On October 30, 2019, BIRN Kosovo published an article titled “Meeting of the teacher with Kosovar returned children from Syria and Iraq”.

The aim of this research was to understand the teacher’s (whose name remains anonymous) experience with his seven (7) students, which are children returned from foreign fights, and the teacher’s role in their integration. Furthermore, BIRN’s goal was to discover whether the summer activities aimed for the returned children have had an impact in the process of their re-socialization and integration.

For the purpose of this article, BIRN’s team conducted three interviews. The first part of the article covers the interview with the teacher, the second part covers the interview with the Director of the Department for Public Safety in the Ministry of Internal Affairs, Mensur Hoti, and the third part covers the interview with the psychiatrist- Valbona Tafilaj, who is also a coordinator for the return of women and children from Syria.

According to the teacher who teaches 7 of the 74 children returned from the wars in Syria and Iraq, fleeing from camp to camp, the danger of survival, bombs, grenades, weapons and tanks, have not lost the returning children the feeling of giving love. Children belong to the age group of 9-14 years. For the newspaper “Jeta ne Kosove” [Life in Kosovo], the teacher points out that the challenges the children face include harassment and blasphemy because they have been part of foreign fights with their families. “In the future will have a bitter memory but these children will move on” the teacher adds. For the purpose of this research, the teacher also talks about activities held during the summer for which he says that the first thing that children mentioned when they started school were summer activities.

Concerning the activities Mensur Hoti, Director of the Department of Public Safety in the Ministry of Internal Affairs claimed that in case “their [returned children] mothers are sentenced, social workers and/or relatives of children will be taking care of them”.

When interviewed, the psychiatrist Valbona Tafija – coordinator for the return of women and children from Syria, said that “the organic condition has been stable, however it is known that with the change of climate and country, there are many problems that are psychologically manageable, it is obvious that they were in a place where there was war, we have children who have experienced trauma but many psychiatrists and psychologists have worked with them”.
To conclude, this reportage has served as a role model for journalists reporting on cases related to returnees. Our production team has blurred out the face of the teacher in order to not reveal his identity which protects children returned in order to prevent them from being further marginalized and discriminated against.

Takimi i mësuesit me fëmijët Kosovarë të kthyer nga Siria e Iraku