UNMIK on
air
Ekonomia e
re
SLUG: Nine months ago four young people were invited to
participate in an UNMIK TV program called <<Ekonomia e re>>. The
discussion centered on the economic situation in Kosovo, their experiences and
plans for the future.
Now, nearly one year later UNMIK TV invited the same
group of four to discuss their progress, or lack thereof, as the region works
towards implementing the Standards. On this edition of UNMIK on Air, we
broadcast a cross-section of the viewpoints expressed on the program.
To hear the full
hour-long broadcast of the roundtable discussion, UNMIK on Air invites you to
watch the latest edition of UNMIK TV’s <<Ekonomia e re>> on 11th
of April at 18:45 on RTK.
Hello and welcome- This is UNMIK on Air:
Nine months after a roundtable discussion organized by UNMIK
TV for its program, Ekonomia e re, the same four individuals were invited to
another roundtable to describe how they see their future in the current
economic climate in Kosovo.
Besnik,
Gezim, Flutra and Qemajl are four Kosovan youth-- who after just nine months--
say the number of obstacles they faced while attempting to join the work force
or start businesses has left them, for the most part, discouraged.
Even
as some in the group could say they have “succeeded” the and some did not but
the general feeling does not give grounds for optimism.
Besnik
Duraku is a photographer who studied and lived most of his life in Sweden. Nine months ago, in the first roundtable
conducted by UNMIK TV, he described himself as energetic and optimistic that he
could work in Kosovo as a photographer.
At that time, Besnik believed that there would be a need for
professional photographers in Kosovo and that his work would be valuable. But according to Besnik in this recent
interview…these past nine months have shown him that it is not necessarily the
case:
Besnik: I worked
during this time but I have faced many obstacles, I haven’t found competition
as a photographer here. Quality and professionalism that is demanded outside of
Kosovo is not applicable here, so I am finding it hard to work and I don’t find
myself in some other job I don’t work regularly now, I work but there are no
projects and engagement in my job, there is no demand for my job here,
therefore my plan is to back in Sweden.
As
Besnik speaks of the lack of demand for what he would describe as skilled
labor, others in the roundtable, like Gezim Kasapolli, agree.
In
the first UNMIK TV program, Gezim described himself as full of ideas with plans
for his new business—a business he had started at the beginning of 2003. But, according to Gezim now, the lack of
economic and political legislation in Kosovo did not give him and other like him
a real opportunity for his enterprise to succeed. Five months ago he joined UNMIK again and says he felt that a
position with UNMIK in the current economic climate was the only choice he had
for the time being to make a viable living.
The current situation is not very promising says Gezim and it is time to
see the real economic picture of Kosovo- one, that is, stripped of idealism.
Gezim: I
think that we citizens have to make a difference between pessimism, optimism,
idealism and realism. Reality is a little pessimistic. We idealize. The story
of Kosovo in my opinion will be one of those movies with a happy ending. We
have to stare reality in the eyes and not repeat our mistakes, and we have done
that repeatedly. That makes us
pessimistic. In fact society is in the hands of those who are repeating
mistakes. Those people shouldn’t have the society in their hands. Those are the
people who created quantity is our society. We have many educated people but
they are unfortunately many in our society. However, among them you cannot get
one talent. If we want to be an authentic society, we have support the talents
and give them a chance. It is easy to create educated people and to give out
diplomas, but they are worthless. It is harder to raise a talent like a
photographer, psychologist, and politician and to lay a path for them.
As
two of the participants in the roundtable detailed obstacles trying to start
their own businesses, another participant, Qemajl Murmullaku, sees the
situation in Kosovo a bit differently.
Nine months ago Qemajl had just returned from Malaysia where he studied
political sciences. At that time he was
unemployed and not happy with the economic situation in Kosovo. However, in the
recent rountable, Qemajl says he has a job with an NGO which trains new staff
for the Kosovo Ministry:
Qemajl: I am
more optimist then Gezim and Besnik, I see a brighter future for Kosovo; not
the momentary Status Quo but future of Kosovo; yes I will stay in Kosovo. That
is the reason I came to Kosovo, I wouldn’t allow that small failure diverse me
from my plans for the future; failures are possible in life and those kinds of
things happen. Even though I waited 6 months to find a job, again I would wait
6 more months.
Another
Kosovan who returned to the region is Flutra Germizaj a psychologist who
studied in London. Nine months later, Flutra continues to work on projects with
NGO-s and her objectives have not changed since the first televised
discussion. However, Flutra says she
refuses to be pessimistic and believes that people in Kosovo, particularly the
youth should not give up. Rather Flutra urges particularly the youth in Kosovo
to do their best to improve life here in the region.
Flutra: I wont
be pessimistic. I think there is some progress; I think that no one can
influence in life goals that is why all these things happened in the past;
always look on the bright side and hope that one day we will have a place with
all conditions; That day looks to me very far because progress is happening
slowly but we are always those who are contributing in that process; I don’t
want to talk about politics but what I wanted to say is that we should have a
will; that is hard to find because we live in hard conditions but if we give up
now what will happen in the future? We all can live abroad but we have to build
and to achieve something here.
To
hear the full hour-long broadcast of the roundtable discussion UNMIK on Air
invites you to watch the latest edition of UNMIK Television’s “Ekonomia e re”
on the 11th of April at 18:45 on RTK.
That
is all for this edition of UNMIK on Air.
Thanks for listening and stay tuned for more.