Charity worker in love with Kosovo

1:57pm Tuesday 15th July 2008

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A Christian charity worker is spending a year in Kosovo. She tells DAVID MILLS how she is helping the people of a country plagued by war.

KOSOVO is a country torn apart by years of conflict, gradually trying to piece itself back together after declaring itself independent in February.

Its more recent troubles stem from the break up of Yugoslavia in the early 1990s, but it is the conflict between Serbian and Albanian nationalisms that has ravaged the region, dating all the way back to the 19th century.

In 1999 Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic ordered the ethnic cleansing of Albanians living in Kosovo, which caused around 11,000 deaths and more than a million refugees.

Almost 10 years later Kosovars are trying to move on from their troubled past, with the help of Naomi Maxim from Lamorbey Close, Sidcup.

The 21-year-old is currently on her third visit to the country, where she is doing a gap year programme with Smile International, a missionary charity based in Rushett Road, Orpington.

She is working in Gjakove, where she teaches English to Kosovans as well as helping out at churches and children's clubs.

Naomi, who was a pupil at Coopers Technology College, Hawkwood Lane, Chislehurst, says she fell in love with the country on her first visit in 2006.

She said: "I first came to Kosovo with Smile International on a short term mission trip in 2006, I fell in love with the country and its people and had to come back.

"I came back for two weeks in August last year although when I returned to England I wasn't satisfied and had a big burden that I had to be back in Kosovo and for a longer period of time."

She added: "I teach English in Kosovo which is such a valid thing over here because being able to speak English can open so many doors in someone's future."

Kosovo has a population of 2.1m of which 92 per cent are Albanian and five per cent Serbs.

Although declaring independence earlier this year, countries including Serbia, Russia and China, refuse to recognise her.

Naomi says that given Kosovo's social problems, life over there is a world away from that in the UK.

She said: "You can't really compare Kosovo with the UK because they have completely different cultures.

"Although it does make you realise how grateful we need to be about living in a country like England with all the opportunities that are available to us, such as work.

"One of the biggest problems in Kosovo is that there are not enough jobs for people.

"More than 65 per cent of the people are unemployed and can't support their families and with very little government support many families live in poverty."

She added: "Kosovo is a beautiful country that has been torn apart by war but now after independence the people have hope and an identity and are proud to be Kosovars."

Naomi plans to return to the UK next month (August) but she said: "I know it is going to be so hard to say goodbye but I hope it will not be my last visit to Kosovo."

For information on Smile International and its gap year programmes visit smileinternational.org