The town Mitrovica is one of the oldest settlements in Kosova/o, mentioned the first time in mediaeval documents. Today it is a divided town – the southern side of the river Ibar is inhabited by Kosovo Albanians (Kosovars), the northern side by Serbs.
After the war in 1999, there have been cases of civil unrest on several occasions, and ethnic conflict prevails to the present day. Before crossing the bridges spanning the river Ibar in either direction, it is advisable to change vehicle to one with the “right” kind of license plates. Still, relations between the SCiK country office in Prishtina and the sub-office in Mitrovica north are not only professional, but friendly, assure the project officer in Mitrovica and his colleagues in Prishtina. They meet regularly, either in Prishtina or in Mitrovica north in order to discuss work and exchange experience.
Democratization-Education-Advocacy
In the northern part of Mitrovica, there is a community based rehabilitation, non-governmental organization called Handikos, that runs a centre for children and youngsters with disabilities. The centre is supported by Save the Children and Unicef. Mirjana Spiric, herself in a wheelchair, is the head of the centre and Vladan Obradovic coordinates the activities. The premises are quite new, airy, well equipped and adapted to the needs of children to play and train. “Very different from our old premises in a conversed garage”, observes Mirjana. “Apart from providing a much better environment for all of us it has, in fact, given us a higher professional status which is important as advocacy work in the municipalities makes up a considerable part of our job. Even so, since Handikos is represented all over Kosovo, our authorities tend to look upon it with a certain degree of disapproval, seeing it as a Kosovar organization. We therefore keep a rather low profile ”.
On any given workday, a group of children who attend a special school will be brought by minibus to the centre, where they are offered psychosocial treatment and/or physical rehabilitation, but where they can also play with each other. After that, they are driven home by the same minibus and it is time for another group of children to arrive. In each shift, there are about 15-20 children. Even though Handikos is an organization for support to children with different kinds of disabilities, this centre also invites kids who have no disability at all. This new approach has been quite a success.
“At the beginning only disabled children came to our centre, but we soon found that the atmosphere here was so good that we decided to invite other children as well”, says Mirjana. “Children in special schools live very isolated lives, and they need to meet and play with other children. Since our centre is a good place to be, many parents of children without any form of disability bring their children here, or let them come by themselves. As a long-term side effect, we hope that later in life – when all these children grow up – they will find it natural to be together with all kinds of people and treat each other with respect.”
There are to date 11 similar centres In some of the major communities, which provide psychosocial treatment and physical rehabilitation of children. The one in northern Mitrovica is also furnished with a toy and equipment service for disabled children. It is not, as yet, a lending service but there are plans to introduce such a service. “We have also started a network between us in order to build a joint database with the motto Democratization –education-advocacy”, says Mirjana. “A local NGO has donated computers”.