The Messenger - March 2009 - Landsmines in Kosovo
By Liam Ó Cathasaigh - 01 March 2009
‘Even though you have lost a piece of your body, it doesn’t mean a thing. You are still the same person. It is important to remain the same person, and treat those close to you with kindness. You must not suffer, but rather look to the future. That’s enough.’
Ganimete Latifi, Landmine Survivor 17 years old.
We arrived in Kosovo with a vague understanding of a complicated political situation, not knowing what to expect from the place or our proposed project. It was to be our first foray into overseas documentary production. My good friend Colm Quinn and I made our way to Pristina in the summer of 2004, after receiving an invitation from Fr. John Dardis S.J., then director of the Jesuit Refugee Service, Europe.
Until recently, Kosovo was a province of Serbia and Montenegro (formerly the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia), but has a predominantly ethnic-Albanian population. Conflict between Yugoslav armed forces and the Kosovo Liberation Army led to a NATO bombing campaign against the Yugoslav and Serbian forces in Kosovo.
Since 1999, the province has been under the administration of the United Nations. Kosovo declared independence from Serbia in February 2008. It has been recognised by the United States and most nations in the European Union. Serbia – backed by Russia – has refused to acknowledge the split. But the story that the documentary tells has little to do with the political and historical context. Instead, Break Away tells a simple story of ordinary people living and coping in extraordinary circumstances. As a result of the conflict, rural Kosovo has been littered with anti-personnel landmines, and other unexploded items such as hand grenades and cluster bombs. The fact no minefield records were ever kept in Kosovo has compounded the already substantial threat.
For the past eight years, the Jesuit Refugee Service has offered direct medical assistance, travel and psychosocial support to young victims of landmines and their families. Limb prostheses, eye surgery, medial care and education is provided for over sixty children. The project provides help and support to the injured and to their wider families, who often suffer as much shock and trauma as those injured.
The project is run by JRS Country Director, Kastriot Dodaj, and Fr. Stjepan Kusan S.J., JRS Regional Director for south-east Europe. Both men do incredible work on behalf of the project participants. Their personal approach embodies the ethos on which their work is founded. They relate to the participants not as victims, but simply as children. They are friends and mentors. We accompanied the group on an annual holiday organised for the participants by the JRS, to the resort town of Ohrid, Macedonia. It was an opportunity for the children to have fun, relax and rehabilitate in surroundings far removed from their daily realities.
Stjepan Kusan, S.J., the Director of the JRS in Southeast Europe comments:
“It is true that all the children in the project suffer from their handicaps and suffer, too, from social exclusion. They are stigmatised by the social environment in which they live, but are experts at hiding their amputated hands, fingers or legs, to make themselves look just like their peers. What they really need is encouragement, approval and the chance to show what they can do, and what they know; and above all, the chance to discover alternative talents to carry them through life”.
One of the participants, Arben Guri, was 14 at the time he was injured. His brothers had found a mine in a cave, not too far from his home. Not knowing what it was, he and his brothers began to carry it back towards his home. They were approaching the rear of the house when it detonated. His resulting injuries were horrific. Arben lost both hands, and suffered major damage to his internal organs. He was saved after a day-long operation at a local hospital. Arben is an intelligent, positive, handsome young man whose once seemingly limited future prospects have been overcome by his own incredible determination. With the help of the Jesuit Refugee Service, Arben has now completed secondary school and has recently spent time in London with a view to being fitted with a pair of permanent, electronic prostheses, the likes of which would never have been a possibility without the assistance of the JRS, and their UK partners, Eagle Aid.
There are still thousands of items of unexploded ordnance scattered across Kosovo today. Their danger is ever present. Landmines do not discriminate between young or old, Serb or Albanian. The multi-denominational work of the Jesuit Refugee Service in Kosovo is ongoing. Your support makes a profound difference to the landmine survivors and their families.
Kastriot and Stjepan’s work promotes a collective courage amongst participants that empowers them to approach the future with a confidence, free of inhibition.
The time we spent, the people we met, the work we observed and stories we encountered will live long in our memories.
If you are keen to find out more, the Break Away documentary is now available to view on www.messenger.ie