Kosovo Project Week

Kosovo Project week

This October 6 students from UWC Maastricht traveled to the newborn country of Kosovo. My team were were Agnesa, Erik, Hadil,  Zoe, Annika and I. We traveled to Agnesa’s hometown of Fushë Kosova. During the week we had two projects to do. One in a Roma center in the town we stayed in and the other teaching English in a primary school in Janjevë. It was a truly amazing trip that opened all of our eyes to things we had never seen or experienced before.

In the school we taught the children in primary school ranging from ages 7 until 14. Their English was very basic so we decided to teach them some English in a fun and interactive way. We taught all the classes the song ‘Heads, shoulders, knees and toes’, which the children thoroughly enjoyed. We had a culture day where we shared our cultures with the children. We showed our flags, spoke in our languages, sang songs and showed our skills. We also had a day of dialogue, with the topics of women in society and peace. We also made the children write letters to the students at UWCM.

The second of our projects was working in a Roma center in Fushë Kosova. This was the really eye-opening part of our trip. The most amazing part of this was visiting one of the family’s houses. The house was approximately 2.5 meters by 2.5 meters and was a single room. This room was the home to 2 adults and their 6 children. This house had no electricity or running water. The children had only one set of clothes and the family has less than one pair of shoes per person so shared shoes.  This house looked like it was in the middle of a rubbish tip as it had a walkway up to it which was pieces of tin and wood piled together. This was something that most of us had never seen before so touched us that this families spirits were still up regardless of their situation.

In the actual Roma centre we worked with the children and the women. With the children we did an art project in order to make their run down centre look a bit more homely. We made a big poster which consisted of the handprints of the UWC students and roma children in the shape of a tree. For them this was a special experience as they never get to do this and meet people outside of the roma community. The women showed us how they make their income though making soap and bags which they then sell which for most of them was their only source of income. All six of us bought some products.

I think I speak on behalf of the whole group that this was an unforgettable and life changing trip that changed our perceptions on life and made us so much more grateful for what we have and realize how lucky we are. We are planning to do some fundraising at school in order to fund the project to build the family we visited a new house to live in which will make their standard of living much better and easier.