Monthly Archives: September 2014

KODEF: Charity Gala in Prishtina

The newly established Kosovar-German Friendship Association (KODEF) will  be holding a Charity Gala at the Swiss Diamond Hotel on September 20th. The Association was established by enthusiastic individuals who live and work in Kosovo, and were also joined by members of the diaspora.

Their aim is to support neglected groups in Kosovo and the nursing home was selected as a starting point. The Association plans to provide the home with basic supplies such as bed sheets, cleaning supplies, wall paint, etc. Thus Donations will be used to improve the conditions of the nursing home in Prishtina.In addition to voluntary donations, the Association will be holding an auction.

The Gala will also be honored by the support of the well known football players Granit Xhaka and Xherdan Shaqiri who will be connected to the event online.President Atifete Jahjaga is also expected to come. The Gala will be broadcasted on RTK.

By participating, one contributes towards making this project possible. The entrance fee is 65,- Euro per person, with this price including: four-course menu, local wines as well as the entertainment.

Dress Code: smart casual.

Please confirm your participation by 17th September 2014 via e-mail: [email protected]

Please, keep in mind that the number of participants is limited.

Learn Albanian From Your Home

The great Isaac Asimov has been often credited for predicting the future of learning, particularly that of  online education, thus famously quoted “Self education is, I firmly believe, the only kind of education there is”. Now we have the chance to learn of the English as a second language, Mathematics, and even coding, all in Albanian and free of cost. One can learn basic English grammar through Professor Qaza, primary school math, and fundamentals of coding.

ALMOOC.com stands for Albanian Massive Open Online Course and the project has brought together an impressive 10,000 student base through a successful cooperation between : RealVizuals, Te Profi Qaza, EduonGo, Edukim në Matematikë and Unë jam koder .

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ALMOOC calls on all Albanian professionals and educational institutions to join this noble journey by providing quality education to all Albanians wherever they are, breaking down the barriers of location and financial hardship. You can all do so by applying here.

Filigree Craft, Yet Another Reason You Should Put Kosovo on Your To Go List

Filigran, from a quick search in Google, results with multiple entries in wikipedia and not much explanation. At its essence, Filgree is the art of bending and shaping thin stripes of metal, be that gold,silver or just plain twisted wire. For the people of Prizren, the old ottoman style city of Kosovo, it is more than that. It is a sense of identity. As Ndue Paluca explained fort the SET.com “Filigree is art. It means a lot to me. It is like sculpture or painting, but more complicated,”.

Jo Piazza from Yahoo reflects upon the lives of “nine aging factory workers use 50-year-old tools to make some of the most beautiful and intricate silver jewelry I have ever seen”. Thus it made me curious to find out more about this craft and see what others have been saying.

yahoo.com

yahoo.com

I for one, came across some interesting videos ;

And also many blogs from foreign and local people that find the Art of Filgree Fascinating.

merlinrebecca

 

 

On the weekend of October 24, Prishtina will host its annual Software Freedom Kosova Conference (SFK). This event is the biggest of its kind in the Balkans; an annual non-profit conference established to promote Software freedom, Open source software, Free culture and Open knowledge.

Already in its sixth edition, the conference  has a solid history of successfully gathering digital actors who share a common idea: “that software should be free and open for the community to develop and customize to its needs; that knowledge is a communal property and free and open to everyone.” (source)

The call for speakers is open until September 15 and talks will focus on mobile web, gaming, and open hardware. Alternatively, interested contributors can apply to host workshops or even sponsor the event.

Registration opens on September 20 but in the meantime you can subscribe for updates on the event’s website and follow the organizers on Twitter and Facebook.

Richard M. Stallman, a freedom software activist and a computer programmer, was a speaker at FLOSSK annual conference in Kosovo in June 2010.

 

 

Kosovo Marks Its First Victory on the Pitch

With Kosovo winning against Oman and Albania coming back triumphant from Portugal, Kosovars have had one great football evening. This day has been especially an important one for the Kosovar National Team, for it marks the first victorious match in the History of the team.

After being granted permission by FIFA to play international games in January, Kosovo set its first game against Haiti in March and later went on to challenge Turkey and Senegal in May.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

calcionews24.com

calcionews24.com

 

 

theworldgame.sbs

theworldgame.sbs

calcioweb.com

calcioweb.com

 

Achieving More With less

Article Originally Written and Published by www.deed-ks.org/;

The DEED Project Managers, Mr. Ardian Spahiu (UNDP) and Mr. Robert Cancel (IOM) jointly with the Mr. Vesa Kotilainen from the Finnish Embasy in Prishtina and the RDA East representatives have visited the grant receivers in Gjilan region who benefited from DEED project’s Grant Scheme activity implemented during the end of 2013. The grant-scheme was dedicated for new or existing businesses with the best business proposal and a 50% co-funding form diaspora.

Four out of eight businesses were visited where the successful implementation of the received grants was once again confirmed. With only around 8000,00 Euros in total, these four entrepreneurs (two Kosovo Alabanian and two Kosovo Serb) have shown that with a joint effort with diaspora, hard work, dedication, as well as targeted assistance,  in Kosovo one can easily achieve more with less. These four grant recipients have successfully established or expanded sustainable businesses for themselves and their families. Through the assistance received by the diaspora and the Grant Scheme enabled by the Finnish Government, implemented by the DEED project jointly with RDA East, five (5) Kosovars have been fully employed and 4 others engaged part-time. Kudos to these successful entrepreneurs!
This is in continuation of DEED efforts, to support new and existing businesses in Kosovo through close cooperation with diaspora and remittance receiving households including female and minority run businesses.

 

 

Action Bronson Loves Baklava [of his Kosovo Aunt]

Chef-turned-rapper Arian Asllani also known as Action Bronson is back with another episode on his new food-based show “F**k that’s delicious,” where he takes the camera for a tour at his Kosovo Albanian aunt’s place. Being the child of an Albanian emigrant, Bronson was raised pretty much the  same as every other Albanian diaspora kid, eating Baklava and Burek at every possible event. Here Action takes us through some of the steps of making Baklava and how one just does not get in the way of a Baklava maestro at work.

The first time I ever ran across a video from Bronson was his 2010 Shiraz video where halfway through I got the chance to see a flash of the Kosova Deli in the Arthur Avenue, considered by many as the Little Albania in the Bronx, New York.

youtube.comSource: youtube.com

Action Bronson has gone a long way since I first encountered him online, appearing in many videos and creating music for six albums. He apparently expects to publish a seventh album by the end of the year.

BET 10 Things you didnt know about Action Bronson

BET 10 Things you didnt know about Action Bronson

pigeonsandplanes.com interview

pigeonsandplanes.com interview

You should also follow his instagram (Bambambaklava) for beautiful pictures of Burek.

SOME OF THE BEST BUREK IVE EVER HAD, PERIOD. KALAJA RESTAURANT IN DETROIT #fuckthatsdelicious

Also as a bonus thanks to @NexhatMorina we get to watch an excerpt from Action Bronson’s last performance.

 

From a Young Migrant to a Factory Owner

Shkëlzen Tahiri is seen working 12 hour shifts at the Sprenger Werkzeugbau AG Factory, where detailed industrial tools are produced. However, there is a twist to his story, Mr. Tahiri is the owner of the factory, it is a company that he manages for 5 years now. Clearly, the company and the factory itself are indicators of Mr. Tahiri’s work ethic and dedication.

Originally from Dardanë, Shkëlzen and his family had migrated to Switzerland when he was just 12 years old. His father, a renown carpenter back home had continued with the same profession in Swizterland, whereas Shkëlzen had bigger plans. Shkëlzen had quickly moved upward in the industrialized world by initially getting the education and later establishing a company that supplies brand names such as ABB,Stile etc. Furthermore, the company is well known for supplying goods to markets in Italy and Germany. Shkëlzen does not have an authoritarian feel towards his workers, he is often seen doing the hard work himself, working long hours and taking no days off, he even brings breakfast for his workers on a daily!

Shkëlzen is not a rare occurrence, there are countless stories of migrants working their ways up the social ladder, we are seeing more and more company owners coming from migrant backgrounds. Furthermore, the friendly worker owner approach that Shkëlzen takes has proven to be successful and exemplary. Thus  once again showing that migrants do not only bring a personal story, they bring along a whole new approach of living and doing business.

Full article http://www.dialogplus.ch/

Nje Komb Calls All Albanians to Register Online

What started as table talk quickly became a reachable project for Besfort Axhanela. Currently a history student, Besfort has set a goal of identifying Albanians around the globe through his website njekomb.com. The site has identified roughly 320 thousand users with numbers continuously growing.

320 thousand is only a fraction of the total, Besfort claims that there are a lot more people of Albanian descent in the world. History shows that Albanians have always been migrating from one place to another, often forced through politic persecution or economic conditions. The website is fairly simple to use and the registration is complete within a few clicks.

The website has received a considerable amount of coverage:

“I have always wondered upon how big of a population we are. I know that there are milions of Albanians in Turkey, yet the number is still very relative. I am from Kosovo but I am an Albanian, being from Kosovo and the acronym of a Kosovar is a construction, I believe that many like I feel and are Albanian. I expect people that do consider themselves Albanian to register and identify through the page.” explains Mr. Axhanela for kulplus.com

The website, with growing number of entries will bring multiple benefits, people will have the chance to connect worldwide and learn of Albanians living nearby.