YMCA in Kosovo Blog

My name is Arita and I’m the program coordinator for our after school project here in Kosovo. I got the chance to go on a study visit to YMCA Finland and see up close their work and what  they are doing in their YMCA, including their after school programs. Jenni Enqvist the leader of our field group and National board member of YMCA Finland made this possible for us. Hello Kosovo???  When we first arrived in Helsinki we stayed in the Arthur hotel, this also had space for projects. The hotel was incredible! Afterwards, we had the chance to meet the director Timo Laulaja and one of their staff from the after school program, Tuomas Makela. Their hospitality and what they had organized for us is something I will always remember. Everything went according to the agenda and they presented to us their work. I also got the chance to visit the other halls and rooms where the after school program runs, and I kept telling myself “One day we will be like this too!” Arita ...

Jan has been instrumental bringing the YMCA to Kosovo, she is a very important field group member that supports our  development and she brings much needed experience and vision, this has earned her the nickname "mom" in our movement. Here she shares an article she wrote after living here. Kosovo makes you laugh and cry, sometimes simultaneously. Independence has brought about hope, something that was in short supply when I lived there in 2005.   The scars of the war were only beginning to heal. People craved a return to normalcy. The collision of those dynamics created comedy and tragedy in tandem. In Kosovo Americans could feel right at home. One could visit the “Hillary Dress Shop” or eat lunch at “King Burger.”   Incredibly I was left managing a shoe store one Saturday when the owner disappeared somewhere to obtain change so that I could make a purchase. Apparently as an American I was trusted enough to mind the store. There were “auto larje” (car wa...