SCHOOLS DO
THEY NEED IT?
Sanela Ferati: Where ever, just not to be here.
15-year-old Sanela Ferati on what kind of plans she has
for the future.
Sanela Ferati from the village of Nebregoste in the Zupa
valley is not the only one yearning to leave. Many young people from poor
countries, anywhere in the world, have the same idea, just to go away. But, in
a way, Sanela and girls like her from Nebregoste have even more reasons to
leave. They want to educate themselves and to have a life of their own.
This is Senada’s dream for
example.
Sanela Ferati: I would like to finish in a
good school, like medicine, to live nicely, to work.
A reasonable ambition, very normal anywhere in the
world, but here in the Zupa valley it isn’t the easiest thing to achieve. In Nebregoste, like elsewhere in the valley,
girls are advised to stay at home, get married and have kids. Sanela, Senada,
Amela and Mirna, whom we met in this hidden village in the mountains, are the
only four girls from Nebregoste who are in the ninth grade of Primary school
and want to continue their education.
Amela: I would like to study economy, but this is a
stupid environment. They don’t understand what a school is.
Amela explains that parents often say that the husband
will be the one who’ll earn the money. Not surprising perhaps when only two girls
from the 350 strong village which has over a thousand of its people working
abroad, continued their education.
Amela: If you go to school, people say
you are roaming the streets, going out with boys and things like that.
Mirna also complains that they are accused of being
immoral simply because they use the Internet. All she wants to do is to
correspond with friends abroad.
The patriarchal environment is not the only obstacle
for these young girls. Though they are still in primary school, they are forced
to walk everyday to Recane village, where the closest school is. 45 minutes to
walk 3 kilometres one-way, but says Senada, it is not that hard.
Senada: We walking, we are pedestrians, because
we have no transport. They haven’t provided it to us. Other villages from Zupa
did get transport, but when the weather is bad we don’t make it in time for the
first classes. We are always late for the first class, but our absence is
excused.
Since they don’t have any textbooks, they are forced to
write down everything they hear in class.
But what is the future for these girls brave enough to resist? Even if
they manage to take enough notes and learn everything, walk everyday to school
and say no to those advising them to drop everything and get married?
Nebregoste as other places in this part of Kosovo is very
poor and cut off from civilization. There are no jobs, except in the fields and
for men on building sites. And Mirna,
who wants to go to medical school, is resigned to making compromises.
Mirna: I would like to see if there is a trade I can learn,
like a hairdresser for example, maybe in Prizren. It is good to finish high
school.
Hairdressing is a far cry from medical school – and the stories of Mirna and her friends another reminder of how much needs to be done in Kosovo. That does it for this edition of UNMIK on AIR. Thanks for listening.