Bujanovac – The students of the “Sezai Surroi” school, where classes are held in the Albanian language, and those of the "Saint Sava" school, where instruction is conducted in the Serbian language, managed by their project to break down the prejudices in the Serbian-Albanian relations.

As part of the project "Students' Cooperative as a Means of Overcoming Interethnic Distance between Young Serbs and Albanians", they managed to establish a joint students’ cooperative.  Apart from opening a gift shop, where they produce and sell souvenirs, they run a joint school magazine in which articles are printed in both Serbian and Albanian. They also got a mini printing press, so that they can print the magazine themselves.

The fourth edition of "Youth Union" was released recently. Together, they helped the migrants that arrived in Presevo and Bujanovac. The cooperative also plans to grow flowers and herbs. All members of the cooperative go on excursions, so that they visited Novi Sad and Zrenjanin.

The experience with youth from those two schools instills confidence that it is possible to normalize the relations. The children are willing to learn the language of their Albanian and Serbian neighbors, as well as that of the Roma. They are encouraged to do all this by their joint work at the cooperative, the bilingual magazine, going on trips, etc.

The project was financially supported by the European Union and the Governments of Switzerland and the Republic of Serbia. Help and support for the project also came from the local self-government in Bujanovac and the Novi Sad-based Centre for Regionalism.

For the time being, the objects produced at the gift shop include jewelry, such as antique medallions, rings and earrings, as well as ornaments featuring Bujanovac motives, shopping bags with localisms, customs and the “a la Bujanovac” gastronomic menu printed on them.  

The said schools, which recently signed an agreement on joint multiethnic rules, will continue to run the cooperative to the satisfaction of their students. The cooperative in the hands of both schools, where instruction is in the Serbian and Albanian languages, means that the composition of the bunch, which will gather together and work at the cooperative, will keep changing, so that school graduates will be succeed by the next generation of students.

The greatness of this endeavor is reflected in the desire of young people to actively participate in breaking down the stereotypes, and above all in their courage to say all of this clearly, loudly and publicly, as well as to show it by their own activities.

Source: Autonomy and Coordination Body