The Hemingway Book Club of Kosovo
by Paula Huntley
Drita with her students, May 2009.
With Granit 2, his wife Shqiponja and his parents at their home in Prishtina, May 2009.
February 17, 2009 - Leonard and Granit 2 celebrate the first anniversary in Kosova's independence.
Granit 2, Paula, Granit 1 at PAX Orientation in Long Island, August, 2003
Paula greets Granit 1 and Granit 2 as they arrive in the U.S. for their senior year of high school.
Fazile and Paula, Spring, 2001. In the classroom at the Cambridge School, Prishtina.
The Professor - in class, winter, 2001
|
Students Then and Now
Nora when I first met her, October, 2000.
Nora graduating from San Domenico School in San Anselmo, California, 2009
Leonard, Nora's proud brother, applauding her San Domenico graduation. With Leonard is his fiancee, Dafina.
Leonard, Nora and their parents, Mehdi and Zerife. 2000.
Baby Bora, the daughter of Granit 2 and his wife Shqiponja. The Gashis now live in Texas where Granit has begun work with a financial services company.
Ed with Leonard and Leonard's fiance, Dafina. Prishtina, May 2009.
June 2, 2011
Many readers have asked for updates on my students. Here are a few: In May of 2006, Leonard graduated summa cum laude from Graceland University in Iowa, with a double major in International Business and Business Administration. In addition, he received the award for the Most Outstanding Student in International Business of 2005-2006. And he became a student leader who relished making public presentations. Not bad for the painfully shy young man with faltering English who was my student in 2000-2001! Leonard was able to attend this university thanks to a full scholarship from Graceland's Kosovar Scholarship Program. Further help came from readers who were touched by Leonard's story: A men's book group in Louisiana paid for textbooks; a generous donor in California bought him a computer; other readers paid for clothes and incidentals, and yet other readers took him on vacation to New York City, Philadelphia and Washington DC. After graduation, Leonard spent some months in Washington DC working as an intern for the League of Conservation Voters and later for the Faith in Politics Institute. He later returned to Kosova where he worked at a bank. This spring he was awarded a full fellowship from the Kosovo American Education Fund. He will begin work on his MBA at Colorado State University in Ft. Collins in August of this year. His American MBA will enable Leonard to help boost his country's struggling economy when he returns to Kosovo. AND - Leonard is married! Leonard and Dafina, his bright, sweet, lovely bride, were married May 11. Ed and I will journey to Kosovo for the big wedding celebration in July. In June, 2009, Leonard's sister, Nora, graduated from San Domenico, a fine college preparatory school for girls in California. She received a full scholarship, and generous donors in San Francisco paid the rest of her expenses. Nora made excellent grades and became an institution at this wonderful school. She received a full scholarship to study at St. Marys of the Woods College in Terre Haute, Indiana. She is now a sophomore there, and is, as is no surprise, doing very well, indeed. On March 5, 2011, she was my co-presenter at the Durango, Colorado AAUW Book and Author Luncheon. We spoke to the large, enthusiastic group about the challenges women in Kosovo face now. And Nora spoke about her remarkable mother, Zerife. The name of our talk: The Hidden Half: Women's Stories from Kosovo. Nora and Leonard's parents are very proud of their children's accomplishments and are hopeful that the whole family has a bright future. Granit 2 graduated from the American University of Kosovo in the spring of 2008. His entire college education was being paid for by a generous couple from the US, who flew to Kosovo to attend his graduation. Granit was married in 2008 to a bright, beautiful young womanm Shqiponje, and they now have a baby girl, Bora. Granit was the first of my younger students to take the exciting step of marriage and fatherhood. Granit, like Leonard, is securing a good future for himself and his family. He, his wife and baby girl now live in Texas where he will soon begin work in a financial services firm. Both Granits 1 and 2 graduated from American high schools in 2004, participants in the PAX educational exchange program. Their year in the US was paid for by many generous readers of my book. Drita is teaching English at the Cambridge School, where in 2000-2001 I was her English teacher. You can imagine how happy I am that she has chosen this work. I visited Drita and her students in May of 2009. It is clear that her students love and admire her, and that she is an excellent teacher. At only 20, Leutrim, "Trimi", started his own web design and advertising firm, and is off to a great start of what will clearly be a very successful business career. Genti, the last I heard, was in Turkey, learning to speak Turkish in preparation for attending college there. Faton received his PhD from the university in Jena, Germany and secured a wonderful research position in that country. Faton continues to be one of the brightest, hardest working and kindest young men I have ever met. Luan, the Mechanical Engineer-Poet, was granted a Research Assistantship at Oakland University in Michigan. He has completed his Master's Degree in Mechanical Engineering, and is going forward with PhD work. He is enthusiastic about the school, his work, and his prospects. He and his wife, Mimoza, have a new baby boy, Leo, who looks just like his father. The Professor is still teaching at the University of Prishtina. Sadly, his wife passed away in 2009. Leonard, Drita, Nora, Granits 1 and 2, Leutrim, Luan, Faton and all the other bright educated young Kosovars are the future of their country, and of the Balkans as a whole. It is they who can bring the ideas, knowledge and skills that will build strong economies, and with these strong economies, help secure peace throughout the region. Thank you! Paula Huntley 
Leutrim, Granit 2, Paula, Genti, Besart, Granit 1, reuniting in the spring of 2002
In the classroom, Spring 2001. Paula in pink sweater.
Granit 1 and Besart, in English class, Fall 2000
|
|
