<img height="1" width="1" style="display:none" src="//www.facebook.com/tr?id=379377116233262&amp;ev=PageView&amp;noscript=1">
Blogs

Kosovo’s Heart Bleeds for Albania’s Suffering

Locals look at a destroyed house after an earthquake hit Durres, Albania, 2019. Photo: EPA-EFE/VALDRIN XHEMAJ

Kosovo’s Heart Bleeds for Albania’s Suffering

November 28, 201909:43
November 28, 201909:43
This moment of tragedy is all too familiar to Kosovo Albanians – who yearn to repay the solidarity they experienced in Albania twenty years ago.

They saw the first glimpse of hope, a promise that a hand to raise them up and a shoulder to lean on would always be there. A promise was made that in trying times; we would never be alone.

The story today is, of course, different. Albania has been hit by a natural disaster, while 20 years ago the Albanians of Kosovo were victims of ethnic cleansing, of war crimes committed by the regime of Slobodan Milosevic. Nature versus man-made losses.

Yet, in the face of devastation, the bonds that we share as one people have always been there to keep us going.

As soon as the deadly earthquake hit Albania, from the very early hours of Tuesday, the Albanians of Kosovo rushed to come to their aid and support.

While the state undertook all the necessary measures to send specialist teams that would aid the rescue missions in Albania, people in Kosovo from all walks of lives mobilized in a remarkable way.


A firefighter walks in front of a destroyed building after an earthquake hit Durres, Albania, 2019. Photo: EPA-EFE/VALDRIN XHEMAJ

Gathering points opened all across the country. Fundraising initiatives at which people donated money immediately started. With tears in their eyes, and feeling distress for the tragedy that Albanian families are experiencing, providing food, clothes and shelter for Albanians has become the sole concern of everyone in Kosovo.

Take these small examples. A woman suffering from cancer responded to the call to donate funds; a policeman donated his entire month’s salary; a street chocolate seller in Prishtina donated his daily earnings for families in Albania.

Children in schools have sent food, clothes and books for their brothers and sisters in Albania, learning what solidarity is like. A football fan team tirelessly gathers donations and sends them to Albania. These are only some of the faces of hope we have witnessed in the last two days.

Every Kosovo media outlet is also there to cover every story, showing that Kosovo Albanians are with them, sharing every heart beat with families in Albania.

People open-heartedly call on anyone who wants to pass these devastating times in Kosovo to come and stay in their homes. While hundreds of cars, buses, trucks filled carring humanitarian aid and people, volunteers have been heading to Albania like a river of hope to offer help.

They are committed to doing everything to relieve the pain even just a bit, to show the Albanians they are not alone, that together we can rebuild our lives, even from the ashes of destruction and despair.

What a unique show of solidarity, of humanity, of human love. It goes to the very core of the human relations we share. A nation whose people hold the torch of hope for one another. A lesson to be learned by everyone of what humanity stands for.

 Jeta Krasniqi is project manager at the Kosovo Democratic Institute (KDI), leading the project European perspective building national consensus for normalization of relations with Serbia. Krasniqi graduated in International Affairs at the Johns Hopkins University, School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) specializing in EU and Western Balkans affairs.

Jeta Krasniqi