Under sommaren spenderade jag en längre tid i Kosovo, där jag arbetade bland annat med diskriminering av etniska grupper, hjälparbete i en liten by utanför Pristina som lider utav många problem se nedan.

På den positiva sidan är att det finns många hjälporganisationer som försöker förändra detta med olika och enkla medel som till exempel GAIA Kosovo.

Här nedan följer en video som igenom rapp vill uppmärksamma romernas situation i Kosovo sedan ett inlägg som jag skrev i somras efter mitt första besök i byn Plementina.

Plemetina is a small unknown (to the locals and the world) village only 12 km away from Pristina, Kosovo.

“In Plemetina five different ethnic groups live together: Albanians, Serbians, Roma, Askali and Egyptians. Of those, the Roma, Ashkali and Egyptian comunities are the most discriminated groups in Kosovo. The Serbian enclave Plemetina village is nearly completly isolated, for example there is no public transport and even if there were one, people would not be able to move due to economical difficulties. The people of Plemetina are also affected by high levels of pollution due to the coal power plants Kosovo A and B, and C is one its way…”

Plemetina is without no doubt suffering from these problems. However, as we arrived to the little village, that image completely changed. We were welcomed with laughter, happiness, curiosity, and in some way I kind of forgot about all the difficulties the little community was facing and focused on the joy that was spread around us.

We spent a few days in Plemetina. The first day, we meet with Gaia the local NGO which is connected to our host Balkan Sunflower. Our first task was a “question game”, the goal was to find out more about the community by walking around and talking to the locals.

Here is some of the information we learnt about the village.

•  There is a train station, and every third month a train pass by, however it doesn’t stop.
• There are five different groups co-existing in Plemetina: Sebian, Albanian, Roma, Ashkali and Egyptian.
• There are separate schools for Serbs and Albanians.
• 70% of the people living in Plemetina’s municipality Obiliq die of cancer, as a cause of the coal power plants.
• The area is more than 60% more polluted that what is allowed in the European union.
• Next to the village there is a mountain of dust, as a result of the coal power plants Kosovo A and B.

In the evening, Gaia had organised an open air cinema for us and the locals. We saw several short movies where we learnt more about the current situation in Plemetina. (Most of the movies that were shown to us during the open air cinema, are to be found here, enjoy!)

The second day we got the opportunity to spend some more times with the locals, as well as making a workshop for the volunteers at Gaia. We had prepared a few different games, such as the barometer, bingo and we also preformed the “Human Library” a second time, which was much appreciated.

To conclude, I think none of us in the group will ever forget about Plemetina, especially the curious smiles of the children!