Prokletije – MontenegroMt. Arapit – AlbaniaGuri i Kuq – Kosova
BALKANS PEACE PARK PROJECT
Creating a trans-national, cross-border park in the adjoining mountain areas of
Albania, Kosovo/a, Montenegro
UK Registered Charity No. 1105447
UKNEWSLETTER No. 10 November 2013
A BIG STEP ON THE ROAD
In January 2013 the Bjeshkët e NemunaNational Park in western Kosova was passed into law. Linked with the ProkletijeNational Park in Montenegro, established in 2009, and the Valbona and ThethiNational Parks in Albania, designated by the Communist regime in the 1960s, this means that there is now a contiguous chain of officially protected conservation areas through the heart of the proposed BalkansPeacePark. We know that it will take time for this brand new national park in Kosova to become fully effective; issues such as property rights, control of development, environmental protection, have to be sorted out and agreed.However, we also know that there is a strong will to work closely with the park authorities, NGOs and individual enthusiasts in Montenegro and Albania. So let us warmly welcome the Bjeshkët e NemunaNational Park and congratulate the Kosovan parliament on its achievement.
Crossing borders
There is more good news as the vision comes nearer of a truly international, cross-border conservation area, protecting the environment and bringing prosperity to its communities from sustainable mountain tourism. And let us remember that this was the vision of committed men and women in the Balkans, in Kosova and Albania especially, not just a far away dream of idealists in the UK. Thanks to the enterprise of B3P and the German government development agency GIZ and the energies of a local project team there is now in place the ‘Peaks of the Balkans’ trail. It is a waymarked circular mountain walking route of 190km through all three countries in the Prokletije/Beshkët e Nemuna mountain range, with its own map (available from Stanfords in the UK) and accommodation available in cabins or farmhouses on the way. A system for mountain walkers, trekkers, cyclists, climbers and cavers to get police permission in advance to cross borders at unofficial places is now up and running. So, let us celebrate all this good news on the road to a BalkansPeacePark for its preservation of the natural environment, for its increasing prosperity for the local communities and for the enjoyment of increasing numbers of mountain visitors.
However . . .
There is a long way to go. The B3P vision originated as a ‘bottom-up’ movement from people on the ground in Albania, Kosova and Montenegro. A BalkansPeacePark cannot become a fully recognized reality on the ground until the vision is taken up by the politicians and civil servants at the top of government in each country. They will say that in their transition to democracy and in their struggling economies there are other priorities, but if Kosova can lead the way with its new national park despite economic difficulties let us hope that pressure from below can make the B3P vision dazzle in the minds of decision makers at the top.
- SUMMER PROGRAMMES 2013
a)THETHI
For the 6th year running B3P put on a programme of English teaching and environmental awareness for young people in the village of Thethi in the Shala valley in northern Albania. As always, the English teaching was done by international volunteers, from Germany and the UK this year, who paid all their own way to be there while Albanian teachers were paid to deliver the environmental education that is so important. This year’s session ran from July 22ndto August 2nd, coordinated by Gill Akhtar, complete with violin. The age range of the 22 children/students who registered was restricted to 5 to 15, in line with elementary education in Albania. The environmental awareness was incorporated into the general English classes for the younger children but given to two small groups by Albanian teachers for the older students.They covered issues such as eco-tourism, environmental pollution and sustainability. Gill and other volunteers also helped the nurse in the clinic who had no English and supported some older women’s groups. It was clearly another successful Summer Programme, highly appreciated in the village of Thethi.
b) VERMOSH AND LËPUSHË
Following last year’s successful pilot Summer Programme in Vermosh and Lëpushë, courses were arranged for 5th to 23rd August, with 45 students in Vermosh and 30 in Lëpushë, ages ranging from 6 to 19+. As last year, the programme was coordinated by Antonela Melonari, from Albania but living and working in London, with 10 international volunteers and 4 Albanian interpreters.
English and even Cricket!
The classes ran from 9 to 11 o’clock each day, with English as the main focus. Music and drama were popular ways of exploiting English. There was a one day field trip up a nearby hill and a day’s ‘Clean Up’ in the village backed up lessons on environmental issues. Sport was popular and one volunteer came with cricket gear to introduce the game to a somewhat sceptical community which became quite enthusiastic. The cricket set was donated to the VermoshSchool for their future use.
Day trip to Gusinje and Plav, Montenegro
All the teachers and volunteers from both schools, Vermosh and Lëpushë, went to Plav and Gusinje one weekend. Montenegrois only 8km from Vermosh and easily accessible. It was a day planned to have fun, socialize and get to know a bit of Montenegro as well.Drini Xhafa and Bep Capeli from B3P Albania arrived in Vermosh on the last week of the programme so that they could travel to Plavto create potential links with Montenegro. They managed to meet up a couple of times with Enko Dresković, the Director of the National Park Prokletije Office who was very positive and open for collaboration. At the last meeting, Antonela was present as well and had a long discussion with him. They discussed B3P’s work, the concept of the PeacePark’s past and future projects. They invited Enko to come to the “Closing Ceremony” and he promised he would send someone if he could not make it. In fact, four representatives from the Plav Office came on the last day. Enko and his representatives were really open to any new initiative.
More volunteers
Information about volunteering for next year’s programmes can be found on the B3P website.
Thank you,US Embassy in Tirana and General Coordinator, Angela Selmani
Our Summer Programmes would probably not have been possible without the inspiring support of the US Embassy in Tirana and Deputy Ambassador Betsy Lewis in particular. Betsy has taken a keen and active interest in the project, helping us with funding, coming to Thethi to see the programmes in action and joining in the graduation ceremonies at the end. We are extremely grateful to Betsy and wish her well in her next posting as she moves on from Tirana. We hope her successor at the Tirana Embassy will smile on us as much as Betsy did. Nor would our whole programme of SPs be possible without Angela Selmani’s enthusiastic coordination from Leeds.
2. CROSS- BORDER TREKKING
a) Getting permission in advance for crossing borders at unofficial places
The system is given in detail on the B3P website but in outline here. You apply to the police of each country you will be leaving, by e-mail to Berane for Montenegro and to Pristina for Kosova, by post to Albania (to Bajram Curri for leaving via Valbona, to Shkoder for leaving via Thethi and Vermosh). On the evidence of people trying the system in 2013, you will get a friendly e-mail reply from Montenegro, maybe an e-mail from Kosova and nothing from Albania. The instructions say that the police in Bajram Curri or Shkoder will phone you on the number you give, but no one believes that. The important thing is to make full copies of your application and carry one with you. We didn’t hear of any problems in 2013 and we did hear of people just going for it without applications, but we certainly advise would-be travellers to use the system as described.
b) ‘Peaks of the Balkans’ trail - PoB
We hear that this year-old trail has really taken off and is becoming popular with individuals and with larger groups. Lendita Hyseni at Rugova Experience says that she has been very busy indeed making arrangements for both their own organized tours and outside groups asking for her help, especially big groups from Italy. She also comments how well the cooperation works with other organizers such as Admir Lalićin Montenegro and Pavlin Polia in Thethi. John Pilkington from the UK, a professional travel writer, lecturer and broadcaster who has done a number of the classic big walks all over the world, fitted in the PoB trail on his walk through the Balkans from Trieste to Istanbul this summer. He says that the PoB ‘was the best walk he’d ever done’. High praise indeed. You can find outwhere John is lecturing on this walk from his website:
c) Richard’s trek 2013
The aim of Richard Hargreaves’ trek this year was to walk part of the PoB trail which he hadn’t done before, the southern link from Milishevc in Kosova to Doberdol, Çerem and Valbona in Albania The outline map below shows the PoB trail as the continuous red line, the red circles show Richard’s route, including an excellent alternative route from Çerem to Valbona which goes behind Maja Kolatës instead of using the road. The group was small, Richard with his son Ben and Lorenzo Brandolini from Italy, an experienced caver who was keen to do mountain trekking with B3P. They were joined by Pavlin Polia at Doberdol with a horse for the packs.
A symbolic moment. Father (looking weary) and son on Tromedra/Trekufini Peak 2363m where the three B3P countries meet above the high and remote shepherds’ summer village, Doberdol 1800m. A basic walkers’ cabin has been built by a local family at Doberdol for people trekking the PoB. B3P have recently made a small donation towards the development of the cabin.
d) UK commercial trekking companies
We thought that after our introduction Ramblers Worldwide Holidays might be offering two full cross-border, three countries treks in their brochure for 2014. However, getting everything in place for such client groups in what is new territory for them takes longer than hoped, so they have had to put it off till 2015. Another company with whom we have been in touch, Karakoram Experience, known as KE, based in Keswick, does have a trekking holiday in their 2014 brochure, which they have called ‘The Balkan Borderlands’. The full details are not yet available but the outline says it’s an 8 day trip, starting in Peja, crossing from Rugova into Montenegro on the PoB trail over the Jelenak pass before, somewhat mysteriously, finishing at Kotor.
3. B3P Albania
B3P Albania is a formally constituted NGO in Albania and it has taken on a new lease of life this year. Nikolin Shqau has taken over as chair and his San Francisco Restaurant in Shkodër makes a useful base for meetings. Arian Gjura continues as Treasurer and the energetic Peace Corps Volunteer Jay McErlane has been coopted onto the committee. Between them they turned Shkodër’s annual Fun Run in March into a ‘Peace Run’ to promote B3P with over 200 people from many countries taking part. Jay also took a group of teenagers from Shkodër for a weekend of tree planting and environmental education in Thethi. Two other members of the committee, Drini Xhafa and Bep Capeli joined the end of the Vermosh Summer Programme and went across to Montenegro to make good links between B3P Albania and the Director of the ProkletijeNational Park, Enko Dresković. Nik Shqau also participated in the Summer Programmes in Vermosh and Lëpushë, attending the final ceremonies and distributing certificates. And the committee may be establishing a link with the PoB Steering Group. All this is good news.
4. B3P Exhibition Panels and Talks
These 9 panels are now on display in the Peace Studies Department at BradfordUniversity. Gillian Akhtar has given talks on the Summer Programmes at meetings of the Royal Geographical Society and Richard Hargreaves has powerpoint presentations of varying lengths from 20 minutes to 1¼ hours on his 2012 and 2013 treks which he is happy to inflict on audiences far and wide.
5. B3P UK Committee
The 2013 Annual General Meeting was held KingsCollege, University of London on 21st September, which also happened to be the UN Day of Peace. The Guest Speaker was Dr Simon Woodward, Principal Lecturer & Head of Tourism, School of Events, Tourism & Hospitality,LeedsMetropolitanUniversity. Following elections at the AGM, the team for continuing the work of B3P UK is:
President:Antonia Young (Yorkshire)
Chairperson:Ann Kennard (Bristol)
Secretary:Angela Selmani (Bradford)
Treasurer:John Milsom (Herefordshire)
Committee members: Peter Spafford (Leeds), Keith Bowden (Reading), Sylvia Shatwell (Leeds), Nigel Young (Yorkshire), Gillian Akhtar (Edinburgh), Tom Phillips (Bristol), Richard Hargreaves (Yorkshire), Teresa Lappe-Osthege (Germany and Kings College, London), Marijana Dworski (Herefordshire)
Dr. Artan Karini (Tirana, Albania, and ex-ManchesterUniversity) has left the committee to go to a research post at CarletonUniversity in Toronto, Canada. Congratulations to Artan on being awarded his PhD from Manchester University for his Thesis on The Role of International Aid in Public Service Reform and Capacity Building: The Case of Post-Communist Albania.
It is a nightmare for Chairperson Ann, trying to arrange dates and venues for committee meetings when members have to travel at their own considerable expense from so many different parts of the country. However, we manage two full committee meetings a year, with one of them on the morning of the AGM. There are several other smaller group meetings to plan the Summer Programmes and to consider what we call the ‘Big Picture’, how B3P UK relates more widely to other international organizations.
6. STOP PRESS!
Maarja Hallik, Administrator in the School of Social and International Studies at Bradford UniversityUK, has written an article published in Volume 7 of the Central and Eastern European Review, It is titled: The BalkansPeacePark (B3P) Project – Development and Peacebuilding from the Ground Up.
Support our work?
Our successful and enjoyable Summer Programmes and their extension
into all three countries depend entirely on funding from donations.
Donations can be made on line at:
by cheque to Balkans Peace Park Project,
sent to Hon Treasurer B3P, The Camp, Gladestry,Kington HR5 3NY
Get involved?
We are always interested to hear from people who might be able
to help on our current projects.
Please check our website for our latest volunteer requirements
and details of membership
Newsletter Editor: Richard Hargreaves Strand House, Hawkswick, Skipton, North YorksBD23 5QA
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