“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)
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.
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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. ..
Izet ADEMAJ
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Lumturi MUHADRI
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