Meeting with Afrim at Handikos

We got up fairly early and after the customary pain au chocolats and broken discussions about payment in the local bakery, we headed into town for our 11am meeting with Handikos, 20 or 30 minutes outside the centre, near Hajvalia. It was fortunate that we gave some time for this journey as we accidentally went the wrong way and had to double back.

Handikos is an organisation founded in the 1980s, aimed at advancing the situation of and attitudes towards disabled people in Kosovo. It has had some success: as its director Afrim told us, Kosovo has significantly better attitudes towards and provisions for disabled people than is the case in other countries in the region. Nevertheless, it really is still an uphill struggle: Handikos manages 13 centres across Kosovo with just €150,000. While Kosovo has pretty good disability protection and support laws, the reality is that enforcement and implementation is often much more patchy. Most ramps that you see in the Pristina are as a result of Handikos’ work, for example. Disabled people in Kosovo get a ‘pension’ - a term Afrim dislikes - of just €30 a month.

We are constantly reminded of the importance and significance of community in Kosovo. Without large families and a tradition of neighbours helping neighbours, life for the disabled people here, while still very tough, would be that much harder. Handikos has a big network of volunteers to help people, particularly in rural areas where the problems are that much more acute than in the big cities. The centres also work with people spanning the ethnic divides, which seems somewhat unusual here, given the strong feelings between the communities. At the same time, the ethnic Serbs only come to the centre in Pristina in the evenings, after ethnic Albanians have left.

We are shown round the large centre on the outskirts of Pristina, overlooking the city on a hill. It’s a spacious building with lofty ceilings and large glass windows giving a view of the surrounding area. This is all very well but it also makes it very expensive to heat during the winter - and with such a small budget, funds are tight.

Afrim wants to underscore the importance of stability. He is of course grateful for the support that he has received in the past from international organisations, but points to the necessity of long-term giving. The vehicles in the centre in Pristina are a very good example. Several international organisations have kindly donated cars and vans for them to use, but there is then no support for the long-term costs of running these expensive vehicles - money for fuel, drivers, insurance and taxes. If OXAB commit to support organisations like Handikos, we need to ensure not only that we can do so for an extended period of time, but also that we are actually helping.

We leave Handikos with a greater sense of the problems that institutions like Afrim’s face. We walk 5 minutes down the road to the bus stop and just as we approach, a bus helpfully pulls in! We jump on the bus and take the the 40c journey to the bus station. The bus station itself turns out to be slightly out of the centre (not far - nowhere is too far in Pristina), and on the 20-minute walk into the centre we pass a Kebab restaurant, very common in Kosovo. At only about €1.50 for a tasty and filling meal of kebabs and tea, we leave very satisfied.

We wander back into town and decide it would be a good idea to get UNMIK, the United Nations Mission in Kosovo, on board with our proposals. We walk up to the UN compound in the centre of town and explain ourselves to the guards. Satisfied, they allow us to pass stage one and move on to the receptionist, stage two of the security apparatus. We wip out the business card and briefly explain what we do. Unfortunately, she asks the killer question: who do you want to talk to? Our reply is less than impressive. “Erm, you know, just someone at UNMIK. Who do you think we should meet?” There are three main problems with this response. Firstly, she doesn’t know. Secondly, UNMIK is quite a large organisation. Thirdly, EULEX is taking over many of its functions, so we should really be speaking with them. She provides us with their address - they don’t yet have a phone number, having only started on Tuesday - and after (unsuccessfully) attempting to palm off a business card in case she bumps into someone suitable, we leave.

By this time, it’s getting late and so we head back up to the apartment to drop our things off. Afterwards, we head back down to the centre and meet Fazz at Caffe Z, a small and comfortable place near the large ProCredit Bank building. (It’s actually between that bank and another Raffeissen Bank; banks and mobile phone companies seem to be ubiquitous in Kosovo.) Caffe Z has leaves in the table, under the glass top.

The first order is a round of large Peja Beers and Coke for Fazz. Peja seems to be the only Kosovan beer in Kosovo, but it’s very good which is just as well. We discuss our developing ideas about OXAB Kosovo being a partnership between Oxford and Pristina Universities. Five students (say) from each university go and work together on projects in Kosovo. This seems to be better than just sending Oxford students, because it helps break through the language barrier, skills can be exchanged between the two groups of students, and hopefully a greater (and more continuous) culture of volunteerism will remain in Kosovo after the Oxford students go back home. Satisfied and agreeing with our revolutionary plans to change the world, Fazz heads back to Podujeve, and we carry on with the Pejas in Caffe Z. We were initially under the impression that between 1700-1930 it would be happy hour at 50c a beer; in fact it turned out to be 50c off the €2 price for half a beer. We carried on anyway.

After several beers and making new friends with the waiter Vlla, we head out to another bar in town, Caffe Kontra. Unfortunately and shockingly they have stopped serving macchiatos by this point so we settle for Pejas. At this point Will goes over to a group of girls (and boy) and asked where they are heading on to. None the wiser we end up walking round the Palace of Youth and Sport to an underground (?) club called Harem, which really is like it sounds. Lots of exposed brickwork, drapes hanging from the ceiling and Middle Eastern music. We dance rather awkwardly and unsuccessfully for a while before heading back home ready for another day.

Tags: Kosovo, OXAB Kosovo Exploration Trip