging in the garden behind the house run into the house immediately. The glasses of the windows were broken. Part of the hose was broken too. Her father took her away…. After a few minutes she started to cry again. The neighbors helped to send her to Bajram Curri Hospital…

Now she is 10 years old. After the accident she has started school again. However her teachers said she is still physically traumatized. She often looses herself in thoughts. She does not answer although she looks at you right in the eye. Who knows, may be if educated properly she could become a nurse, why not a teacher…. the village needs one…

She often misses the classes because her school is about one and a half hour from her house. Sometimes her mother helps her to go to School. The family is very poor to move somewhere else.  She has become a real burden for the poor family…

Suela returned to school last year for the first time since the accident with the support of private transport to/from the school and private tutors with catch up classes. Additionally, she is receiving catch up classes at home and are progressing well.

Assistance Requested:

She needs further support to complete Primary School. The support is needed to help her to attend English and special catch up classes, as well as for school materials, transportation to and from the school and psycho-social-support and recreation activities.

7. Shpresa Alla

Shpresa Alla is 13 years old. On march 15 she was walking  alone in the village when the Gerdec explosion happened.  She had a very bad injury on the head because of the stones coming from a building which was falling apart from the explosion. She was found in a bunker from the habitants of the village and  she was immediately sent to the Military Hospital of Tirana, where she stayed seven days in danger of losing live. The hospital could not offer her the necessary treatment she needed, so the “AXHIBADEM” Association made possible to sent her in Turkey, where she took proper medical treatment. She was operated in the head and she stayed for 4 days in the hospital. 

She suffered also the lost of her older brother, who was working in the military depot.

Now she is following the 8-th class in the school of Vora. 

She is in need of psycho-social support, English, computer  and catch up classes.

8. Rogers Durdaj

Roxhers Durdaj is 11 years old. During the Gerdec explosion he was staying home which was close to the military depot. He had burns in the head and hand, and he took medical treatment in the Tirana Hospital.His mother died during Gerdec explosion. She was working in the military depot. Sometimes he has headache and takes medicines to release it. Now he is on the 6-th class at Gerdec school.

He is in need of psycho-social support, English, computer  and catch up classes.

9.  Erkid Durdaj

Erkid Durdaj (the brother of Erisa) is 16 years old. He is in the first year of high school in Vora.  He was passing nearby the military depot when the explosion happened. He had injuries in both hands. He is the 9-th class Primary School. He is in need of psycho-social support, English and computer  classes.

10. Denis Gerdeci

Denis Gerdeci is 12 years old and he broke his right leg also he had  injuries on the  head and hands and  during the Gerdec explosion.  Now he is on the 7-th class at the Gerdec school. He is in need of psycho-social support, English, computer  and catch up classes.

11. Erisa Durdaj

Erisa Durdaj is 10 years old.  During the Gerdec explosion she had burns in the back side of the body, in her ears and legs. Now she is in the 4-th class at the Gerdec school. She is in need of psycho-social support, English, computer  and catch up classes.

12. Lubjana Behra

Lubjana was born on 30 October 2004.  She was four years old at the time of Gerdec explosion. The day of the explosion she was staying at home with her three older sisters. When they heard the first explosion, they moved to the window to see the “fireworks”. But in that moment they all got hurt by the explosion of the monition depot. Lubjana was the one who got hurt badly by the glasses of the window and by small pieces of the munitions that had penetrated deep in her body. She had a fracture of the cranium and damaged the artery of the heart, also the vein of the neck.

She was sent immediately for medical treatment in Greece, where she had the first operation and stayed there for 15 days. For three months she could not speak or pronounce a single word. So she went again to Greece, where in a year she did eight operations, which improved her health a bit. She uses all the time medication for blood coagulation. In this moment she is again in Greece for another operation and will be back in a few days. All the medical expenses for Lubjana are covered by The Albanian Government. She is going to start Primary School this year. She is in need of intensive catch up classes.

Karen Dixon an American
volunteer visiting Korab Mula
at his home in Dobrune

13.

History of Regina Murati.

 Regina Murati was 7 years old when the Gerdec explosion happened. The day of the accident Regina Murati was staying home with her mother, grandmother and her two little sisters. Her house was very near of the Munitions Depot. When the first explosion happened her mother and her grandmother took the children’s and running in the forest to go as far as possible to rescue their life. After the second/big explosion happened the pressure of the air crushed them on the earth and they were separated from each other. When her grandmother stud up stared looking for Regina and when she found her she was covered all with blood, without conscious. She was taken by her grandmother as almost a dead person and send to the hospital at national Trauma Center in Tirana.

Regina has taken her first medication support and one operation in the National Trauma center in Tirana and then later she was send to Greece for more specialized medical interventions. She has made several operations on the head. Regina has stayed in coma for 17 days. In November 2008 Regina had another intervention on the frontal part of the cranium, (Corrective plastic surgery).

Now she goes to school and is planning to make another plastic/corrective operation on her face in September 2009.  She was part on N1KD project and supported to go to school, tutor and other logistic and additional classes.

Assistance Requested to conduct the following:

	To attend English and computer classes
	To attend extra classes in math’s
	To buy school materials
	To get psycho-social-support and recreation activities.

TRUE STORIES FROM MINE VICTIMS IN NORTHERN ALBANIA

Izet ADEMAJ

ALB-AID (Victims of Mines and Arms-Kukes) Local based NGO has kept the population of 39 border villages in northern Albania continously informed about mine thread and  helped some of the victims to be re-habilitated and re-integrated in society.
IZET ADEMI is amongst  one of them who is working successfully with VMA.

This is the story of Izet Ademi, living in the village of Bardhoc North Eastern Albania, 3 km near Morini Border with Kosovo.  A Land Mine accident on May 27-th, 1999, changed his life. He lost his right leg orever.

When the conflict of Kosovo started, Izet was serving in the ranks of Border Police in his village.  “One day, one ill-fated day”, Izet tells us calmly, ”Thursday 27th May 1999, will not be forgotten. It changed my life….”
Slowly and calmly he describes the events which led to his accident:

“The caravans of Kosovars, mainly women and children expelled by the paramilitary Serb forces, seemed never ending”. Izet had taken orders from his commander to patrol the border near Morini two hours way from the border post.

“No-one believed it would come to this. They had planted land- mines in Albanian territory inside the border.
Maybe the Serb forces understood that the end was in sight.”

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Lumturi MUHADRI

Lumturi Muhadri’s house is only 2 km away from the border with Kosovo. He is a lad of twelve with three brothers and three sisters, the oldest of  whom is only eighteen. Young Lumturi is in Year 5 at school. None of his  family members are in work. They attempt to survive on $ 20 government assistance given to his father, now redundant from his work at the former copper mine.  The family is very poor.  One cow, one donkey and 1100 square meters land are all they own. Their goats met their end stumbling into the land-mines in 1999.

The other grazing areas and communal forest around the village are now land-mined. The mine fields start only 500 meters from their front door. What are they to do?

The family knows of the danger on their doorstep.  Vlahen’s 900 inhabitants live in little houses spread over a wide
area of remote hillside. ...

“I was playing, while the animals were grazing”, he said, “ I ran towards a bush to
catch my improvised “ball”, but suddenly … I heard an explosion and it felt like my eye had been ripped out. I fell to the ground in terrible pain.  It seemed as if my head had been blown off my body… A warm liquid stared to pour out of my leg…. Then…I can’t
remember what happened to me. I  was unconscious, lost in a dream… until I awoke,
finding myself in a hospital bed, with my father and mother standing at my head, tears in their eyes running down their cheeks. Then I remember asking for my friend, but he
was hours and hours away up in our village. I could see nothing with my right eye which was covered in bandages. It wasn’t long before the doctor had to tell me he felt I would never be able to see with that eye again. I could not hold back the tears.
I thought of my friends. I wouldn’t be able to play with them as before. How would I be
able to go to school and do my work?”

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