As I sit in the CRS office on my first Sunday in Mitrovica, I have to smile at the bellowing chorus of car horns outside. They are sounds of celebration, mostly proclaiming birthdays or the weddings of the Albanian young-adult diaspora, returned refugees having the freedom to honor traditional ceremonies.
Across the bridge, just a few blocks to the North, members of the Serbian community have few reasons to celebrate. The tables abruptly have been turned for them in little more than a decade. With Kosovo’s independence expected to be agreed upon or imposed by next summer, the Serb minority are now the ones possibly needing to assume refugee status elsewhere, for soon they will face the official reversal of the socio-economic and political dominance they possessed under Milosevic.
I struggle to understand the complexities of this conflict, its hereditary nature and deeply historical roots. The human element of the conflict is different from most conflicts experienced in the Americas… for example, I find it hard to distinguish, at first glance, a Serb from an Albanian. Neither of the groups are very religious, they have similar culinary and other cultural traditions, and any economic imbalance between the two groups that may exist is not visually perceivable. Plus it’s almost impossible to take sides, to easily shake a finger at the group that clearly are “the bad guys.”
But enough deep thoughts for now… things are going really well so far, besides being confined to only exploring within the area that’s easily accessible on crutches! Next post, I’ll go into more detail about my work here. As well as post some pictures.
