Fields of Gold
Some ruins from an old Castle that overlooks the divided city of Mitrovica
On the way home from a hike yesterday with some Finish friends from Church
This week Luli and I went and checked out one of the world’s richest towns, Trepca. In this small mining village, gold and an array of other valuable metals rest several feet below the streets, yet many people in Trepca are living as refugees. The local theater, library, and school remain vacant, standing as silent reminders of a war where the value of gold outweighed the value of life. So, this once neat little town is now more of a ghetto village…yet ironically it’s sitting on billions of dollars of metals, minerals, coal, etc…Many people believe that this mining town was actually the catalyst for the war in Kosovo…that it had nothing to do with ethnic cleansing or religion, but economics.
Heading up to Trepca was definitely a good thing…we got some great footage and we’ve since done some brainstorming regarding the little mining town. It looks as though we will be incorporating it in the film…it plays such a key roll in Kosovo that I feel we have to bring it into the story.
We also made some new friends…it didn’t take long for all of the local kids to discover the camera…it’s like a kid magnet. I then made the mistake of asking them who their favorite actors are. From there on out they were all actors, hungry to be on camera. After a few timeouts we were able to continue our filming and interviewing.
The boy on the right had to have a timeout a bit later…I should have never asked him who his favorite actor was…Jackie Chan…
Luli…my friend and local filmmaker from Kosovo.
21 Comments:
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I need something. I need Rebecca's address so i can send her a thank you note for the wedding gift. Rebecca, you can email it to me, or isaac can you? Musicalrhyme@yahoo.com
I like those pictures. I can just picture you putting the kids in timeout. It made me laugh out loud at work in my office. People around here really don't understand what is so amusing about sitting in an office by yourself.
well woman, that is such a vague statement. Mitrovica was never a classic mining city in the sense that everybody hated it and the only release was the red light district. Working the mine was always a family honor. My grandfather worked in that mine, and my two oldest uncles. If I were told that I could get employment in the mine, I would take it, and never look back.
Now, the mine kept life simple. And farming was big during those days. Grandfather worked night shift at the mine, would come home, sleep, and the do the fields, and go back to work. In Kosovo, and Mitrovica specifically, life is kept simple, when one has a job, and knows what routine is. Whereas my generation in Kosovo, that has been cursed with unemployment and idleness, they're the ones that have time to think about alternating lifestyles.
Mustafa
I totally agree with your point Mustafa.
oops, I meant golgotha not mustafa.
AAH!! I'm so confused, LOL!!! I guess I'm right on both!!! HAH!! Guess I should think before I write.
I'm only gonna submit one post... ;)
Awesome pictures, thats not at all how I pictured Kosovo to look. Its a very beautiful place. Hopefully your getting lots of hours of great footage. Can you e-mail me what you have so far? I bet with the high connection speed you undoubtedly have, it would probably only take about 3 months to send!
WOW. My heart aches those photos are so beautiful. And I loved seeing Luli again! Thanks!
(I emailed Rachel my address - so no worries there.)
you are such dylan freak, you know. what did we do to you as a child?
i like the photos and i like your style of writing.
"Oh, what did you see, my blue-eyed son?
Oh, what did you see, my darling young one? ..."
How is that?
i just love the tree picture, btw.
Wonderful pictures. As usual, there's a story behind each one. Great information, thanks.
Well woman, I'd like to apologize to you. I see that my reply to your comment was a bit too rough. I did not mean it to come out that way. I always feel the need to defend my town, it is kind of sacred to me. I apologize once more.
Mustafa
P.S. and you can all call me Mustafa, Golgotha is just a weird nickname I chose for the blog.
question for Mustafa - while you're in the states - what websites do you recommend for up to date news on Kosova/the Balkans?
are you kidding me?
...amazing photographs.
did you take those with your D5?
Mustafa, thank you for the apology, my comment came across wrong, I was trying to compliment your town and chose the wrong way to go about it. Tried to post on your blog...but I couldn't find one.
Rebecca! Rob here, I'm not Mustafa, but here's a site that I really like: http://www.iwpr.net/home_index_new.html
Julie, choice lyrics! Can I add to it? I think of Isaac telling the Kosovar story when I read these lyrics:
What'll you do now my blue eyed son?
What'll you do now my darling young one?
...
I'll walk to the depths of the deepest black forest,
Where the people are many and their hands are all empty,
Where the pellets of poison are flooding their waters,
Where the home in the valley meets the damp dirty prison,
Where the executioner's face is always well hidden,
Where hunger is ugly, where souls are forgotten...
Rob and Janet! Thanks for the website and the lyrics. So good to hear from you. I'll check out your blog - tell Janet hello. I'm sorry I've lost touch with you guys - you're good people. Let me know if you're visiting in L.A. anytime soon.
So, yes, I would reccomend the site that robbie put up there. There is not much information in English out there about the Balkans, and Kosovo specifically. Sorry. Oh, and My-blog wise, there really is none. I don't quite see why people should be subjected to my opinions so much.
And Well woman, don't worry about it, I reacted to strongly, it was my fault.
Mustafa
Hey Isaac. I miss you. I had a dream about dad the other night. He was home and we were all in the family room. I knew he was going to die though, like really soon, and he was really pale. I heard him start coughing and I thought that might be it, although none of you were aware that it was the end or close to it, and neither was he. So I asked us all to pray for him. I said a little prayer in my head before that he would make it through the prayer. I cuddled up next to him and you guys all got around him, and then he started praying, which was not expected, since I was going to start it. But anyway, he said “Thank you Lord for making me sick” or something along those lines, which was rather stumping. That’s all that really stood out to me. To me it signified how in the end he truly became a new man, he persevered through his trials and became stronger, and his troubles were a blessing. Well… that’s all I have to say, maybe it will mean something to you, probably not, but for me it was kind of a closing.
Isaac,
You are so incredibly talented. I am honored that we hae some of the same blood running through our veins. It's so difficult to get you to talk about yourself so everytime we talk, I end up talking aout myself the whole time SO when you get to California, I'm going to force you to sit down and show me your pictures and talk about you and your trip for atleast 30 minutes straight! No arguing!
BTW...that anonymous person was me (Stina)
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