Home in Albania

Desi is disappointed. To be back in the dirty farm is returning years behind, just like 40 years of her life had been erased. She remembers having to milk the cows when she was ten years old and it something she never wanted to do again. I hated it she says. With communism all farmlands were collectivized and the country’s animals were taken away to the cooperatives; owning even a chicken in one country house was not allowed. For Desi this was liberation. She finally became a real student. I was the first woman of the village to go to the city and follow higher studies. Many villagers did not approve of this. In the mountains where traditions have ruled life, women are made to stay home, marry and take care of the house and husband.

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