Kosovo teens hope for better future.

Roland Griffith

17 June 2008

The girls contend that "with autonomy everything could change" Sitting on a concrete ledge in Pristina town centre, they are metres away from one of the several United states bases here. Graffiti is being hastily painted over, a road sweeper weaves between the trees on the main pedestrianised street - and a cherry picker crane lifts an employee 3 storeys high to install a floodlight fitting for the anticipated parties. Kosovo's capital is in a festive mood The 3 girls gossiping away in the sunlight might just be fourteen, but the historical importance of autonomy isn't lost on them for a second. Lenda Hysemi lets me know conversations so frequently in Kosovo return to the same theme : "We learn about it in college, we learn about it from our folks, our teachers, from everyone." "Then you flick on the television, and it's there too. 'Real test ' And that's the human story here. Posters around Pristina express gratitude to the ECU, UK and US Geopolitics and world wrangling over territorial sovereignty can just mean so much to a Kosovo teen, growing up in a land that's crushingly poor. Virtually each other adult here does not have a role. And to them, that may be the genuine test of the new, independent Kosovo. "Sure, with autonomy we would like to stay" claims Lenda. "Maybe folk think with going abroad they can have a better life.