Peace Plan Highlights | Photo Gallery | Strike Assessment | News Video Archive | Strike at a Glance | Who's Who | Roots of the Conflict | Story Archive | Links | Discussion

E-Mails from Kosovo, Part V Finnegan Hamill, a high school student in Berkeley, California, has been corresponding with a teen in Kosovo, who uses the pseudonym Adona, for several months. We've been following her story through her e-mails to the California teenager. Since the NATO bombing, Adona has not been able to write. But Finnegan has managed to speak to Adona a few times by telephone. We reproduce below his latest update. The piece was produced by Youth Radio in Berkeley.

Hamill

"During the month since I last spoke with Adona, I've been to my junior prom, my ice hockey team won the league championship and like most high school students in America ---I'm suffering from spring fever.

Adona's life is surely the near opposite of mine. When she answered the telephone earlier this week ...the strain in her voice was painful to hear. All these weeks when I couldn't get through on the phone, I've been picturing her in a refugee camp, hiding in the Kosovo hills with the KLA..or who knows what.

She offered no details of where she's been all this time or why she's still inside Kosovo. This may be because she was speaking from what she called an "illegal" telephone.

Adona said her family has food, water and electricity, but there's little she can do except stay inside and watch tv..all day long.

I know how important her education is to her, in fact one of the first things she said was "Is there any news about a scholarship?...If I get out, can you help?" She knows no one can help while she's still in Kosovo.

So, I'm not surprised that Adona's family has made the wrenching decision to split up for now. Adona said her parents and her little brother will remain in Kosovo for the time being... but she and her older sister are going to set out on their own -- and try to reach the border. She said the word is that most of the camps are full... but they will keep trying.

I told Adona I've heard from some of her friends who've made it out safely and are now living with other families in Macedonia. We've been corresponding by e-mail they send from Internet cafes, where you have to pay by the minute to use a computer. That was the first time her voice softened.... "I'm glad to know they're safe." she said.

Internet cafes that were once a novelty are now a lifeline for Albanian refugees and other young people affected by the war. Any news from Adona's friends makes me feel better. Knowing that they could get out gives me more hope for her. Who knows, the next time I hear from Adona, she may be writing from a cyber café in a neighboring country... planning her next move."

Youth Radio is a nonprofit organization based in Berkeley. Student-produced pieces and commentaries can be heard on KQED and KCBS in San Francisco; on National Public Radio; and Pacifica National Network. Youth Radio also contributes sound online to "Digital High," a service of the San Jose Mercury News, and commentaries online to "Youth Voices," a project of Brandeis University.