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“Vetëm pajtimi ka për t’i hapur rrugët e ardhmërisë!”

Myrvete Dreshaj – Interview extract

“…during the Reconciliation of Blood Feuds Campaign, we, as women, had to confront the tradition of the oda [men’s chamber]. We were hardly understood sometimes. […] There were cases when we entered the oda, and the elders would not even extend their hand to us; the meaning of it was that it was not our place, but that we had to go to the women’s side of the house. Because our male friends, with whom we were there, noticed it immediately, in such cases, they would be the ones to open the discussion, and we would continue it. It is strange, but there were many cases when the elders sat with their legs crossed in the oda, and they always found this position, with their back turned towards us, in order for us to sit behind their backs. And then, when we talked, explained the mission, and asked for the forgiveness of blood, they would slowly start turning toward us and at the last moment, they were in front of us. For us, this was a great victory of our gender, a victory of gender, because they forgot that it was we, the women, who asked for the forgiveness of blood.”

The full interview can be read at: https://oralhistorykosovo.org/myrvete-dreshaj/