Kosova

In 5 1/2 days I will be enduring a 30 hour bus ride to Kosova. WOW...not looking forward to that:-) Things have been so busy that I am just not starting to think about the actuality of the trip.

A lot of family have been asking me questions about Kosova...many of the same questions I received when coming to Switzerland. I received a "survival guide" that missionaries get when going to Kosova. I thought I would put some of this information I received on my blog for you guys to see.

First of all many may be wondering why I am typing KosovA instead of KosovO. Here is the reason! The Kosovar Albanians will say KosovA and not KosovO. This is because the former is the Albanian pronunciation and the latter is the Serbian way. Many prefer to be called Kosovar Albanians or simply Albanians instead of Kosovars. Kosova is the place they live, but their nationality is Albanian.

Also...where is Kosovo??? Here are several maps. Sorry for the disorganized layout:-)

The picture on the top left shows a picture of Eastern Europe. Locate the Pink/Purple country Serbia. You can see that it is just east of Italy across the Adriatic Sea. You can let it become more localized by looking at the picture on the top right. Serbia is surrounded by Romania, Croatia, Hungary, Bosnia, Albania etc. Then look at the picture on the bottom. It shows where Kosova is. If you enlarge the picture you will see a little place named Pec (Peya/Peja). That is where we will be. It is on the side towards the north eastern side of Albania also south of Montenegro.

What is Kosovo? Is it a country? Province, country, autonomous republic...? Kosovo has been most of these in its history. Before 1987 Kosovo was a self governing republic of Yugoslavia. In 1097 Kosovo became a province under the direct rule of Serbia. In 1998-1999, we saw the forceful deportation of Albanians by their thousands from the province by Serbian military forces. NATO subsequently authorized air strikes and by the summer of 1999, the Serbian military had been forced to retreat. I 1999, the UN given authority as an interim administration over the territory. So now it is officially a province of Serbia in Yugoslavia.

So there you have it! Some of your questions answered. I have a 25 page information guide...so I am sure if you have any more questions I can answer them:-)