More pictures...Landscapes, Moons during the day and other Kosovo Images

Pictures

Friday

Today was the day of the big meeting! It went really well...that's the short version. Two major changes are in the works. The first is that the Army is in talks with the Irish military to go to Shtime, the institution, every Sunday, form relationships with the staff and the residents. They plan to try and do some recreation and act as providers for some of the more minor needs. That's really exciting, because Shtime is is a place in dire need of intervention. The second thing is that the Civil Affairs until will begin working on a plan to secure more medications for the Center for Mental Health. We'll see how that works. We did a big drive around, pricing out medications and working with the psychiatrist to see what would actually work, so it's cool to see that the recommendation was taken seriously, and acted on really quickly!
Um...I guess I don't have any good pictures for this particular topic!

Thursday morning

We had two very important meetings with key people in the mental health system here in Gjilan. We met with the director of the Center for Mental Health. There are 6 centers, out of the 7 municipalities (counties) here. It was a lovely building, with room for a ping pong table. As we entered, people were dancing to traditional Albanian music. It appears that there are a few really major issues here in Kosovo. The first is that the Ministry of health has decided that they no longer have a budget for medications, so most people go without the very expensive medications. The budget issues have caused many problems here, including decreased funding for the centers. They act as satellites, serving the surrounding areas. They have had to stop providing meals and travel costs for patients that live far distances, only being able to provide the main services for those nearby. The director is a very intelligent dedicated man. Interestingly, he serves people at Shtimle, the institution.
We then met with the psychiatrist from the main hospital here in Gjilan. He is dedicated to supporting both the centers here, and the Children's program. They have no inpatient program for children, only day services two days a week. Tomorrow is the main meeting, and I expect that it will be very interesting. I'm looking forward to it! I'll post the final report soon!

Thursday - Happy Thanksgiving!

The evening ended with a surprise visit to the Shtime Institute. It's been known for some pretty huge atrocities against its residents, however, they have tried to make the place better i recent years. We decided on a surprise visit. It was better than I expected, yet still heartbreaking when I consider the standards that we uphold in the US. There were large stark rooms that housed the majority of the 76 residents. The main room that most of the residents were sitting in was completely dark...very intimidating to enter at first, but people were very welcoming. Very little stimulation...but the few staff people that they employed had very good rapport with the patients and those staff have huge hearts to do the work that they do. The children's until was recently built in collaboration with WHO (World Health Organization). It was a brightly lit warm place with toys and color everywhere. Out of respect for the residents, we didn't take any photos, but I won't need any reminders to recall the images in my mind.

Wednesday in Kosovo

Due to my lack of knowledge about blogger, this is a little out of order! This will be about the second thing we did on Wednesday! We visited Vladimir. He's become a special project of the Kosovo Forces (or KFOR as they're known here). He had an accident and now suffers from Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI)He lives out in the hills in a cluster of crumbling buildings. His little home is small, cramped, and full of garbage, but he's pretty happy. His goats live in the next room over, so they too can stay warm from the stove that KFOR gave him. The goats were out eating when we arrived, but they were wondering home as we were leaving. It was getting late...This is just one example of the amazing many amazing things that the people who serve in the Civil Affairs unit of the Army are doing for this country...taking care of those who need it the most.



The day was a little different. We didn't have any meetings, so we decided to deliver wood-burning stoves to some of the more outlying schools.



Although they were closed, we did manage to attract some Roma siblings. They are the minority cultural group in Kosovo, comprising between 2 and 3% of the population. Exact numbers are hard to come by because they haven't done a census in a long time. We gave them some cnady and the started a huge snowball fight.

The day ended with a visit to a Serbian Orthodox Monastery. It was there that we met Anatoli, a former Croatian that was serving in Kosovo. I don't have the name of the place, but I'll find out and be sure to post it. A lot of people are Orthodox here, so it was a great honor. When Anatoli was a young boy, his mother died. Anatoli learned a lot of English by watching movies and listening to music, so he was able to talk with us...although we had a Serbian translator, so it was easy.
The Monastery is in beautiful countryside, surrounded by mountains and fields. I can imagine how lush ot would be in the summer, however, it's winter here, so it's cold now.
The Monks don't use heat, because they believe they need to feel the extremeness of God. They cook on a hot stove, so I think that must be the happiest time of the day. After showing us the small chapel (await for photos) they invited us in for Turkish coffee. I was really happy to have worn long underwear that day. When we walked in to the small dark (no electricity in the buildings) dining room, sitting on the table was a small bottle with some liquid and a wooden cross blown into the bottle. Kris and I assumed it was holy water...not being very familiar with Serbian Orthodox religion. After we got our coffee they opened the bottle and poured me a small shot glass of the liquid. Turns out it was rakija, a local liquor. The Monks (only 5 of them presently live there) told us it would be helpful to ward off the cold, as it was about 25 degrees, with no heat. It was so strong, I think I'm still warm from it a day later! It allowed us to talk about religion and spirituality for over an hour.
As we were walking down the driveway, a small dusty 1980's VW bug chugged up the steep muddy driveway. Once it swung into park, a tall robust man with a long beard, (about 6'8") unfolded himself from the drivers seat. He was the main "father", or as our translator who knows him said, "The Big Daddy". He gave us each blessings that consisted of sloppy kisses on the forehead. He pressed small plastic crosses and candy into our hands and said a quick prayer and asked us to return soon.

Monday and Tuesday in Kosovo

Tuesday was filled with meetings. In the morning, I was supposed to visit the University in Gjilan and listen to a class on Sociology. Kris must have really talked me up, because when we arrived, they'd decided that I should give a speech on policy. It was actually really fun and interesting. It was to a full room of students and the asked really insightful questions. I was able to gain a lot more knowledge of how they feel and what they see as their big challenges. In the afternoon I was honored to meet with the Ministry of Social Welfare. They are the part of the ministry of health that is in charge of the Centers for Mental Health.
The electricity ran out and it started to get dark, so our meeting ended early, but they will be there at the main meeting on Friday.

Monday was a day of both fun and work. In the morning we met with the directors and social workers from the women's shelter in Gjilan.

Ther afternoon was spent in Letnica, which is the tine little farming town that boasts the church of the Black Madonna, where Mother Teresa was serving when she got her "call" to Calcutta.

I'm finally here!!!

After three plane trips over the course of 16 hours, I'm finally here! It took a bit of time to find an open internet cafe because it's Sunday here.

Last night I went to a party at a friend of Kris's.





He's an old doctor who used to work in Switzerland and now he sells guitars a a shop near that base. We had SO MUCH FOOD!!!! Veal is very popular here! You should see the food.
We had plate after plate and after we'd long finished, the old men kept eating! It was something to see!
Today I did a lot of walking around by
myself...the city is such an interesting
mix of old and new.
New construction with no windows, right
next to crumbling old buildings.

They don't really have zoning, so wet laundry of underwear drips down on the entrance to the supermarket. I went in and got some snacks for the hotel room! I just put the cold stuff outside on my balcony! The whole place smells like yummy fireplaces because everyone heats with wood stoves. The flowers are still blooming, even though it's snowing...they don't shovel and I didn't bring my boots, so my wet pants are now rolled up to my knees. Very cute! I napped and then watching elections news.


The polls were still open at 11:00 pm when I went to bed, but then at 11:30, there was a lot of partying outside the hotel, with fireworks. I guess they think the elections were successful. There's been reporting on CNN that "an ex-rebel" won...it's news to everyone here. We didn't even know that the counting was done. It's always interesting to see the differences in reporting. Everyone is still trying to figure out what's going on. This former rebel claimed victory, but it's still up in the air as to whether or not 52% of people voted. If not, they have to hold elections again!

I have tons of meetings set up, but also a lot of fun to be had, with the culmination of my speech on Friday. I've also been taking lots of pictures, but none to post yet because I can't get my computer to work with the internet!

Everyone has been so nice. This morning I had breakfast with the owner of the hotel. We don't speak any of the same languages, so we settled on a mix of broken italian and broken spanish,. It was so sweet of him, but also very awkward. The hotel is really nice and I have 2 rooms and a bathroom to myself. The owner and his family are so sweet. Walking on the streets seems really safe, people smiley and are so nice! It's pretty quite on a Sunday. There are huge loud callse to Muslim prayer right outside the hotel. I haven't seen anyone yet, but the prayers are really beautiful. I've never heard that before!



Tonight I met with Ivone, a translator of Kris's. We had dinner at a beautiful old castle near the mountains at the outskirts of Gjilan, which is the city I'm in. Anyway, we start with meetings tomorrow. It's the staff of a women's shelter. I hope to learn a lot from them!

Hopefully I'll get plenty of time to post, and perhaps I'll be able to find wireless!

Thank you for stopping by!

I'm heading to Kosovo for Thanksgiving!

I'm going to attend and be a guest speaker at a workshop being held November 23^rd. We'll discuss the social policies of mental heath and children advocacy within the community. What is available and how can our key officials working in this field come together to build networks for successful results of reintegration? Various members from the Social and Welfare Department, Ministry of Education, the Qendra E Shendetit Mendor – Mental Health office, Regional Hospital Psychiatry Department, Guest Speaker from the Hubert H. Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs and key children advocacy organizations will be present for discussions.

topics for discussion:

• How to stop the cycle of victims staying within the social system
• What is the reintegration process and the opportunities once integration has taken plan
• What structured programs are in place and do they work
• Which critical connections among the systems need to be developed
• How to create sustainable and tangible results
• Can an individual establish effective improvement with current reintegration measures
• What is the improvement of present living conditions of those affected and finding sustainable and lasting employment
• Has their been identification of proper reintegration measures

Some of you might know Kris, a fellow student at the Humphrey. This is being facilitated through the work that she's currently doing in Kosovo.

I plan on using this site to keep you all posted while I'm gone, November 16-25, 2007.
It's such an amazing opportunity, and I think it's a great way to spend Thanksgiving, by giving back to the world we live in!

You can donate to both my trip and to http://www.balkansunflowers.org/ They're a reputable non-profit in the Balkans.

Click on the link below to donate!

https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_xclick&business=ellie%2egraves%40gmail%2ecom&no_shipping=0&no_note=1&tax=0&currency_code=USD&lc=US&bn=PP%2dDonationsBF&charset=UTF%2d8

Thanks so much for your continued support!
Ellie