Minorities building a better life through loans

A narrow winding road through picturesque and rocky landscape leads to the village of Hoçë e Madhe / Velika Hoča predominantly populated by the Serb minority. Men of a variety of ages play chess and rest in the autumn afternoon sunshine in the small village square where there are two small shops made of corrugated iron. Artan Oruqi, KosInvest’s loan officer covering this village, points to one of the shops - a grocery shop owned by 22-year-old Mladen Lukić. Mladen has just received a loan from KosInvest to bring in supplies, and indeed the shop looks well supplied for local needs. Inside, Mladen’s brother is busy selling the vegetables he had gathered from the field before they froze in the increasingly cold mornings.

The other shop belongs to 26-year-old Blagoje Ilić. He specialises in raki, one of the most popular products of this area made from fermented grapes or plums distilled in traditional copper pots and heated on a log fire. In this particular shop, Blagoje sells first class homemade raki packaged in a unique style of bottling - a creative technique to attract customers who buy the raki as a traditional gift. Various handcrafted wooden objects such as Orthodox crosses, writings and icons are assembled inside the bottle by Blagoje’s skilled hands. The bottle is then filled with raki and waits for its buyer.

When KosInvest first offered loans in this isolated enclave, people were very skeptical. It has been encouraging to see their confidence grow and we now hear about their new ideas to make better use of the next loan.

For the people of Rahovec/Orahovac, working in vineyards and producing raki and wine has been a source of income for centuries. They are known as hard working people and many other crops are also cultivated here. But the war in 1999 caused great disruption to traditional economic activity of this region. The distrust it created between ethnic groups still prohibits economic opportunity today, particularly for minorities living in isolated enclaves. KosInvest is responding to the need to promote economic and social development by working to create sustainable business links between ethnic communities.

“Before KosInvest came to Rahovec/Orahovac, World Vision’s peacebuilding efforts there helped build relationships and strengthen trust between local political and religious leaders. There is thus an opportunity to combine the work of these sectors to help the local population deal with the differences that divide them,” says Rick Spruyt, World Vision Kosovo’s civil society program manager:

“Hoçë e Madhe / Velika Hoča is a quiet isolated village in terms of geography but also because of the division between Albanians, who form the majority, and Serbs. In the past we had to go in this village to collect payments and seek new clients, but recently Serb clients from this village have started coming to the KosInvest office in downtown Rahovec/Orahovac, indicating more freedom of movement,” explains Vullnet Rexhepi, KosInvest branch manager in Rahovec/Orahovac.

“When we first offered loans in this community, people were very skeptical. It has been encouraging to see their confidence grow and we now hear about their new ideas to make better use of the next loan,” he continues.

“The fact that we have broken down barriers by using our local Albanian staff makes me feel good. We see as impeding the low percentage of young Serbs in this village and in the surrounding area in general. A number of them left Kosovo and started new lives in Serbia. Our challenge is to encourage them to return and start new businesses.”

We never applied for a loan before because we did not know it was possible until we heard about it from our neighbours. I will apply for another loan to buy more calves because we have surplus feed that otherwise we cannot make use of.

A few meters away stands the old house of the Berisha family, with red peppers hung out to dry and a neatly kept garden with grapes, tomatoes, cabbage and peppers. Mire, 50, the woman of the house, prepares nylon sheets to cover the vegetables to protect them from morning frost. This Ashkali family lives in the midst of a Serb village, thus a minority living within another minority. The family’s produce is their only source of income, in addition to some social support. Mire and her husband Aziz, 55, live together with their son Vetim, his wife Silvana and their three children Shpresa, 11, Denis, 10, and Adelina, 5.

With a Kosinvest loan, Mire bought three calves. “We never applied for a loan before because we did not know it was possible until we heard about it from our neighbours. I will apply for another loan to buy more calves because we have surplus feed that otherwise we cannot make use of,” explains Mire.

When asked what he would buy with the extra money his family earns, Denis immediately replies, “A computer”. His father Vetim gently lays his hand on his son’s head and says, “Now you have to be happy with a sets of school books, but we will look forward to buying a computer in the future.”