Widows Fund Fushe Kosova

   Walking through Fushe Kosove in early June you would expect a cooler weather; not a 30-degree heat wave that was occurring. We took refuge in the shade to talk with Selime who agreed this heat in early June will make the long, scorching summer even more unbearable to cope with this year. On a hot day like this, it’s easy to imagine the hardships that the often-unsanitary water can have in Fushe Kosove which results in more health issues throughout the community.

 Selime is a 53-year-old mother to 3 daughters and 6 sons ranging from 35-19 years old. Living in Fushe Kosove for over 40 years, Selime describes the difficulties of living in such a poor community, specifically stating the prolonged poor state of the economy has made it extremely difficult to raise a family. Selime has a 10-year-old granddaughter also named Selime (a tradition that still dominates the community) who she solely cares for due to her mother leaving when she was a young child. Even though Selime has raised her family with her husband for 3 decades, unfortunately, last year he lost his battle to lung cancer. Fighting through the grief of losing her life partner, Selime now also must cope with the fact she is raising the family in this poor community all alone and has lost her main source of income, being her late husband.

  Even though many of her children are considered adults, due to the poor economy, work opportunities are so little that they still rely heavily upon her. One of the children works as a rubbish-picker earning only 4 euros per day- just 120 euros per month to support a whole family. Furthermore, this is the case for over 400 families living in Fushe Kosove who are working as hard as possible but still living in poverty. These hardships are also made even more difficult because one of Selime’s older children is disabled, meaning he needs constant care. Without the help of The Ideas Partnership, Selime would struggle terribly to cater to his needs, with TIP providing the family with necessary medical treatment etc. and helping to provide hospital visits for any families in the community who require them. Even though Selime talks of the difficulties of living in Fushe Kosove, she expresses that The Ideas Partnership have helped her continue to raise her family. TIP have provided continual food, school equipment and even prescription glasses for young Selime. Young Selime also loves the Saturday activities TIP has to offer, aiding her education. She takes part in activities such as Maths, Albanian language, and English. This is extremely important for Selime’s academic and social development. With the skills she learns through TIP activities it enables Selime to start mainstream school, increasing the opportunities available to her in the future.

  Your generous and continued support to the Widow Fund is helping so majorly to the lives of these families in Fushe Kosove. Selime’s family are so appreciative of every aspect of assistance they are given through The Ideas Partnership charity and with your kind donations we are really helping benefit the lives of over 400 families that are living in the poor community of Fushe Kosove.