Historically sexual violence has been used as a weapon of war, for as long as there have been wars on earth. Rape is used to instill terror, and humiliate people, to destroy not only individuals, but families, communities and society as well. The consequences of this organized crime, which is used as a weapon of war, are deeply felt even when the war is over. I, who work with survivor of sexual violence during the… Continue reading
Hello everyone! My name is Tanya Mahel, my maiden name is Danylyuk. I’m 32 years old. I have a son, his name is Arsen, he’s almost 8. He went to school. I had my own peaceful life, I had a big house with a big and green yard. I had a job. I had our beloved German shepherd dog. I had nice clothes and pretty shoes. You ask me why I write everything in the… Continue reading
By: Selvi Izeti Çarkaxhiu – Psychologist, KRCT Story from: ‘The diary of psychotherapy with survivors of sexual violence during the war in Kosovo.’ The survivors during the Pandemic – excerpt and summary from the psychotherapy sessions with one of the survivors of sexual violence during the war. The psychologist’s reflection of the work with the client during the period of COVID-19pandemic. “I am a survivor!” “I was merely 16 years old when they raped me… Continue reading
This article is by Selvi Izeti, a traumatologist whom I met in Italy at an advanced Harvard training program. I visited Ms Izeti in Kosova and sat in on her trauma resolution groups. Ms Izeti, an Albanian was a refugee during the Serb attempt at Albanian genocide. Andrea Steffens •••••••••Sexual violence against men and boys in Kosovo during the recent war is estimated to be about 20,000. Most victims were women and girls. but there have… Continue reading
In southwest Kosovo there is a village known as Village of War Widows. In 1999 this village was populated with both Albanian and Serbian, but in March 1999 the Former Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic’s military forces had descended on this rural village and separated the men from their families.What happened not only decimated the village’s male population but was one of the most violent incidents of the Kosovo War. All the man of this village were and… Continue reading
起死回生 – “Wake from death and return to life.” A 74 year old Japanese man spends his life making Sense of the Senseless world he inhabited as a child during WWII. He researches, talks with family, with his older cousins and builds a narrative for himself, a Japanese American narrative, a minority perspective, different than the dominant culture’s story and much needed for all. On February 19, 1942 President Franklin D. Roosevelt authorized… Continue reading
Our names carved on the lunar landscape-Revisiting Home March 2016: My ultramodern taxi, equipped with wifi and all other modern amenities, stops and the driver calmly tells me that this is the closest to the border that he can take me. I need to walk the rest of the distance to the checkpoint. He says he’s really sorry about that… I take some deep breaths and encouraging myself I grab the handle of the suitcase… Continue reading
Angelina is small women from a protected Italian-American family in a small New York community She joined the military for school benefits before 9/11 and thus, before the war in Afghanistan. Her first impression of warfare was seeing shots of the Gulf War on the six o’clock news, sitting with her mother and grandparents, seeing the explosions on their not so good TV and wondering if the people being bombed were still alive and if… Continue reading
Uran’s Story: For twenty years, the Albanian people living in Kosovo were treated like second-class citizens by the Serbian population. In an effort to force Albanians to leave Kosovo, there were tight restrictions on what the Albanian population could and could not do in their country: their children weren’t allowed to attend formal schools, their sick weren’t allowed to seek medical care from hospitals, activities of their cultural organizations were restricted, and unemployment was high.… Continue reading
Hello, Andrea here. I asked Patti Gora Mcraven to write this when the abstraction of war toxins and its impact on health was brought home in my knowing and loving people who were impacted by this: especially a beautiful little Kosovar girl, Klara, whose health has been fragile. Why? We believe, with good reason, that the toxins of war that have poisoned soil in which food is grown is the ground out of which ill health… Continue reading
