Interview with: Faton
We asked Faton to tell us about his experience during the time he was forced to leave his house. He responded by telling us this story.
As we were all sitting home watching the news about what was going on with the protests in Prishtine someone knocked on the door. My dad opened the door and it was my uncle and I could hear him tell my dad that we had to get all the men in the village which was our whole family and we had to defend our land. I was 11 at the time and the men told all of the women to take the kids and run to the mountain and just go somewhere anywhere just not here. Before they could say anything the Serb soldiers came to the village and started killing everything in their sight. I hid inside a tunnel we had built for protection. I saw things that no one should ever see, I would not wish that even on my worst enemy. As I saw my whole family laying on the floor dead, and they way they were killed. They took my aunt and forced her to watch as they burned her 2 month old son. Then they raped her and made her watch as they killed her 3 year old son by cutting him in pieces. I sobbed as I watched all this happen to my cousins. They took my mom and my brothers and killed them all one by one by shooting them in the head. After they killed everyone and bombed everything in sight until there was nothing left of the village they left. I got out of my hiding place and started to look for all of my family that was killed. There was mostly nothing left of them. I didn't know where I would go what I would do or how I would tell my uncle in Germany what had happened. I just set there and wished I was out there so they would have killed me to. I didn't want to be the only left. I was only walking around, but deep inside I had died with the rest of them. There was nothing left of that village I just wanted to bury myself. I started walking and ended up in the mountain with a few other guys who had ran from their homes. After a few weeks in the mountains we got to Albania. We got there and lived with this family until June at which time I went to Germany to live with my uncle. After about 5 months of living in Germany I returned to Kosovo. I go to school in Prishtine and live with my uncle who returned in Kosovo with me. |
