Sometimes you just run out of time

Because of our crazy travel issues (which will need a post of its own), I didn't write this post until a couple of days after we returned.

We woke up early on Thursday morning with a couple of things that we wanted to do before our scheduled flight. Berat was a little late picking us up, but soon we were on our way out of Gjakova.

First Berat took us to a small village about halfway between Gjakova and Pristina called Prekaz. I know I wrote in my first post that visiting the first memorial was the most sobering moment...but after this day's visit I am not so sure anymore...

We visited the home of Adem Jashari...this man is revered as a national hero for the Kosovar Albanians. He was instrumental in solidifying the resolve to stand up to the Serbians. The memorial remembers the three day standoff in 1999 where Jashari and 55 of his extended family perished. Now, five days after my visit, I am still at a loss for words. I'll try to let the pictures below speak for themselves. Here is a really well written article about the attack if you're interested in reading the details.

first view of the memorial...about half the people killed were non combatants.

At the entrance to the complex of the Jashari family residence...pictured are the patriarch of the Jashari famil, Shaban...and his sons, Adem and Hamez.

the results of the Serbian attack...

It's hard to see in the picture...but the inside (and of course, much of the outside) is absolutely riddled with bullet and mortar holes.

the patio of the main residence...

Two members of the Kosovar Military serving as an honor guard for the 3 Jashari elders.

so young.

This man was the curator of the small museum/gift shop. He was in the village at the time of the attack at Prekaz. He welcomed us with an honor-filled and emotional greeting, especially once he found out we were Americans. Rebecca and I stood there with tears in our eyes absorbing the completely undeserved praise and honor...I was just a stupid high school kid when all this happened...yet he treated me as a returning hero. Unreal.

In this picture he is showing us a picture of the Jashari children...all but three were present during the attack. He is pointing at the one young girl who survived the attack.

Unfortunately...this attack was not an isolated incident. It was preceded and followed by numerous attacks and executions of entire families. The Jashari family were the only ones who were able to fight back so early in the conflict. Before the end of the war (and most predominantly, in a period of 3 months...even though the war last a little over a year) over almost 10,000 civilians had been killed and over 800,000 Albanian Kosovars had been forced out of their homes.

Our next stop was in the capitol city of Pristina to visit with the small group of kids who have been playing baseball/softball for the last year or so. Unfortunately we were REALLY short on time for this visit. We were only able to spend about 15-20 minutes playing with the kids...and it was hard to leave them so quickly. It was fun to be able to just play and have fun. It's funny to say, but I think they are too focused on the need to organize. Part of this is due to lack of equipment. It's hard for the kids to decide to just play a "sandlot game" because they need their "coach" to bring the team gear. I really hope that we'll be able to get enough gear together in the future where we can give these kids their own gloves.

With Besarb, the young organizer of this crew of baseball players.

sadly...there just was not enough time...and we missed the check in cutoff for our flight home to Vienna (more on that in the next blog post)

I think we are still trying to process everything that happened on this trip. We were definitely touched deeply by the experiences of the Kosovar people. We were encouraged by the local Kosovars who are active in ministry within a predominantly muslim population. I am sure we will be back in Kosovo...maybe even before the end of this year.

We are really interested in gathering financial partners for this specific and very impactful ministry. Please message us if you are interested in helping fund this ministry in Kosovo.