YMCA in Kosovo Blog

Hi my name is Lena, and my heart belongs to YMCA! Why do I have such a big love for YMCA... because its the first organisation that opened the doors towards my dreams .  It was summer 2009 when I heard about YMCA for the first time, I joined them and since then my doors have opened to everywhere. Lena with her new CEO I was so eager to learn and experience different cultures, the Y showed me how people from different cultures and backgrounds can live and function together as one. Through the Y I met so many people from all over the world that gather in one placed called the YMCA... they bring change and they help others. I traveled and learned a lot with YMCA. Being a woman who was born and raised in Kosovo, I had very few opportunities to see how the world functions outside of my borders. With the Y I have traveled around Europe, meeting important people and learning from them, improving my English, being part of different projects that made me feel that I am wo...

2004. YMCA Europe was organizing "Catch the vision" in Prizren, a multiethnical, multicultural city in a new and unknown territory: Kosovo. When I got the email confirming that I will be one of the participants I was very happy and curious to find out more about the place. Unfortunately at that time not too much information was available, so I ended up in Pristina airport, surrounded by military forces from different countries, getting a KFOR stamp in my passport. It was one of the first "wow" experiences in my YMCA life. Prizren 2004 The image of the parking at the airport was a bit strange for someone who had not seen any weapon so far. Tanks and military cars, helicopters and barbed wire all over the place. I was waiting with other participants and all the faces around me were scared and concerned.   Prizren was indeed a real experience: buildings, architecture, food, smells, people, thousand of electric generators on the streets making a huge noise. L...

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...