I’ve been to the region twice, now.  And thanks to a couple of mission trips, I’ve got many Kosovar friends.  Maybe the one I know best is Festim Gashi.  God provided, and I was able to  fulfil a dream a couple of years ago – I visited Festim’s home town and met his family.  SEE PHOTOS. 

Biola’s on-line newspaper published and interview with Festim in which he gave his perspective on the news of Kosovo’s declaration of indenpendence.  SEE ARTICLE. 

Here’s the comment I left on the site -

Congratulations, Festim… and Kosovo, as well!

Together, Festim and I walked the streets of Prishtina and then his hometown village where he grew up with this brothers and sisters a couple of years back. Festim’s father is a teacher in the local school a few kilometers from Prishtina – and wears a cap that reads “Biola Dad.”

We anticipated this day; knowing that the momentum towards independence was irreversible. We’ve had long talks about the history, long before the terrible war of 1999. Festim’s adult journey began as a high school kid in a refugee camp across the border in Tirana (Albania), where he and his family were displaced by a violent invasion of their village. He met some amazing folks there who introduced him to a God who would give him the vision of a college education in political science and that someday he would have an impact on the shaping of a new nation. Festim is a born leader.

The story of his arrival on the La Mirada campus of Biola University in California, USA would be a best selling novel, if it were fiction. But fiction it is not.

May God continue to bless your hopes and dreams and hard work, Festim, as you finish up the course at B.U., and move on to prepare for a strategic role in an emerging nation.

Your friend,  Ken K