Flying for Kosovo

I’m finally on my way to Tanzania.  This country has been on my mind since I was a child.  Growing up, I would enjoy watching television stations like the Animal Planet and would sit in amazement at all of the powerful and beautiful creatures that we share the planet with.  I would daydream about seeing all of them someday, in wild and exotic places like Tanzania.  Places like this have fascinated me my whole life.

The other reason that I’m excited to visit this country is because I have a long lost friend whom I had heard lived in this country at one time.  We have been out of contact now for over 15 years, but I hold the slightest hope that I will be able to find him here when I land.  Of course, the chances are nearly impossible that we will be able to be connected again after having been apart so long, but I can’t help but to try since I often think of him from time to time.  People like him, that have been good friends of mine over the years, I do my best to stay in contact with.  There are a few quality people in my life that I have stayed in contact with for over 20 years now.

Mr. Alidina Altaf and I went to Flight Safety Academy together way back in 1996 in Vero Beach, Florida.  Over the six months that we trained together to be pilots we became good friends, often going to lunch or dinner breaks together.  We practiced flying together, attended ground school together and most importantly, studied for our exams together.  We would spend hours reviewing things like airplane checklists and memorizing different types of procedures like multi-engine performance or emergency maneuvers.   Sometimes, we would join our other friends for dinner.  I am reminded now of spending time with people like Yevette from South Africa, Fiona from Kenya and Stephane Faivre from France.

Since I am the type of person that learns best by completing practical, hands-on activities, it was really great to study with Alidina because he enjoyed both the theoretical and practical applications of our schooling.  We got along well, had a mutual respect for each other and worked really hard to keep up with our intense training requirements.  Since our flight school was very professional and prestigious, it had a reputation to keep up with.  Alidina and I worked very hard to be the top students for fear that we would get kicked out of the program otherwise.  We both had friends who came from all over the world and spent lots of money to attend this particular school, but ended up getting sent home.  Flight School Academy was not as concerned with how much money you brought, but rather that you were able to became a good pilot.

Back to reality.  Though I am excited to travel to Tanzania, I am also sad to be leaving such great times in the past few countries.  It was great to have experienced much less stress in the past few countries than in most of the countries so far.  Not to mention that I will miss all of the cool, tropical breezes that I am so fond of.

After visiting those island countries (Madagascar, Mauritius and Seychelle), it was time to meet back up with our plane back in Comoros.  Remember, I had parked it there to avoid flying that thing over huge, open areas of the Indian Ocean in between the past few countries.  Even now, I am not so crazy about crossing a big water mass in order to get back to the mainland of Africa, but what else can I do?  There is nobody else flying the plane here but me.

Thank the gods that I have a slight tailwind behind me today during my flight.  Otherwise it would end up taking me longer to get this tired old 67 Cessna back to land.  At least I am relieved to know that I only have to do this type of flying a few more times before getting this one-engine plane home again.  Besides this flight, there is only the Mediterranean Sea to cross on the way home.  I’m afraid that just might have to be the last of open water flying for me my friends.  There have just been too many near death experiences for me to continue with that crazy lifestyle.

After a good nights sleep in Comoros, I left early in the morning.  I was sad to leave the great friends that I had made here and it was really nice to be able to contact them and spend some time again on my way back through.   One thing still awaiting me at the airport though, was the bill that I had to pay for aircraft parking.  I always have to leave that as a surprise for myself until the very last minute, otherwise it would ruin my whole trip to each country.  If I know ahead of time, it will just make me miserable and unable to concentrate on getting our mission work done.  I need to be completely focused in each country so that I can get our work accomplished in the least amount of time possible.

To my amazement, Comoros was actually an okay country in regards to general aviation. The service fees were not that bad this time and believe me, I’ve seen much worse in many countries.  I was also able to get that damn paperwork done in a fairly quick amount of time.  Since that kind of nonsense drives me absolutely insane, giving me nightmares all of the time and putting me through hell, I’m glad that the process here was smooth and over with.  You all know by now that this is one part of my crazy life that I will never miss once we finish this thing.

Once in the air, I am praying that our tailwind will work a little faster so that I can be on the mainland once again.  After takeoff, I kept looking behind me towards the shores of Comoros to judge how far I was from land in case of an emergency.  Thankfully for me, once I lost sight of Comoros in the background, I quickly started seeing Mozambique ahead.  Though it was still about 40-50NM away, I found comfort in the fact that below me, I was starting to see things like barges, commercial boats and other ships.  At least if I were to drop down now, I would be in sight of other human beings.

One thing that I might mention here is that this particular flight had to be re-routed beforehand (another bureaucratic mess that I have found a few times during our mission).  In order to avoid paying a few hundred US dollars in order to fly over Mozambique’s airspace for 20-30 minutes, I had to fly diagonally to Tanzania instead.  It ended up taking a little longer time-wise, but saving us lots of money in general.  I can’t wait until someone starts changing some of these nonsense laws, but I suppose that will be awhile since all governments want their fare share of your money.

Ahhh… I am finally over the mainland and viewing the far away land of Tanzania with my own eyes.  What a moment to remember.  Never forget my friends that some of your dreams can come true.  I am mesmerized right now by the beauty that I see below me and reminded that we truly live on an amazing and fascinating planet.  One thing that I will miss seeing in this country though is Mt. Kilimanjaro.  That’s the tallest mountain peak around here, but it is in the Northeast corner of the country, and it is not within my travel route this time.  Oh well, I guess that will have to be something that I look forward to seeing on my next visit.

After taking a few pictures for souvenirs and weathering a few storms in the sky, I am approaching Dar es Salaam in no time.  To my surprise, I could start to hear general aviation communication across the radio.  It is such a relief to be able to hear that because it has usually been the case on this continent that I am the only general aviation aircraft in the sky.

Another convenient surprise that I found upon approach was that this country participates in radar-controlled airways.  That means that the air traffic controllers can see you visually and as a dot on their computer screen.  This allows them to assist you (and the other pilots in the sky) much easier and is a safety against just a visual observation.  It is a great feeling to know that they are using radar, especially since there have only been a two other countries down here (South Africa and Botswana) that do this.  It makes me appreciate the things that I took for granted as ‘normal’ back in the US and Europe.

After a lovely, radar-assisted approach, I was starting to see other positive signs on the ground.  There were many other small planes below and I was even directed to a general aviation ramp versus an all-purpose or international one.  Now I know that if I have any problems with the airplane that I could find help here with no problem.

As soon as I parked the aircraft, I was greeted by warm sunshine, great weather and a mob of workers all trying to show me their badge and get a tip.  Folks, this has happened quite regularly to me down here in Africa.  Many of the workers try to catch you first and offer you help with your bags or a ride into town.  They all want to get at you first so that they will get your money and not anyone else.  Once everyone saw that I was not going to give tips and/or accept help, they all left me alone.  But I was able to ask them one very important question before I let them go.

I asked them all of they knew a man by the name of Alidina Arfat.  Of course, I knew this was a long shot, but it wouldn’t hurt to ask, especially if they all were asking for my money.  I was surprised when they all answered yes to me, that they knew him and that he owned a small charter airline here in town.  I thought they were taking me for a ride on this one, so I asked for a phone number, which they gave me immediately.  I took it, though I still wasn’t ready to believe that this could possibly be the same man that I was looking for.

After getting a ride into town from one of the ramp workers, the first thing that I did was to buy a local sim card for my cell phone.  I checked into the Executive Inn Hotel, dropped my bags and called the number immediately.  I was not sure at all what I would find, but I couldn’t wait to pick up that phone.

I was absolutely astonished when I heard my friend’s familiar voice on the other side of the line.  What a memorable moment.  Can you believe it my friends?  After all of this time, after oceans and years of separation, asking one question at the Dar es Salaam airport reunited me with a friend that I haven’t talked to in over 15 years.  Absolutely unbelievable.

After hearing his voice, I still couldn’t believe it, so I asked him a few questions.  I asked him “Is this the Alidina who completed his flight training in Vero Beach Florida?”  He answered yes.  I asked “Is this the same Alidina who attended Flight Safety Academy back in 1996”.  He said yes.  Every answer was yes, yes, yes.  Finally, I asked had any idea of who he was speaking with.  My friends, his answer was this: “Is this by chance Berisha”?

I got chills during our phone call.  After so many long years out of touch, here we were, talking on the phone with each other as if nothing had ever separated us.  It was truly one of those great moments in life and one that will never be forgotten.  We talked for a few minutes, but it was like a dream.  Both of us just sat in shock and could not believe the reality of the situation.

In less than a few hours, I would be reconnecting and having dinner with my long-lost friend Alidina.  We arranged for him to pick me up at the hotel and I could barely contain myself as I tried to attend to beginning my mission work from the hotel room.  Those were some of the longest hours that I have spent in my life.

Time had finally passed and I received his call from my room.  He was now downstairs waiting in his car and I would see him in just a few moments.  As I was walking out of the hotel, he caught sight of me and it was truly a moment for the history books.  We gave each other big, American-style hugs and stood looking at each other with amazement.

Alidina still looked the same,  except for looking more mature and having a few gray hairs here and there.  On the other hand, we had both progressed in life in different ways.  Though we had not seen each other in over 15 years, right away we noticed how easy it was to speak with each other – as if we had kept up with each other all of this time.

The next few days, I would meet with my friend on two different occasions for dinner.  We shared our ups and downs, life experiences, and how we both had changed over time.  As it turns out, Alidina does actually own a small airplane business down here.  Over the years, he has started a few other companies as well and has been married to the same beautiful wife that he had during our training back in Vero Beach.  He also has a precious little daughter as well.    It was really great to be spending time with him again and was a welcome relief from the stress of mission work.

During my days in Dar el Salaam, I was trying to meet with as many media houses as possible.  I met a lot of wonderful people willing to help our cause here and many great articles were written about Kosovo.  One nice thing that happened was that, after I visited the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to deliver Vlora Citaku’s letter, we had a nice surprise waiting for us.  Citizens actually called the Minister himself to question why Tanzania had not recognized our independence yet.  The best part: the Minister happened to be on a business trip in Dubai, but that didn’t matter – they were able to reach him.  The next morning, Kosovo was on the front page of the Guardian newspaper.  Thank you to Victor Amani and his coworker Mr. Edwin Agola for the excellent work that they did on the piece.

Thank you to Ms. Ichikael Maro with the Daily News Sunday News/Habari Leo, Habar Lieo Jumapili.  She was a very detailed young lady who even sent a photographer all the way to the airport to get an actual picture of me with our aircraft.

Thank you to Mr. Joachim Mushi and Mr. Julian Msacky with the newspaper Jambo Leo for the dedication that they gave towards an article about Kosovo.  Mr. George Mbwana with the Business Times was also very detailed and wrote a great article.

Mr. Sylvester Joseph with the African Newspaper and Dennis Luambano with Mtanzania newspaper both had great personalities too.  They were both good people who happened to work at the same location, except for the fact that one of the newspapers was published in English and the other one published in Swahili, which is the second official language of Tanzania.  Though there are many different tribes in this country, Swahili seems to be a universal language that all of them can understand.  Having articles published in that language helps us to get our message out to more people.

Mr. Beatus Kagashe was also an excellent and professional journalist.  He worked for the Citizen Reporter and was meticulously detailed with his article.  That piece was also published in their other newspaper, Mwananchi.

Thank you to the television crew at ITV and to Ms. Yvonne Msemembe who was quite charming.  She knew a lot about Kosovo and interviewed me in no time at all.  Her coworker, Mr. Frank Mnandi was also a professional journalist.  Both of them showed great dedication towards our cause.  At the other local station, Channel 10, Ms. Winnie Mwaipopo and Ms. Ally Mwanahamiss were a great team to work with as well.

Back at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, I don’t want to forget to thank Mr. Assah Mwamabene for his time and the detailed information he gave me about his countries stance on Kosovo’s independence.  He admitted to me that he feels that Tanzania will eventually recognize us, but a few things had to be taken care of first in with the African Union.  He reported that the group have just been standing still, with no decision on the matter.

I also don’t want to forget to thank my taxi driver, Mr. Ramz Eddy Mushi.  He was an excellent help who knew a lot about his town Dar el Salaam.  It really helps me when my taxi driver knows the local area well, because it really save time when I am running all over the place.

One thing that I want to mention here is that I hope that one day, Tanzania will be able to gain momentum in their economic situation.  From what I’ve been told, they have been struggling for a long time now.  It becomes quite obvious when you are trying to driver across town.  On top of the fact that this is the rainy season here, several of the roads are washed out and/or full of very deep potholes.  It makes traffic a nightmare and I hope that the next time around Dar el Salaam will have been able to pave the roads of this capital city for the sake of its citizens.

Another surprising problem that I came across here had to do with money.  Comoros and Tanzania gave me the hardest time so far with this, especially when I was trying to change over my $100 US bills.  Even though I had literal money in my pockets here, it wasn’t worth anything to these countries because they would not accept any bill that had been produced earlier than the year 2000.

Here I am running around like a chicken with its head cut off, going from bureau to bureau trying to change my money into local currency.  They all gave me the same answer – that they would not accept the older bills.  Folks, this is pretty frustrating – to know that you have actual bills, worth a lot of money in local currency, worth absolutely nothing because no one will accept them.  It took a lot of driving around until my taxi driver and I were able to find one bank, in the entire city of Dar el Salaam that would exchange them.  At that point I changed all of the bills over, otherwise I would have never been able to get anything done.

However, that is not where the problem ended my friends. Here in Africa, 99% of the time, if you have a larger bill (larger meaning the equivalent of $10 USD or more), most local establishments are unable to break them for you.  This situation can also turn into a nightmare, especially when you only want to buy something small, like a juice or a Coca-Cola.

Finally, even when you do have 10 or 20 USD to exchange, often times they will take a percentage of it away as a service fee – cutting 10-20% off of the worth of your dollars.  And if you had 100 USD, they would take more of a percentage.  None of it makes sense my friends.

For instance, let’s say that 1USD that is worth 2000 in local money.  If you were to exchange 20USD into local money, they would give you only say, 1800 (sometimes, 1700 or as low as 1600) worth of local money per dollar.  Now, let’s say that you have 100USD and you only want to exchange 20 of it into local currency (because you are leaving the country soon).  It doesn’t matter, you don’t get a better rate because you are exchanging a higher amount of money.

This kind of nonsense ends up driving me insane my friends.  It also ends up causing me a lot of headaches in each country.  When I’d rather be spending my time attending to media interviews and/or the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, I have to waste time on this crap – turning my money into the local currency and back again – each time losing some of the worth of the original amount.  But, what are you going to do I guess – you can’t change the mindset of an entire continent.

Usually what happens is that I give them hell.  Since I am stubborn, I try to argue with them about their crazy rules and I don’t want to let them win at this game.  I will try to wait until I find a establishment that will work with me and do the exchange the way I want it done.  Once they start to see that you are not going to be an easy customer, they usually give in and try to accommodate you.  Usually though, you have to give them hell first.

Other than these minor headaches each day, I still try to enjoy the things that give me happiness in this mission.  I can’t let these situations destroy my day or my visit to the country.  I just have to remember that I can’t make everything run the way that I would like it to run.  I guess you have to pick your battles.

Overall, my visit to Tanzania was a joy.  As usual, I learned a lot.  The best part was that I was able to reunite with my friend Alidina.  I still can’t believe that that happened.

The next country is Burundi, but I have a long flight ahead of me before I will land there.  Of course, I’m not really looking forward to flying over all of that jungle and remote land, but its much better than having to fly over water.

Let’s hope that higher powers will bless Tanzania in all aspects of life.

IPP Media

Scanned Newspaper 1

Scanned Newspaper 2

Scanned Newspaper 3

Though I was sad to see Mauritius go, it was time to move on to another country, but I had a hard time trying to decide which ones to visit out here in the Indian Ocean.  I wanted to make sure that my choice would be the most beneficial to our mission.  The other hard part was the fact that traveling out here from island to island seems to be more difficult than you would think.

I am guessing that there must not be that much traffic in between islands in this area, except for the main ones that are the most frequented.  My options were very limited in regards to travel, so I chose the island of Seychelles.  Even with that country, I had a hard time getting there from the island of Mauritius.  My options were to get there via traveling all the way to Dubai or Johannesburg or wait for a flight that leaves Mauritius only twice a week.

Wanting to stay within our budget, I chose the flight that left twice a week.  However, this did not make the traveling any easier.  That route, flown by a company out of La Reunion (Air Austral) flew me back to that island first.  From there, I waited four hours before getting on my flight to Seychelles, which then took about two hours and thirty minutes to complete.

My friends, you all know by now about my concern with flying over open water.  Given all of the trouble that I’ve had with my one engine plane over large bodies of water, can you imagine me flying alone on a flight like this?  I’m glad that I’m in the hands of a capable company with a much larger airplane that has more than one engine.  Though I’m not sure that they are the smartest financially, as they had only 36 passengers on a plane built for 150 – but hey, I’m sure that they can take care of themselves.

This particular airline did make sure to feed us well, though rest assured they made those expenses up by charging so much for your ticket.  Unfortunately, smaller and more remote places are like that sometimes.  Since they don’t have much competition, local companies can get a monopoly and control the price of things because they know you have no other choice.

The other thing that I thought was rather odd was the fact that you could get to France quite easily from the island of La Reunion.  You could easily get a flight out of there to at least four or five cities in France.  And if those weren’t enough, you could get access to a lot more European cities by flying from that island and going through a major hub in Africa and/or the Middle East.

My return trip from Seychelles wasn’t any easier.  I had to stop overnight at the island of La Reunion before getting into Comoros the next day.  It was time consuming, but at least I was able to get a lot of work done while in Seychelles.  Countries like that are very important for our mission strategically, since no one tends to think of these little island countries out here in the middle of nowhere.

Our goal is to increase the number of countries that recognize us – no matter how big or how small.  We want to get the message out to their people and have an impact worldwide.  Our strategy has to be different from Serbia, who might tend to focus on the larger, more powerful countries.  By reaching the people, media and government in more of the smaller countries, we have an opportunity to make a more personal, human connection and to share with them first hand about our country and our cause.  We have to think about building our cause through the volume of the countries that we make a connection with, in addition to having some of the more powerful countries support us.

Once I set foot on the island of Seychelles, I knew that the hassles of travel were worth it.  I don’t know if I am getting older my friends, or what my problem is, but the more I travel, the more I tend to enjoy the smaller, less populated nations.  There is such a sense of peace, calm and relaxation in places like this.  The older I get, the less I am able to tolerate those urban jungles like Mexico City, New York city, Tokyo, etc.  Those cemented lands with all of their people going at such a fast pace, those are not the places for me anymore.  In fact, they make me feel much more closed in than even the smallest nation.

Here in Seychelles, we have only about 90,000 people in the entire country.  It is over 900 miles away from Africa (to the northeast) and the capital, Victoria, is on the island of Mahe.  Most of the islands that make up this country are uninhabited and are made up of granite and/or coral, but the country claims to govern over 100 separate islands.  You can imagine how beautiful it is.

Originally, there were no indigenous people on these islands.  When the French took it over (and later the British), they brought in people to be used as slaves.  This was not uncommon back then and much like what happened in Mauritius, where I just left.  Most of the people brought to this land were of Indian, Chinese and African descent, but over time they began mixing with those of English and French origin.

The country still speaks French, but you can see by the architecture that it once was British.  Many of the people here have historically worked on cinnamon, coconut and vanilla plantations, although in today’s time, the country tends to rely on things like tourism and foreign investment to survive.  The unemployment rate here is really low too, which is refreshing for me to see.

I must admit though, that things are a little more expensive out here, especially the hotels. I ended up paying way more for the accommodations than what they were worth.  My hotel was old and run down, with no hot water (despite their advertising).  If there’s one thing that I dread in the morning, it is a nice, freezing shower to wake me up.  But, I had no other choice but to pay $200-300USD for a more fancy hotel, which I was not willing to do.  Sometimes you just have to deal with little complications like this.  Tomorrow will be a new day and I will be out of this hotel and working on our mission.

Food is also fairly expensive and there are fewer options than on the islands of Mauritius or La Reunion.  But I guess that is to be expected due to Seychelles remoteness.  When you are relying on your supplies to get barged in from other parts of the globe, I guess you can’t have everything that you want in life.  It’s just another reminder that there are pros and cons to every aspect in life.

Taxi’s here are also expensive, which makes sense since fuel is also barged in.  My taxi from the airport (less than 10km) was $20USD.  But I had no other choice since it was so late at night.  For that reason alone, I decided that during the daytime business hours I will try walking and/or searching for a local bus.  I would actually love to due this more during our mission, but the capital cities are usually so large that you must hire a driver in order to get any work done and see progress.  But here in Seychelles, I can’t imagine that there are many media houses and the town looks small enough to attack on foot (little did I know that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs was already sitting just a few hundred yards away from my hotel).

The next morning, I am up early and it is busines as usual for Flying for Kosovo: go, go, go and go some more.  My day is made much easier by the fact that everyone here seems nice and relaxed.  The media houses are very easy to work with and were all surprised to have someone all the way from Kosovo coming to speak with them.  Though they are accustomed to welcoming tourists from around the world, they were quite excited to speak with me and learn more about us.

The first person that I made contact with was Ms. Marie-Antoinette Laurence from Today in Seychelles.  What a very smart, polite and attentive woman.  She wrote up an excellent article about us for her newspaper.  It is people like here that will make the difference for us during this mission.  People like her try very hard to make a difference by playing their role as a journalist and spreading news about our country to the local people.  She has no idea how much of an impact she could be having for the people of our country.

I was able to get my media work done here fairly quickly, so I’d like to thank them all for their availability to me.  Mr. Roger Mancienne with the newspaper Regar was helpful to me and very dedicated to his work.  Mr. Ralph Gerard Volcere with the Weekly newspaper, promised to help get Kosovo recognized not only with a nice article, but also with the leader of the ‘New Democratic Party’ in his nation.  He mentioned to me several times that his government usually ignores things, but that in the next elections, he was going to be running for election so that he will have a say in government concerns.

Thank you also to the team at the Seychelles Nation, the daily government-owned newspaper.  Mr. Robert Andre authorized an interview for me with his journalist Mr. John Lablache, who knew quite a bit about the former Yugoslavia, since he had also lived and studied in there in the past.  Sometimes with these government-owned newspapers, you might find that the journalists are afraid to cover your story or send it out to the public because they are afraid to create friction between the government and civil society.  But at the Seychelles Nation, the team did a great job as journalists.  They wrote an excellent article about Kosovo, trying to get us recognized by their country as an independent nation.

The team at the local television and radio station, SBC (Seychelles Broadcasting Company) were also excellent, thanks to Ms. Linda Rosalie.  She was kind enough to authorize an interview with Ms. Bernadette Honore.  Ms. Honore was very knowledgeable and was immediately interested in our story.  She was hard-working, detailed and dedicated, with a great sense of humor and friendliness.

I would like to thank Ms. Amanda Hunt, the Press Attache and Prinicple Secretary to the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Jean-Paul Adam.  She granted us her time and hand-delivered our letter from Vlora Citaku to Mr. Adam.

I feel good that I was able to make great progress in Seychelles, getting everything accomplished within two days.  Thank you again to all of the people here who are now part of our mission and friends to our country.  I have nothing but great memories of my visit.  There was excellent weather, beautiful scenery and amazing, friendly and welcoming people to interact with.

The downtown area is very nice and clean, with colonial-style architecture.  I enjoyed passing by all of the little shops and restaurants, etc., especialy the outdoor market.  It feels comfortable here and not too populated (even though it is a small island with 90,000 people).  Seychelles is also very up to date on environmental laws and actually one of the world leaders in regards to sustainable tourism and development.  A short walk around here would show you that they take their beautiful environment very seriously and try to keep it clean and presentable.

These last few islands that I’ve visited have definitely been very friendly towards tourists.  They pay attention to outsidersa and are very welcoming overall.  For sure, Seychelles is a vacation destination similar to Mauritius.  One day, I hope to revisit this place and spend some quality time enjoying the sunshine and sandy beaches.

Seychelles NATION Online

Seychelles NATION PDF

TODAY PDF, page 1, page 2

Weekly PDF

My friends, let’s get the most important question out of the way: Mauritius is most definitely a true vacation destination.  You could absolutely find everything that you need here in order to have an enjoyable, relaxing holiday.  Whether your with friends, family, or even alone, this country should definitely be at the top of your travel list and I recommend a visit here at least once in your lifetime.

I don’t want to sound so sure of myself, but after traveling as long as I have, you start to pick up on these things.  Many times, my travels feel like a day to day routine and I often forget to take time to enjoy the places that I visit. But once in awhile, a place will amaze me, and Mauritius is one of them.

I have visited over 100 countries now in my lifetime and have had the opportunity to experience many different people, places, environments, etc.  I hope that you all know by now that I am a big fan of nature and that the tropical climate is my favorite.  I also enjoy learning about new people and cultures, food, traditions, the friendliness of local people, etc.  However, many times I am so stubborn and determined to get our work done.  I get so distracted by making sure that there is always progress being made and I often find myself busier than I’d like to be.  I forget sometimes to enjoy life a little more and relax a little so that I can try to enjoy some of the places that I’m visiting.  When I don’t take a second to stop and breathe in the experience, I just keep going and these once in a lifetime moments become unappreciated.  I become so focused on getting things done and moving on to the next place, that I often don’t realize that I am missing so much that is happening around me.  But, it’s hard to change a hyper and stubborn personality like mine.

Due to both Madagascar and Mauritius being islands, this part of my travel will have to be done on commercial airliners.  Mostly because it’s cheaper that way, but partly because it’s more efficient to leave my plane on a previous island and just island hopped from there, over this big blue Indian Ocean.  Mauritius is a tiny island in the middle of that ocean, over 500 miles East of Madagascar (even farther away from the mainland).

The airline out here is called Air Madagascar and we are scheduled to make a stop on the island of Reunion.  As it turns out, Reunion is a French-controlled island.  Without going into too many details, bigger countries like France, England, Spain, Portugal, USA, etc., still try to keep their conquered territories from time to time.  Particular islands are often still territories of these nations and are used for political purposes and/or to keep up the monopoly game that they all have going on.  Never mind if people might have inhibited that place beforehand, it’s business as usual out here as bigger governments try to force their rules and governance onto the smaller, less equipped civilizations.

You would think that island hopping down here would be as cheap as it is in places like the Caribbean, but it’s much more expensive.  Even though you are forced to stop in another country/territory on the way to Mauritius, the prices do not reflect any discounts for such detours.  There is a large group of people on this flight from France who did not expect this situation.  It reminds me of my recent trip back to the States on Ethiopian Air, when I was disappointed at all of the stops we had to make.  At least on this airline they offer food, which is quite different from all of those cheaper, lower-cost airlines in the US and Europe.

After arrival into Mauritius, I was quite pleased to see that this airport was very nice and clean.  I can already tell that this is tourist hot spot because they are playing island music over the speaker system and you can see tourism advertisements all over the place.  Even the border agents looked friendly and seemed ready  to assist and welcome you to their country.  For once, a country that is welcoming and not intimidating.

One thing that I never remember to be prepared for is the customs question about which hotel I will be staying.  Since I never know beforehand, I always forget to prepare a good answer for them.  This proved to be a little bit of a hangup here in Mauritius.  The border agents were very insistent that I name a place.  So I made up some nonsense name to give him.  Because he hadn’t heard of it and didn’t know it’s location (it didn’t exist), he assumed more information than I gave him and I ended up just saying yes to it so that I could get the heck out of there.  Otherwise, he was ready to send me over to a reservation agency to find a place so that it could be placed in my formal documents.  This is the part of traveling that I hate, all of these nonsense rules, etc.  On the other hand, the agent was very nice about things and did remind me that this regulation was based on my safety, so that they could find me easily if anything were to happen while here in the island.  I guess that this might be helpful at some point, like in places where all of those tsunamis have torn through.

Shortly after this exchange, I was ready to find a taxi.  What I was absolutely not expecting, my friends, was to hear the astronomical prices that they charge to take a taxi into town.  Apparently, we are about an hour away from there and a typical fare is between $50 and $70 USD, even though the island itself is only about 90km from North to South.  I’m guessing that they don’t serve champagne on those taxi rides, though for prices like that they should.

Luckily, and again, thanks to our common humanity, I was offered a ride into town from my new American friend Mike.  We had started chatting before clearing customs and mentioned that he had arranged for someone to pick him up, so he offered for me to ride along.  Friends, you all know me by now, I never say no to such warm generosity.

Once in town, I soon realized that my friend Mike was accustomed to the more comfortable things in life.  He was here to work for the US Embassy (unlike myself) and, therefore, had access to a much fancier hotel for the night.  I, on the other hand, disappeared from there quite quickly after learning that the hotel was nearly ten times by daily budget.  So out of here I go, searching for a dirty, nasty, old hotel that fits my nearly broke budget.

My friends, I have to admit that I would will never in my life miss this part of our mission.  I can’t even share with you some of the ‘hotels’ that I have been in because they have been so horrible.  Rest assured that hotel charges are not where most of your money goes that gets donated to Flying for Kosovo.  If I didn’t always look for the cheapest bed in town, I would never have been able to afford to travel this far.  Trust me, if I were allowed to sleep in my tiny airplane I would (both to save costs AND because it would be much safer and more comfortable than some of these ‘hotels’).  But, bureaucratic nonsense wins out again and what can I do but hope and pray that I don’t catch a disease like malaria from somewhere.

It was very late when I got to my old, rundown hotel, but a small enjoyment was waiting when I was able to deal with the terrific elder gentleman working at the front desk.  He was a great character.  I hit my head on the pillow and woke up a few hours later ready to face the day.  Ladies and gentlemen: sometimes the universe deals you a good hand of cards.

I awoke to Mauritius on a Sunday morning.  Since there would be no media houses and/or government offices open today, I was actually able to take a day off from the mission and enjoy this beautiful island.  Normally, if I were on the mainland, I would have used a weekend day like this to fly to another country so that I wouldn’t waste useful weekday ‘business’ time to do so.

The other reason that I would use the weekend time to fly is because some of the places that I have visited are quite a rough place to be.  Some of them have been quite difficult and they aren’t always the safest places either.  But that is not the case here in Mauritius and I have to tell you that I am going crazy with enjoyment to be able to explore this island today.

It is a beautiful day out and there is lots of sunshine to soak up.  Right outside of my hotel there is a street market and across the street is the bus terminal.  It feels like all of Mauritius is just steps away from my hotel door.  I am excited to see what types of things await me.

The first thing that I notice is that the majority of people here look like they are of Indian descent, followed by Europeans, then African natives.  I later learn that this mix is partly because people from India and China were initially brought here by the as slaves by the French.  What a pleasant surprise that to find out that the dominant culture is Indian, as that is another culture that I enjoy very much.  Aside from the awesome tasting food that they make, I have a lot of respect for their culture.

One reason in particular for this is because of Mr. Vikrant Brar.  Mr. Brar was one of my early aviation mentors back when I was learning to fly jets.  In addition to being a great aviation teacher, he became a wonderful friend and I will cherish our experience together always. We flew together for over a year to places like Mexico, US and Canada and during that time he fed me his great Indian cuisine hundreds of times.  Not to mention the fact that he was also an excellent cook.

I met Mr. Brar when he was assigned to be the chaperon on my first experience of flying a jet.  I am positive that, were it not for all of the things that he taught me, I would not have near the amount of confidence of flying that I have today.  Though he had quite a tough character (as do I sometimes), we always managed to work through our differences.  Though our opinions didn’t always match, it was a very valuable experience for me to have a type of working relationship where you can be professional, even though you don’t always agree.  To this day, his words and teachings follow me where ever I go.  It is his voice that I hear when I’m flying all of those hours in the sky.

So there you have it friends: the main reason why I am fond of the Indian culture.  The other is that I have great memories from meeting an Indian couple back in Guyana.  It was there that I met my new friends, Champ and Seeta, who were kind enough to invite me to an Indian religious ceremony.  What a beautiful experience, and of course, there was lots of tasty food there to enjoy as well.

Because of my experience with the people mentioned above, I am feeling quite comfortable here in Mauritius.  At least I know a few things about the culture (and enough to know that it is one that I enjoy).  I have found that the people of India are excellent people, with lots of great family values, traditions, food, etc.

After filling my stomach full of great Indian cuisine, I decide to take a bus to the Northern point of the island.  It turns out that this country is very small and it only takes about an hour to get to the North side from my location here in the South.  This country is about 1/5 of the size of our Kosovo and has less land than 1000sq. miles total.

As we traveled north, there was a lot to see.  I ended up taking a lot of pictures to remember this place.  The weather was excellent today and I enjoyed viewing the beautiful countryside on our bus ride.  The rest of the people on the bus were very friendly and I am learning that everyone here is very welcoming to tourists.  What a relief compared to some of the countries I’ve been in. Mauritius is the second largest financial center in Africa (aside from Johannesburg in South Africa), so I guess that they are used to having lots of outsiders here that bring them lots of money and investments.  Many times it pays to treat outsiders with a little bit of respect.

Aside from that, they do a very good job marketing themselves as a tourist destination.  I can see why.  I am in paradise today.  After I arrived at the north side, I was able to take a much-needed walk along their magnificent beaches.  There were lots of people out and about, so I was able to enjoy seeing things like family gatherings, religious services, etc.  Not to mention the fact that I’m absolutely in love with the soft ocean breeze here.  Again, I highly recommend this tiny country as a very enjoyable tourist destination.

In fact, Mauritius reminds me a lot of the islands in the Caribbean, especially Nassau and Paradise Island (where Atlantis hotel and casino is located).  It is very touristy here and tropical.  The only difference is that there are not as many casinos here as there are in the Caribbean, which of course is fine with me.  The only gambling that I need to be doing is the gamble that I take when I enter into a new country and into the unknown.

After a few hours of soaking up the sun and getting a tan, it is time to board the bus back to Port Louis in the South, where my hotel is located.  A day like this goes by at the speed of sound and I sort of dread going back into a downtown area.  At least I was able to enjoy a refreshing walk on the beach, have a few inexpensive, delicious snacks and observe the local customs.

One of my favorite things to do in the tropical countries is to buy food and drinks from the side of the road.  I am absolutely in love with fresh fruits and juices and I really enjoy interacting with the local street vendors.  Usually, the food is much cheaper at these locations, not to mention how tasty it can be.  One of my favorite things to buy this way is fresh coconut milk.  It is so delicious when it is freshly made.

So back on the bus I go, headed for my hotel.  But it is still pretty early in the evening when I arrive back to town.  Lucky for me I notice a boardwalk here, not far from the hotel.  The longer I can stay away from my crummy accommodations the better.  What a contrast I find, as the boardwalk seems to be quite an elegant and upper class shopping area – very clean, nice shops and restaurants, parks, benches, etc.  It is here that I notice all of the effort that this country goes through to keep things clean.  The locals tell me that that there is a whole government department that focuses on the environment and making sure that things stay presentable.

After a short walk, it was time to go rest and prepare for the battles of tomorrow.  I hand wash my shirt before going to bed so that it is dry in the morning and ready to be ironed.  Now that I’ve spent a day recharging my battery, I’m ready to work full force today and make some progress on our mission objectives.  The only thing that I need to do first is to catch something to eat from one of those street vendors, since this hotel doesn’t offer a breakfast service.  By 9:00am, by driver (Mr. Imran Deedor – a great gentleman) and I are ready to conquer the town.  All I have to do is to be the decision-maker.

When you are dealing with the media, often times they keep bouncing you around.  Sometimes, its because they don’t necessarily have a journalist assigned to world political affairs.  But other times it is because the writers are in the field and trying to cover other, more local stories.  Sometimes they are late to your appointment and some times they don’t show up at all.  It is not uncommon for me to go to a particular media house 3-4 times during the day, trying to get our story covered.

I do this running around because it is very important that we get our mission covered by the local media.  That is one of the primary objectives of our mission and for each visit to a new country.  The goal is to get as much publicity as we can for Kosovo.   Remember, aside from the travel costs, this is all free publicity.  We don’t have to spend a dime on advertising if we can get our story published in the local media.  This coverage would be worth millions of dollars in the US.

If it were not for all of the wonderful teams that I have worked with, the wonderful editors and journalists around the world, our mission would have been impossible.  We would have accomplished nothing and the local people of each country would not know about our beloved Kosovo.  These talented people, with their broad array of experiences and vast knowledge of the world, all share the same compassion for other human beings.

Generally, my experience with all of them has been nothing short of superb and it has been one of my biggest joys to have met so many great intellectuals.  We owe so many thanks to them because of their dedicated amount of attention to our mission.  Their coverage and willingness to cover our story has been priceless.

Here in Mauritius, Mr. Gilles Ribouet, with L’Express newspaper was a great person.  Very detailed, patient and clever journalist.  He knew about all of the trouble in the Balkans and had lived in France before, so he was very attached to Europe in general.  Thanks also to my friends at Le Matinal, who interviewed me and shared with me valuable information about their country.

Thank you to Mr. Michael Jourdan, with Le Mauricien.  He is originally from Belgium and is a wonderful human being – very detail oriented and cares a lot about Kosovo’s well-being.  He would very much like to see our country gain momentum in the world.  Mr. Jourdan gave our mission and Kosovo an entire page of valuable space in his newspaper in the hopes that our information will reach many people and increase their support for our recognition.

Mr. Noor Adam Essack, with Le Defi Media Group was also very helpful.  Since he had previously lived in England, he was quite familiar with our concerns.  He even worked with many Kosovars in his past, which must have made an impact on him because he could still remember their names after all of this time.  Mr. Essack is a man with great personality, book smart, and very specific and focused in his questions.  It really helped our interview that he had such a tremendous amount of knowledge about Kosovo already.

Thanks to the Director at the national television station, Mauritius Broadcasting Company, Mr. Datta Raymond.  He was able to organize an interview at his station, which is the only television station representing this great nation of over one million people.  Finally, I would like to thank Mr. Neil Linley Appadoo, is also a news editor.

In the realm of radio, thank you to Radio Plus (Centre 97.7FM, Nord 88.6GM, and SUD 98.9FM).  Mr. Newaz Noorbux organized my interview there and Mr. Leevy Frivet was my interviewer.

At the Ministry of Foreign Affairs they were very professional.  Their protocol was not too difficult to navigate and they were also cooperative (which always helps).  They made it possible for me to meet the second in command underneath the Minister.  He was an experienced official who was well versed in global affairs.  This was due to the fact that he had been the Ambassador for Mauritius with many different countries.  Our meeting was very cordial and professional, though I sensed that he might have been relying on some earlier, outdated facts and figures.

He did, however, admit that Serbia did not treat us right and that this fact should be addressed.  He also discussed with me the fact that his nation is one of the many within the African Union.  According to that organization, all members have agreed to oppose any separation of nations and territories.  He gave the example of Kashmira in order to make the point that this issue is a very sensitive topic.

When I offered debate and asked him how he would be able to live with a group of people that killed his father, killed 10,000 people of his ethnicity, limited free speech, religion, ability to practice and study in their own language, etc., or how he would feel if his people were ruled by 2-3 % of a population who are different from him.  He was unable to give me a direct answer and chose to go back to discussing diplomacy, etc.  Since he has had a career in politics, I guess that it is hard to change those mindsets.  But then I remember that there are many types of people within one government and that each one of them has different opinions on the subject, which could eventually work in our favor.

In this respect, I am glad that the media houses have been friendly towards us during our mission.  They have been a tremendous help in exposing our side of the story to the rest to the people of the rest of the world.  Because of them, opinions and decisions can be made by a much larger group of people and not just those officials at the top.

Ms. Citaku’s letter was hand-delivered, which is part of what we came here to do.  We can’t force nations to change their decisions.  We must keep doing our job, speaking up, raising awareness and showing the world that we can be successful.  By doing these things we will begin to convince them of our permanence.  We must not rely solely on our fairy tales and high hopes, but send a message with our actions.  Creating a stable government, showing economic progress, reducing rumors of organized crime and corruption and respecting human rights – these are all actions that we can take to show the world that we are serious about becoming a country.

I have nothing but good memories of this nation.  Its beauty and its great people created a calm and relaxed atmosphere in which to work for a few days.  To me, the wealth of a nation is based on its people and not necessarily the material and/or economic wealth.  You could be the richest person in the world, but if you don’t have the magic or charisma to go along with it, you don’t have any wealth in my eyes.

It is the last night here and I will be sad to see this country go.  I am able to enjoy one last walk this evening around the boardwalk and enjoy the scenery.  Though our mission has to keep going, I am convinced that I will have to come back and explore this nation further in the future.  Enjoy their beautiful beaches, get to know more of the local people, relax and enjoy some of the nice rum that they are known for, try to spot one of those dodo birds that I have heard about here, etc.

One thing is for sure: this country could definitely provide a relaxing vacation for anyone, whether with a family or alone.  If you time it right, you could even catch a reasonable deal on the travel arrangements.  I highly recommend visiting this beautiful island to all of you.  May all of the local people here in Mauritius be blessed and continue to prosper.

Le Mauricien PDF

L’express

L’express PDF

People

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English

Before I start to discuss this country in detail, I must first share with you all some of my preconceived notions.  We all have these ideas in our ahead about what the world is like and how things are supposed to be.  With myself, I have found that my early upbringing in Kosovo and my later upbringing in Switzerland have shaped the ways in which I view our world.  Further, those two early experiences were very different from each other and have caused me to constantly open my mind and re-educate myself about our entire planet and its people.

As you might all know by now, I have always been in love with our globe and fascinated by all of the different languages, cultures, etc.  Ever since I can remember, I have wanted to learn all that I can about our world.  There is nothing more exciting to me (aside from being able to fly, which I love) than learning about different people, local customs and traditions, cultures, languages and dialects, etc.  This list of curiosities could be endless as far as I’m concerned.  I have always wanted to know about other people and other places.

I am very blessed that I have been given tremendous opportunities to learn about the world in my lifetime.  From learning English in Australia in my early years to working on this mission several years later, my whole life has been about experiencing other cultures.  This mission alone has allowed me to encounter all of the richness that the world has to offer.

One of the most fascinating and beautiful experiences that I have come across is that of inter-racial families.  It seems that wherever I go, I notice them immediately.  People from one culture marrying into another one – say an African person marrying a Chinese person, or an Indian marrying an African tribe member, or a South African marrying a Portuguese, etc.  These combinations fascinate me and I am left feeling a tremendous amount of respect for these human beings.  In my eyes, they produce the absolute most beautiful children in the world.  The fact that their love can cross all of those cultural boundaries and produce a human made from that love never ceases to inspire me.  To me, it is these types of people that are the most inspiring and who are the closest to reaching the highest potential of the universe.

Without this current  mission and without the help of all of you, I would have never thought it possible to be able to experience so many different cultures.  Since I have dedicated the past to years to this voluntary endeavor, I have not only gained a stronger connection to my own Albanian people and our dear Kosovo, but also a tremendous amount of knowledge about the people of our planet.  Though as a child the world seemed so large to me, today it seems so very small.  Most importantly, I have learned that most of us human beings, no matter what culture or what country we are from, we all want the same things out of life – a place to call home, safety of our loved ones and a way to make a living.  The connections that we all have with each other in regards to our common values far outweigh the differences that we all have.  In fact, I have now learned that it is the not knowing about each other that is the most dangerous and that it is the government systems that want to keep us ignorant of all of those ‘others’ in order to make us fear each other.  This works out to the benefit of bureaucrats and governments, but not ourselves.

Even though I have struggled on this mission at times (and there have indeed been many struggles), I am grateful for the opportunity that I have been given to represent my country and you all and to continue to learn about the world.  It is this fact alone that helps me get through those times where I am facing days without food, nights without sleep, periods of having absolutely no money in my pockets, technical difficulties, etc.  It is also during these times when I am able to get a glimpse into the gigantic hearts of us humans – for it has been at my lowest points that other people, strangers from the other side of my world, have helped me out with the smallest details.  Little did they (or you) all know just how much those helping hand of kindness and support mean to me.

Without your continued faith and trust in me to accomplish the goals of our mission, I would have never made it past our first country.  With your support, and our work together, we have accomplished the task of moving mountains my friends.  We have crossed three different oceans (cruising along the Pacific in the Latin and South American portion of the mission; many times over the Atlantic and now the Indian Ocean) and many Seas.  We have now made physical contact with four out of the five major continents (excluding Antarctica and the Arctic) and several island countries.  Soon my friends, we will have visited over half of the countries on this planet to work toward our common goal.

Never in my life would I have thought that this day would come.  Persistence, determination and discipline have been our best friends during this time.  Otherwise, my brothers and sisters, I can guarantee you that we would have never come this far in our shared vision of having the world recognize our people and our country.  We can all stand and be proud of ourselves for having made it so far without too many major catastrophes.

It gives me a truly astounding sense of joy to know that I am able to contribute in this way to the future of our country Kosovo, and to know that I am able to be the voice for us Albanians on the complete other side of the planet.  Further, it warms my heart and gives me such great pride to know that all of our ancestors and loved ones that are no longer here with us today, that they too now have a voice in the world because you and I have the common goal of making sure that they are remembered through proper recognition of our country and all of the hard work that they have done before us.  We must not waiver in our efforts to continue our mission and work towards that common goal.

I must now admit to you something else.  Though I have experienced much joy and happiness during this trip, I do struggle with some of the more uninteresting and routine tasks.  Things like filling out all of the bureaucratic, non-sense paperwork for one or the continual pace of my (usually 18hour +) days, etc.  I never want to complain, but I thought that now would be a good time to let you all know that I do struggle with these things, especially the task of documenting these adventures.

I do not consider myself to be a writer in the least, nor do I even enjoy the task of writing (actually I don’t like it at all).   However, I do know how important it is to all of you to have my updates.  On top of that, this mission wouldn’t be anywhere near exciting to us all if I just ended up reporting to you that I was in the next country, etc.

So I do end up pushing myself to get these memories out to you all.  Partly, of course, I want us all to share this history.  The many writings, pictures, articles, videos, memories, etc.  I want them all to be a part of what we have accomplished together.  This is not just about me visiting every country, but about us, together, making a human connection with the worlds people.

So I will take this short opportunity to apologize to you all for the (sometimes) long delays in between communication on our website.  There is just no possible way to get immediate updates out since the process of doing it takes so long.  I bet you all had no clue that my handwritten words go to another continent (to Laurie in USA) to be typed up and rewritten.  Not to mention the fact that sometimes my English needs polishing up, or facts about a country need to be checked and elaborated on.

In regards to the videos and the pictures, etc. – those go either to part of our team in Kosovo and/or to Sokol in Alaska to be updated on the website.  Indeed, my friends, it takes all of us to succeed and I am grateful that I have gathered a few dedicated people to work as a team so that the logistical parts of our mission can be completed.  All of those country permits, they get worked on from another country too.  I am truly amazed sometimes at how much we are all able to get done together.  Though not easy in the least (or the most efficient), this mission does have the benefit of having a fairly organized team to get things done.  There have been many work hours donated by several people in order to help our mission succeed.  Though the slow pace of things frustrates me at times, I also have to remember that we are a worldwide endeavor now and that we all want to see the mission succeed.

Okay, getting back to the point of things here.  Madagascar is far different from how I had imagined it as a child.  When I was living in Switzerland, I would spend hours fantasizing about other parts of the world.  I would visit travel agencies, study brochures, prospectus, fliers, travel magazines, etc.  I would even check the price of airline tickets to far away destinations.  I remember specifically spending a lot of time dreaming about Madagascar.

According to all of those travel brochures, I knew a few things about this island.  One: that it looked like a tropical paradise; two: that it was quite expensive to get there (since it was on the whole other side of the world and all); and three: Madagascar is a place that, even in my wildest dreams, I had never imagined that I would be able to visit.  As far as I was concerned, this lovely tropical paradise could have been located on the moon for as far away as it seemed in my mind.

Another thing that I spent much of my youth dreaming about was the idea of being a pilot.  Remember, back when I was growing up, this was something that our people were not allowed to do at all.  I remember spending hours with my dad in our field, gazing up at the planes above, determined already to become a pilot.

Now that those fantasies are real my friends and I have accomplished so many things in my life that no one ever thought possible, I want to take this moment to remind you that nothing in this world is outside of our reach.  Even though it seems impossible, there are many times where those impossibilities are the strongest in our minds.  I want you all to know that I am living proof that with hard work, determination and perseverance, you can accomplish even your wildest dreams.

Now, that is not to say that you won’t face stumbling blocks or difficulties along the way.  One of the hardest parts of this mission sometimes, is the idea that every time I leave a place, I have absolutely no idea what is waiting for me when I land in a new one.  This is quite a scary thing to experience oftentimes.  Imagine arriving at each of these countries not knowing if you are going to clear customs, or knowing where you will stay that night (or even how you are going to find a place to sleep).  Not knowing the local language or dialect is a huge barrier sometimes.  At other times, it is the color of my skin that might cause a problem or a misunderstanding. Etc.  I try not to let these thoughts and fears use up too much of my time and energy, but it is hard sometimes because you just don’t know.  There is no way to be prepared for the next experience sometimes.

So, coming to Madagascar, I thought that I would not have to worry about any of those fears, because I had already imagined that things here would be perfect.  Wrong answer of course.  It seems that every thought or idea that I had about this country was smashed quickly after arrival.  It should hardly surprise me anymore though, as almost nothing on this trip has been how I had imagined it to be in my mindy.

Though not the worst experience of my travels, it is sometimes hard to accept that a place does not meet all of your previous expectations.  For instance, I ran into a little snag while trying to clear customs here.  This is partly my fault, though, as I always try to find ways to avoid getting those nonsense visas.  Folks, nothing at all would get done if I tried to follow all of the suggested procedures and regulations.  Forget the mission work, I would be spending all of our time and energy on dealing with the embassy nonsense, bureaucratic fees and time frames, etc.  Instead, I have found that I can usually get by with the fact that I am a pilot.  Sometimes just mentioning that I am a crew member is all it takes to get accepted.  Other times, it gets a little more complicated.

Take for instance a basic customs question about the question for my visit.  This can sometimes be a very sensitive issue in some countries.  Imagine going to someone else’s country to raise awareness, educate the local people, expose their government’s beliefs etc.  Working with these difficult issues can sometimes be quite tricky.  Often times I have found that the common people, in general, are very supportive and believe in helping other human beings.  It is their governments, however, that make all of the decisions and sometimes try to keep people in the dark, without an awareness of the rest of the world.

So my strategy when I go into these countries is to use every local law possible to work in my favor.  Things like free speech, focusing on our humanitarian efforts, etc. are the angle that I try to use to our benefit.  There is absolutely no way that I would get far in some of these countries by simply being confrontational.  No one is going to listen if you are that way, you must first make a common connection with them and then try to raise awareness once you are accepted.

My vision is to get to a country, bring my concerns, campaign, lobby and raise awareness of our cause, meet with the media, meet with the Ministries of Foreign Affairs, etc.  Without being confrontational, I really try to become a thorn in the side of the bureaucratic lawmakers.  After I get our cause out to the people through the media, then the government has a little bit of explaining to do toward the people.  The most important thing for me to accomplish is to plant the seed for further dialogue to take place.  By getting media coverage, we are able to generate local talk.  It is free publicity for Kosovo and after getting coverage; our cause cannot be ignored anymore.  The next time those government officials open a newspaper, or listen to a radio station, they will be reminded of us.  The next time they go to international gathering (like meetings of the African Union, the United Nations, NATO, etc.) they will go there with Kosovo in the back of their minds.  We want to build our base so that the local people pressure their governments and those governments, in turn, start to pressure each other.  Remember my friends, we are up against Russia and Serbia and all of the resources that have available to use too.

Okay, enough sidetracks, we are going to talk about Madagascar finally.  Upon arrival, I could definitely see that this was a lovely place, even if if was far below my original expectations.  Even the airport was smaller than I had imagined.  It was well into nighttime when I arrived, so my only goal for the evening was to find a taxi and get to a hotel.  After finding a driver, I shared with him some of my previous beliefs about his country.  That’s when he gave me a reality check as he described the true conditions of the local people.

Now, we are all very proud of our homelands and our places of birth, but sometimes we also have to accept the facts of reality.  All I can tell you is that I was very surprised at this new information.  My brain was quite confused for a while because the conditions here were so much different than I had always imagined.

Based on his description, Madagascar has been in a turbulent political situation for quite some time.  As a result, a big vacuum has been created in the every day life of this nation.  Diplomatic relations have gone down and any benefits that might have been gained over the years from this (trade, international aid, etc.) have not reached down to the everyday people.  The result then has become a very difficult internal problem within the country and many people are suffering because of it.

As we approach the downtown area, I start to see what he has been talking about.  There are literally homeless children, women, elderly, etc.  While Madagascar is much better off than the previous country of Comoros, I can still see that there is a lot of struggle here – none of which I was prepared for.  In front of the first few hotels that I tried, there were people sleeping in cardboard boxes with dirty blankets and soiled clothes.  Many of the homeless children (at least 10) ran up to be begging for money.  I was absolutely heartbroken at this situation.  How could a country that I had always fantasized about be a place where children have to beg strangers for money?

I quickly developed a lot of guilt about the facts at hand.  Here I was, searching for a hotel to buy for the night (where I would be sleeping in a nice bed with clean sheets and running water), while outside my doors there were conditions like this.  I had to actually check several hotels before I could find one that was a bit safer and didn’t have people sleeping in its entryway.  I didn’t know what else to do – I had so many feelings about the whole thing.  But I also know that things like this can’t be fixed easily, and that things are much more complicated.  There must be multiple issues that need to be addressed if an entire country has been brought to its knees.  Unfortunately, it looks like the people of this town are caught right in the middle of it.

After sleeping much more comfortably than the people out on the streets, I was up early the next morning to do our mission work.  Mr. Olivier Kotoniaina Hajatiana, my taxi driver for the day is ready to go as well.  He is the glue that holds my trip here together.  Without him driving me all over the place, we’d never get any work done.

I am actually glad that the night is over so that I don’t have to lie in bed anymore thinking about the heartbreaking situation of the homeless people waiting outside.  Now that it is day again, I can focus on keeping active with our mission work. I spend the next few days trying to be as productive as possible, visiting all of the media houses and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Thank you to all of the awesome media personnel who are trying very hard to help their nation get back on its feet.  They all showed a strong sense of care about our mission and our country.  Thank you to the absolutely fabulous team at RTM (Radio-Television Malagasy, the national radio station).  Mr. Haja Ratsimbazafy was able to organize everything in no time.  He was very knowledgeable about world affairs in general and had a significant knowledge about the history of the Balkan states overall.  He did excellent work and I have received many compliments and messages via facebook that have complimented his article.

Mr. Eugene Rajadfera from the Midi-Madagasikara newspaper was a wonderful character to meet.  He was very straight to the point and showed great understanding about our cause.  He also wrote a very professional article with great precision.

Mr. Andry Drouot from La Gazette was quite a character to encounter.  Though he is a great journalist, you might not know it by looking at him.  He exhibits a surfer-type look, with braided hair, ponytail, etc.

Mr. Randy Donny and the team at La Observateur newspaper were also great to work with.  Mr. Donny was very proactive and was able to organize an interview for me even though he wasn’t even at his office.  He also did not generally have a reporter who covers the international news and/or politics, but was willing to send someone to cover our story anyway.  Ms. Hilda Ravelonahina was a very soft-spoken young lady who showed strong knowledge of the Balkans and was a great person to work with.  Mr. Donny was even able to make sure that our article came out the next morning.  Thanks again my new friend.

Finally, I would like to thank Chief Editor Gilbert (who was actually from Mauritius) with the newspapers L’Express and L’Hebdo de Madagascar.  He assigned journalist Mr. Hernan Rivelo to interview me and we were able to spend several hours talking in depth about Kosovo so that he could write a high quality article.

In the arena of radio, I would like to thank the team at RNM (Malagasy National Radio).  Mr. Raymond Soavimanana had our interview done in to time at all and was able to transmit it just a few hours after we were finished.  Our interview went out over the airways across the whole country of Madagascar.

Finally, I would also like to thank Mr. Andry Raveloson and the team at RTA Radio.  Mr. Raveloson actually knew more about my countries breaking news than I did.  He was the one that mentioned to me that we had just nominated a female for President (of course, being ‘on the road’ all of the time and away from world news, it is sometimes hard for me to keep up with things back in Kosovo).  His team was great and the journalist assigned to my interview was Ms. Narindrasoa Randrianomanana.  She was meticulous, detailed and a very humble young lady.

After meeting with the media it was time to go the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.  Ms. Bodo tried very hard there to make my journey as productive as possible.  She was able to organize a few meetings for me and I was able to meet with the Ministre Plenipotentiaire and Chef du Service on te Service de la Cooperation Avec L’Europe, L’Americque et Les Caraibes, Mr. Mr. Jean David-Auguste Ravelson.  Mr. Ravelson was very knowledgeable about Kosovo’s past and was well aware of our request.  He promised that he would spread the word to all of his coworkers and his boss and stated that he would do anything within his capacity to make sure that the case for Kosovo would be heard within the Ministry.

Although coming to Madagascar was certainly a shock to my previous expectation, I will say that is appears that there is a lot of natural beauty here on this island.  I only wish that I had been able to experience more of it.  But, as usual, all of my time was spent in the capital city.  Antananarivo looks to be like many of the capitals I’ve been to before.  Infrastructure wise it is quite functional, though I definitely see where there is room for improvement.  I think that having a functional government would help tremendously and I hope that someday soon, the government will take more interest in helping the people.

Otherwise though, I did find Madagascar to be very tourist friend.  Since this is an island,
you are surrounded by coastline and since it is also considered the 4th largest island on the planet, there is plenty of those nice sandy beaches to be seen).  The locals tell me that this is quite a hotspot for eco-tourism nowadays.  Due to its extreme isolation from any other country, it has many species of plants and animals that exist nowhere else on our planet.  I found that fact to be quite fascinating, as you know how much I enjoy nature.  I will definitely have to spend more time here the next time I visit, so that I can enjoy all of the beauty that this country has to offer.

The greatest part of this country that I experienced was its people.  It was quite a surprise (and another shock to my expectations) when I learned that most of the people here have their roots traced back to Indonesia.  Though some are Arab, Indian and African natives, most of them have some sort of roots from Indonesia.  What a wonderful surprise.  I absolutely love when people from different cultures can come together in harmony.

Because of the diversity here, you can travel just a short distance before you start to see big changes in the people, languages, religions, traditions, cultures, etc.  Again, next time I will have to spend more time here, but at least I got to interact with a wide variety of people during my time in the capital.

It was such a joy to learn about from these people.  I have a tremendous amount of respect for them because, though you can see that they are struggling with getting their daily needs met, they still manage to maintain their basic goodness.  Even though there is a high rate of homelessness here, I found the people to be extremely friendly, hard-working, humble and respectful.  Despite their struggle just to survive, they all maintain the human qualities that I have seen only in the best of us.  I can definitely see that the beautiful people here could help their country to flourish if their government was better stabilized.

I will definitely miss the people of this country and I wish them nothing but the best.  The next country for me will be Mauritius.  Bless my great friends in Madagascar and may higher powers bless your great nation.

Journal PDF

L’Observateur PDF

Mada Plus

After leaving Malawi, I began my long flight to Comoros. Since I am still in the Southern hemisphere down here, the winds travel from East to West, which is contrary to what I’m used to when flying up in the Northern hemisphere. This means that today, I will be flying into headwinds, which is not great news. Not only that, those headwinds will be coming at me while I’m flying over the Indian Ocean in a single engine airplane. I am not looking forward to this.

My dear friends and followers: after flying in many conditions over the years, I have learned not to trust an airplane with one engine while flying over large bodies of water. Even though an airplane is considered to be the safest mode of transportation, there are a few reasons why I remain skeptical of this particular activity. For one, when I was attempting my flight from Alaska to Macedonia in September 2003, I experienced some difficulties in Northeastern Canada. Up there in an area full of glaciers and polar bears, it was not the best place for me to be crashing our baby plane. Even though we landed safely in Qiqitaqrjuag, Canada (with freezing temperatures already in late September), the plane’s engine gave us more trouble when my friends, Erick Guitierrez and Nexhat Tifeku, and I were attempting our cross over the Atlantic Ocean. We were extremely paranoid while flying over that large body of water and o ur mood that day changed drastically when we began experiencing problems about 10-20 nautical miles out over the Sea. Thanks to our many prayers to higher powers, we managed to make it across the water and land safely on dry land.

You’d think that one bad experience over water would be enough for me, but sometimes I am stubborn and my brain and my vision take over against the obstacles that I am faced with. Late last year, after completing the Latin, South American and Caribbean portion of our mission, I flew my plane back to Kosovo. Again, I experienced technical problems over a large body of water.

My friends, I am here to tell you that in all of my adventures, I have seldom faced death head on. But during that trip, I looked it right in the face and thought that I would never see the light of day again. As my friend, Durim Elezi, and I were leaving Northeastern Canada, we experienced a major problem past the midpoint of our flight between Greenland and Iceland. The alternator of the plane stopped working completely and we began experiencing fuel problems as well. Since we were closer to the Iceland side of the trip, heading back toward Greenland was not an option. We were forced to do some critical and creative quick thinking at that point, since we still had approximately two hours of flight time until we reached land in Iceland. With no alternator, we did not have access to the plane’s navigational system or any electricity whatsoever. The plane did have a battery, but since it was not brand new and had been used a bit, we had only about 25 minutes of power left for the two hours of flight time. What on earth were we going to do? Were it not for the many years of flying that I have obtained and my handy, old-fashioned compass (which does not require any electricity in order to function), Durim and I would have been resting peacefully in our graves at the bottom of the cold Atlantic Ocean that day.

I am sure that this is not enough description of those two hours, but I know that you can all use your imaginations to figure out what Durim and I were feeling during that dark moment in my life. I would rather spare you all of the thoughts running through my head during that experience, but I will share this: that experience is engraved into every cell of my body permanently. Though I would very much like to forget that day, the experience is cemented into my bones and every time I have to fly over water, I am forced to remember the events of that day.

It is amazing sometimes how our human brains function in situations like that because even now, whenever I fly over a large body of water, my mind starts playing tricks on me and I begin to hear new noises from the plane. Whistles, bumps, anything out of the ordinary I hear and feel. I am sure that most of these thoughts are just psychological, but my brain automatically goes into the mode that it was in back then, when I experienced the two longest hours of in my entire life.

Though I have been in Africa a little over six months, those two hours over the Atlantic felt like centuries compared to doing any other activity on earth. And don’t forget ladies and gentlemen, that we are talking about flying in our one engine airplane that was manufactured way back in 1967. Not only that, but the engine is only 145 horsepower and the technology and design are from the 1940’s or 50’s era. This is much different than the two-engine, jets that I was accustomed to flying professionally.

Coming back to our current flight over the Indian Ocean, I am still a little nervous and hesitant while up in the air, even though it will only be a few hours over water and not the 21-22 that I had to fly over that giant Atlantic. Thanks to god that the flight is going well so far, except for the weather. As I approach the island country of Comoros, I am starting to see lots of storms out here in the air. I have to divert my flight plans in order to go around all of the lightening, thunder and heavy rain. If there’s one place you don’t want to be in storms like these, it’s in a one-engine airplane over a large body of water. But I am pretty sure that higher powers are watching over to make sure that I will reach my destination okay, even though I am normally not a person who believes in those theories very much.

It is frustrating sometimes when I am traveling and try to do everything in my power to avoid simple complications like weather concerns. Today for instance, I started out especially early in order to avoid this situation. I already know that in tropical regions, the afternoons can be monstrous with heavy storms as mother nature takes over. But alas, I am forced to deal with these conditions anyway as things always take more time than I would want them to and always seem to be running behind my internal schedule.

As I divert the plane to avoid the storm clouds, I start to see the island about 20nm out. There are many dark clouds around now, all filled with rain and lightening, but at least I can see the island now and feel like I can make it there safely. It also comforts me to see a few fishing boats scattered below because I know that these boats have humans on them. At least if the plane crashes, I can land next to one of them and avoid being food for all of the sharks and whales.

But I am still not out of the woods yet. As I begin my descent, I try to make contact with ground control. They report that they are having trouble hearing me through the radio. Folks, this is just another common occurance in times like these. Due to the static being produced by the local storms, I am not able to communicate with them and am forced to rely on my skills and knowledge instead. Again, I am grateful for all of my years of flight experience

I start getting closer and closer to the island now, but I make sure to stay at a high altitude. If I were to have technical problems with the airplane at this point, it is helpful to have that extra time and space between me and the ground. That way, I might actually be able to make a wise decision instead of panic when the plane begins to nosedive. Altitude is my friend today as I begin to remember that crisis over the Atlantic last year.

Though I can’t control things like weather or engine failure, I do have to say that I am very confident in my skills as a pilot. After years spent flying all over the planet with this tiny airplane, I have picked up lots of tricks that come in useful in times of crisis. I have used many of those tricks during my time here in Africa. Here, there is no luxury to flying because about 90% of the time you are flying without the navigation instruments working correctly or other mechanical things working only partially (if they do at all).

These kinds of conditions make you learn to rely on instinct and not trust that technology will always be there to make your life safer. Many times down here, my best friend has been all of those previous hours in the air and current technology on the ground. Though I might not have the most current tools up in the air, it is quite a relief to have access to extravagant things like the Internet.

I try to be as prepared as possible before my flights and I rely heavily on information that I find on Western world websites like NASA or other US weather providers. Even some European websites will show me satellite images of current weather patterns in any part of the world that I am in. Though, I must stay that sometimes I do get lucky and am able to fly in a few exceptional countries where you can actually trust that things are working correctly.

Needless to say, I landed safely. It is really raining cats and dogs out here and that crosswind is coming right over the top of the local hills and mountains. I quickly park the plane, secure it and complete the necessary paperwork in no time at all. I am ready to get into town and find a hotel right away. I am already starting to have a sense about this country because of what I was able to see in the air. Folk, even from high above land you can start to see the qualities of a place. Here in Comoros, I can already see and feel that they struggle here quite a bit.

After flying over most of this continent, I have started to pick up on the little details of each country more quickly. In this part of the world, I have grown accustomed to quickly being approached by someone trying to sell me a service shortly after I land my plane. I also know that the service they are selling may or may not be provided. As soon as I get out of my plane, I am ready to say no to these people because I know that most of them are just seeing me as a walking US dollar sign. I am grateful that I have learned good negotiating skills along the way; otherwise I would be taken for a ride in most of the countries that I’ve visited.

Since I am parked next to the airport fire department, the first person to approach me in this regard is a local fireman. He quickly comes over to me and and asks if I need a ride into town. He tells me that his boss was just getting ready to head there. This is all a little trick that they like to play in this part of the globe my friends. I don’t mean to suggest that these are bad people or that they only have bad intentions, but rather that they are simply trying make some fast cash and, since its quite obvious that I am an outsider, I become their current target.

Also, let’s not forget that the people approaching you to sell a service are usually just trying to distract you from spending your money on the usual service providers. In this case, the gentleman is simply trying to avert me from going to the main terminal because he knows that if I make it there, then there will be other taxis available to take me where I need to go and that they will get money and not him.

Sometimes I do end up on the wrong end of the deal though because if I arrive late to an airport or something like that, there may not be any taxis waiting for me. What usually happens in those instances is that I get creative and try to work out a deal with airport staff. Often times, one of them has a buddy available to pick me up and transport me. Since that worker would arrange the transaction, the buddy and the worker then split the money that I end up paying.

So, my fireman friend here is trying to trap me into a deal with him so that he can charge me much more than it would normally cost to catch a ride into town. He thinks that I am an innocent pilot who has just arrived late in a strange place and that I will appreciate his act of kindness. But after many encounters like this one, I know this game.

I get into his car and act naïve. I ask what it will cost me to take his ride into town. I have learned to do this at the beginning of the ride rather than at the end, because I have been in some sticky situations in the past and have has some very bad experiences with that scenario. Mr. Fireman tells me that it will cost $50USD for a 10-mile ride into town. Wrong answer my friends, though I had been waiting for that kind of answer to come up. I then asked him to stop the car so that I could get out and find another ride. Suddenly and without my surprise, he changes his tune and asks me how much I am willing to pay instead.

This is where I have to make a wise decision. On one hand, he could drive me back to the airport. But sometimes you can sit there forever waiting for a ride and there are no guarantees that you won’t be taken for a ride when you actually do get one. On the other hand, I am already in his taxi and headed towards town. I can negotiate a lower price that I think is reasonable, not knowing whether or not that is considered a fair price locally.

Because I can’t afford to spend all of my time in a country waiting at the airport, I decide to make a deal with Mr. Fireman. I offer $20USD. He, of course, tries to raise the price, but I stand firm and later find out that this is actually the going rate around here. Can you believe that he was trying to make me pay more than double what a normal ride would cost. I was definitely the wrong person to try that with.

Anyway folks, I just thought I would share these kinds of details with you, since they are a frequent part of my experience on this mission. Even in Prishtina, in my home country they tried this with me. They wanted to charge me 20-30% more than the normal rates. It is a sad thing to report, but unfortunately quite common. Again, these are not bad people, they are just trying to be greedy and make the most money possible.

Okay, back to Comoros. During my ride into town I am astonished at the local landscape. I can already see that there has been profound, long-term struggle in this country. The roads are a total mess and not all of the houses have electricity. It’s very somber to experience suffering like this, especially since I’ve seen it in so many places. I can’t help but have sympathy already for the people of this country. This is a tropical island with a wealth of natural beauty. It should have so many things going for it, yet here I sit, surrounded by poverty.

My friends, I need to tell you something that won’t be an easy thing to hear. Please listen closely to my words:

We members of the white race, we have not been very nice to many parts of the world. For hundreds of years, our white race has destroyed lives due to our pure greed and hunger for power. We have occupied lands, colonized territories, conquered regions, countries, continents, etc. and have left a mess after leaving them. We have stolen the richest part of those lands. We have taken things like gold, diamonds, petroleum and other natural resources. We have captured people and used them as our slaves. We have kept the people of these lands in a powerless position all of these years, without adequate access to education or participation in the economy so that they could better themselves. This list could keep going my friends and we have done it all in the name of more greed and more power.

To me, all of this crazy, inhumane treatment is uncalled for. We have destroyed other lives in order to better our own. We have made the most damage that we could, leaving behind a trail of destruction and in those instances when we decided that we had enough of a certain land, we left those humans unprepared to survive. Since we had taken all of their resources away, or even used them as slaves, we provided no alternatives for them and they were left to figure it all out on their own.

I have now been to over half of the countries on this planet and I continue to get the same answer everywhere that I go. Thousands of people from all parts of the world have told me the same, disheartening story. I wish that this story wasn’t true, but the facts remain. My race has done a great disservice to the world by acting like an adolescent child who never thinks about the effects of their actions on others.

It is a shameful part of who we are; yet we continue to work the system in those places around the world where we can still take advantage of innocent people and their circumstances. We continue to make deals with corrupt governments in order to gain access to precious and glorious resources that should belong to the local people who live off of and enjoy their land. We continue to do anything within our power to play these tricks and dirty little games. We work to put someone in power that is on our side. Instead of working for their own people, we cut a deal for them to work with us. Again we do this out of pure greed, more power, etc. The list could go on, but most of all, we do it for our own selfishness.

I have gained lots of insight into these issues over time. I have learned things that one would never learn by just reading a book of history. Many times, the history that is written is written to favor those in power, but it is only through those individual conversations that I have had, that I have been able to see these truths. I wish that the facts and history weren’t true. But I have heard this same story over and over and over again. It doesn’t matter which country I am in or whether one person or 1000 tell me, its always the same thing.

After awhile, I have started to believe the stories told to me by the wonderful people that I have met. I am now skeptical when I hear the story given to me by each government. To me, it is the words of the people that are more valuable than what any government official can tell me because I have learned this story over time. After hearing it from thousands of people, I am starting to learn the root of their problems.

I want you all to know that these countries that I have visited, they all have tremendous potential to prosper. They all have a wealth and richness to them that should be used in order to benefit their people. The people themselves also have the capacity to be successful. If we would just stay out of their way and remain in our own part of the globe, they would be a lot more prosperous. If we would help these countries instead of making a mess of their environment and societies, then our conscious could remain clean and we could all flourish together. I personally think that enough is enough – let them achieve great things, just as we would want to do.

Another comment that I would like to make here, since I’ve already gone off track is this: I have noticed that France and the French people have all left a much bigger mess down here (as with Spain and Portugal) than England every left behind, despite having very similar histories here in Africa.

Finally, I want you all to know that, even though I personally never had anything to do with making these types of messes, the people down here see my skin color first. I am automatically labeled and imagined as one of these demoralizing perpetrators. The first vision of me that people have had down here is that I am here to continue our tradition of owning slaves, conquering lands, occupying territories, stealing wealth, destroying lives, etc.

It is a hard truth to face my friends, but I am sharing this with you so that you might think differently about some of the world’s situations. I also want to make it known that I don’t believe that our entire white race is bad either. I am just trying to share the truth that I have come to know through my conversation with thousands of beautiful people who tell me nearly the same exact stories. Though the location changes, the history throughout is very similar.

Coming back to Comoros again. These poor people seem to have many difficulties that have been caused by us and the problems here on their island seem endless. The people of this country have had a long history of being used as slaves for other countries (first, by Arab nations and later Portugal). After the French gained control, they began to use the people and local resources for agricultural purposes and set up a plantation-based economy.

Finally, in 1975, this nation gained independence. But things did not get easier from there. Since then, there have been over 20 reported coups or attempted coup d’etat’s and much political instability. Recent reports suggest that there is a huge anti-French sentiment down here and that, while the country itself is considered independent, some of the islands are still considered French. Additionally, those officials that are associated with French rule have reportedly further harmed the country’s citizens.

Many public servants, like the ones that I communicated with in the media, have reported to me that they have not even been paid by their government since last November. Many of these awesome people are forced to live in poverty, though they would be ashamed to admit it. What is there to be ashamed about? Unless your job gives you money so that you can pay your bills, how else are you supposed to get yourself out of a situation like that?

It really surprised me when I learned this fact, because you would never know it just by dealing with them. Despite not getting paid for months on end, all of the people in the media industry that I spoke with carried on as if things were business as usual. They listened and showed interest in stories like ours, even though some of them were barely able to eat one meal per day.

This is 2011 folks. I can’t help but point out the fact that those of us in the Western world tend to complain too much and forget just how good we have it. The things that we take for granted are considered luxuries in places like Comoros. Here, the only thing keeping the country alive is the few USD or Euros that they receive from far-away relatives who work abroad in order to support their families. I hope that all of us take a moment to remember all of the comforts that we have and that there really are places in the world where many people don’t even have necessities like basic running water and/or three meals a day.

My mission work got accomplished as usual and the amazing people that I met here managed to remain hospitable. Despite their own giant problems, they showed great professionalism during our time together. There were many times during my visit here that I was able to see hope and strength in their faces, despite the severe degree of suffering that they must endure.

Let me give you just one example of what I mean. There I was, walking into the headquarters for the newspaper La Gazette and was greeted by Ms. Fatouma Hamada. At first, Ms. Hamada told me that we would have to wait in order for Mr. Mohamad Youssouf so that he could do the interview. However, even after Mr. Youssouf showed up, Ms. Hamada continued to stay with us. She took a chair and participated in the interview, saying that she just wanted to remain in order to show appreciation for my visit, my story and my long journey. The French translation: Mounsieur James, Je vais prendre une chaise, juste le temp de vous apprecier un peu. Et vous etes appreciable donc nous avons de la chance de vous recontrer. This type of attitude and respect has been shown to me by the people in many nations in this part of the world. Instead of dwelling on the negative, these amazing people continue to remain positive, professional and respectful, no matter what the history of race and country relations have been.

Thank you to Mr. Djama Ibrahim with ORTC, the national television station of Comoros. He was quite pleasant to work with and very helpful. To Mr. Youssouf Moussuli and Ms. Echata Hassane with ORTC Radio Comoros, thank you for your very precise and detailed interview. Thank you to Mr. Toyb Ahmed, journalist for Al-Watan. Mr. Ahmed was a wonderful gentleman with lots of knowledge and was a superb journalist. He showed total dedication to our very detailed interview. Finally, thank you to the team at the newspaper Albalad. Mr. Ali Mmadi, authorized that interview and Mr. Alhamdi Abdillah Hambdi was the journalist who listened to my story.

My dear friends, the strength that I see in people like this gives me so much energy. I have a tremendous amount of respect and admiration for them. No matter if they are rich or poor, if they suffer or struggle, they still show their great qualities to outsiders like me. No matter what they might think about me in the beginning, as soon as we begin a conversation, they show me the greatest amount of respect and treat me like any other human being. I can only wish that we will return the favor someday.

I have the highest regard for who continue to remain optimistic. People who maintain their friendliness and share their happiness with you, no matter what is going on in their personal life, are people that I hold in the highest esteem. When I was visiting Kosovo last, I couldn’t help but notice that the general attitude there was one based on pessimism. I had a hard time accepting that outlook and I hope that that mindset will change soon because I would like you all to remember one thing: if I took a negative and pessimistic outlook about life, then I would still be back in Brestovc, driving a tractor and raising cattle. If we cannot be positive and imagine achieving things outside of our reach, then we are destined to never go anywhere in life. Please, let’s all be happy and fill our brains with a positive attitude instead of all of that negativity, which will not do us any good and will only take up our precious energy to deal with.

God bless Comoros and its strong people. Next country is Madagascar.

Al-watwan

Dear friends, sometimes it feels like progress is being made at a much slower pace than I would like.  One thing that I can say for sure though is that we are finally heading northbound towards Europe.  After so many struggles and difficulties, this thought brings me some peace of mind.

Malawi is one of those great nations that have already recognized our independence, so my visit here will be one of gratitude.  Remember, part of the promise of our mission is to visit nations that have already recognized so that we can show them our gratitude toward.  We are very lucky to have friends like Malawi who have heard our voices and given us an opportunity to be a part of the same big family on nations on this planet.

While on approach to Malawi, I am being bounced around all over the place as the weather is definitely not cooperating.  Here we are facing strong winds and I have to fly through several heavy rainstorms in a row.  My friends, I do not recommend this for those with a weak bladder.

Unfortunately, weather does not mean much down here as it would in other places.  Usually, flight regulations are very sensitive when it comes to weather and, in a normal world, you would be able to land anywhere and get AVGAS with no problems.  Of course, you would also have access to things like great facilities, good service and safe and secure pilot areas, not to mention a place for in case you are forced to spend the night inside the facility.

Here in Africa though, it’s a whole different story.  If you do find yourself in the unfortunate situation of needing to make an unscheduled landing, you could find yourself in a hellish situation, spending your days in the wrong place at the wrong time without being able to leave when you would like.  Remember, we are dealing with nonsense permits and authorizations down here all of the time which are regulated by insane bureaucrats who have no clue about general safety and/or the aviation field in general.

It’s not always the individual staff members, but their supervisors and dysfunctional governments that make these outlandish decisions which end up causing a safety hazard to aviation.  All of those permits that I speak of are only good for your exact planned route, exact airport landings, exact days, etc.  This could make your life miserable if you have to land unplanned or change routes and/or days, because it means that you must then be prepared to endure hell and misery for doing so.

Down here, there is no such thing as saying ‘oh great, I see an airport, let me just stop to wait out the weather, or land for personal and/or physical needs.  Forget it my friends, these are not even options down here on this continent and if you decide to choose this route, then you are forced to deal with uneducated people who have no clue what you may have been faced with up in those skies.  That unscheduled stop usually results in more astronaumical fees, spending extra time and money on getting a new permit and a number of days of wait time until it is authorized.

No my friends, weather problems do not appear to be taken seriously down here, extreme situations or not.  So, this left me with no choice but to get bounced around like a ping-pong ball on my way to Malawi and pray for the weather to improve so that I wouldn’t be blown back to someplace like the Congo.

It was late afternoon when I finally approached the international airport of Lilongwe.  As usual, it was the first time in my life that I had visited this airport and that experience seems to be one that I have done all too often.  Though I am in no way complaining about the work that I’ve chosen to do, it can sometimes be a very large and lonely world out there when you continue to move from place to place with no home.  At every stop you must quickly learn the local customs, local regulations, etc.  If you don’t catch on quickly, then you run the risk of wearing an even bigger dollar sign than the one that most people already see when you arrive.  Of course, it doesn’t help that I stand out like a light bulb down here where the local people are darker skinned.

This stop is unusual for me in another way however as I am quickly approaching the expiration date of both my certified flight instructor license (‘CFI’) and my medical clearance certificate, which need to be kept on file back in the USA.  These two documents are necessary for any pilot and need to be up to date at all times due to professional standards that are set and must be followed.  If I were to let my license or medical certificate expire, then it would be the end of our mission folks and a lot of extra time and money to get them reinstated.

For those reasons, I simply had to get back to the states before they expired.  Though I was not looking forward to the long journey back there, I had no other option but to plan a short visit.  Please see my special post ‘A Necessary Trip to the States’ for the description of my time there.

Back to the mission my friends.  I arrived in Lilongwe Malawi on Sunday afternoon and went straight to a hotel in the downtown area. Ladies and gentlemen, my head hit the pillow in to the early afternoon and I slept straight through until the next morning.  For those of you that know me, this behavior is highly unusual.

After that refreshing nights sleep, I was up early Monday morning and ready to work hard for our mission.  I wanted to get back on schedule and leave for Comoros on Tuesday, so I was focused on getting everything accomplished in one day.  I need to thank the media people here in Malawi for making that possible.  None of them seemed to give me the familiar run around that I have faced in some countries.

Here in Africa, I have noticed that many countries tend to have just one or two telelvision stations (often owned by the government), but tend to have much more of a selection when it comes to newspapers and radios.  Usually, I am able to select the media outlets that cover our mission.  I have to be careful about this decision as I don’t want to get into situations where the local paper is either too religious or scandelous.  Since I don’t want our cause to be associated with anything negative or radical, I try to choose those outlets that are most reputable and honest.  This way, our message can get out to the people as accurately as possible.

When making the media decision, I often rely on the help of local people.  Nearly all of them are honest and sincere right away and direct me to the right places.  I try to get the opinion of several people right and that information helps me to quickly decide which media houses to try.  I find that keeping little notes about what they I have heard will usually help me when its time to request an interviews.  It would be impossible to keep all of that information straight in my head otherwise.

Sometimes, however, the information that I am given sends me in the wrong direction.  I have experienced a few times where certain people have overheard me talking about a specific media outlet and try to sway my opinion away from it.  This seems to happen most when those people are working for the government and don’t want me to go to the outlets that tend to bring to light any criticism of how things are run.  Those are the governments that really don’t want the public to hear that kind of information and don’t want to be confronted with their own bad behaviors.

Here in Malawi, I’d like to thanks to the great team at The Guardian newspaper, Ms. Lucy Kadzongwe, who authorized my interview with Mr. William Kumwembe and I owe a big thank you to Mr. Singayazi Kaminjolo at The Nation for his great article that was published the very next morning.  Lastly, thanks to Mr. Suzgo Khunga at the Daily Times Malawi for his time and care toward our cause.

At the national television station MBL (or Malawi Broadcasting Corporation), Mr. Chawezi Banda did a wonderful job with our interview and was on his show Good Morning Malawi.  He had a good list of questions prepared and was ready within minutes before the actual interview.  Mr. Baxter Nkhoma from MBC Radio (also a national station) also did a great job.

The country of Malawi is quite beautiful.  Everything is very green here and there is a positive energy in the air.  I don’t know if it is just that I’m getting older or that I have changed a lot during this mission, but it seems that I have become more judgemental of each country over time.  I have learned to gather input about a few basic elements upon landing and find myself quickly forming an opinion of the area based on that information. Within hours, I am aware of how well the country is functioning, how organized and accessible the systems are to use, some strengths and obstacles that the nation faces and, most of all, I learn right away what the charcteristics of the local people are and how they react to outsiders.

For instance, in some countries I have been faced with populations who view outsiders as a walking dollar sign.  They offer no sympathy for any struggles that they might make you go through and are most definitely not concerned about your comfort to say the least.  All that they care about is figuring out how to get some US dollars out of you, how that behavior might affect their future generations, or how you perceive their country and talk about it back home with your friends.  The present moment is most important thing to them and they look at you as if you were wearing clothes made out of USD or Euros themselves, often offering their services to you just to make a buck (whether you asked for them or not) or regardless of whether they actually intend to provide that service.

But that has not been my experience here in Malawi folks.  I only learned later this country has been nicknamed ‘the heart of Africa’, but I definitely knew that for myself after just a few short hours on the ground.  The people here are very friendly and actually want to provide quality service to you.  It is more important to them that you are comfortable than it is for them to get paid first and up front.  Throughout my entire stay, I was consistently greeted by friendly people who wanted to make my stay here as comfortable as possible.

It’s amazing to me when I experience this human warmth, because I also start to see very quickly some of the difficulties that the local culture must face.  When I see people who struggle everyday with daily life and they are being nice instead of taking it out on you, then I have the highest respect for them and it changes my whole perspective toward them.  It seems that a simple smile or a thank you can change your whole outlook about a country and/or spending money there.  It makes me glad to pay them for their hard work instead of biting my tongue and giving someone money for a needed service, even though they are being a moron and may not even provide it to you anyway.  Experiencing friendly and welcoming local people helps to re-energize my battery at times as, even though I am often broke and struggling, having a nice atmosphere and positive energy around you makes a huge difference in your outlook towards life.

Later, I found out that part of the reason for Malawi’s friendliness is that there are many non-governmental organizations stationed here in Lilongwe and even a few foreign corporations.  So as a rule, it is in the best interest of the people to be accomodating to outsiders as the country has relied heavily on that outside investment and assistance.  Since Lilongwe has many foreign nationals living there, the city tries to make them feel comfortable through their hospitality and availability of services. But remember, locals here are still very poor by Western standards. Even though they may be working in the city to provide a high level of friendly service to you, many of the people here are unable to even imagine being able to afford those same services.  They are often faced with tremendous challenges in their daily lives and obstacles such as electricity, lack of running water, diseases, etc.).  On the other hand though, it does appear that the different classes of people here in Malawi manage to live in harmony, unlike some of the other countries that I’ve visited.

After a successful day of work and pleasant interactions, I was ready for a good nights rest before heading to Comoros.  I want to again thank all of the media people here who were excellent and I don’t want to forget my taxi driver, Mr. Paul Lizimba, who is a great human being and drove me around during my time in Malawi.

The comfort and friendliness of Malawi will be missed very much.

The Guardian PDF

Malawi PDF

My dear friends: though some of the information that I have for you is not directly related to the mission’s overall goal, I oftentimes find it necessary to share some of the daily struggles that I face in order that you might better understand the context of our mission work.  Here in Zimbabwe for example, I was shocked to learn that they are continuing to struggle with appropriate currency and don’t even use one that is their own.  There are currently four different currencies being used in this country (US dollar, British pound, South African rand and Botswana’s pula) and I have to be honest, this fact was very hard for me to understand as it makes things as simple as buying a newspaper much more difficult than they need to be.  Things often have four different prices listed on them and the process of buying something becomes can sometimes become quite difficult.

The primary reason for this issue is that Zimbabwe has experienced tremendous inflation in recent years (the second worst inflation spike in history) and the countries currency could not keep up.  Though a $Z100 trillion banknote was created in 2009 due to high prices, the Finance Minister then announced that the country would be permitted to use other, more stable currencies.

The reasons for the inflation are speculative, however many believe that it stems back to the President’s redistribution of farmland in the 2000.  During that time whites (a very small minority of the population) reportedly owned nearly 70% of farmable land and President Mugabe evicted nearly 4000 white farmers in attempts to equalize ownership.   This resulted in a flood of refugees to neighboring countries, hyperinflation many US sanctions and nearly 80% local unemployement. 

After redistribution, the once farmable land was affected by continuos drought, lack of finance and a tremendous reduction in agricultural (which had been the country’s leading export).  This led to shortages in important things like fuel and other consumer goods and forced many people to buy their goods from neighboring countries as far away as 500-1000km during that time.  Though workers often received wages, there was no way that they could keep up with local inflation prices.  Many residents fled permanently from the country and there are currently over one million people within the country today who live away from their homes.

In addition, taxes and tariffs for any private enterprise caused many companies not to invest in Zimbabwe.  In 2008 there were reports of corruption in the areas of government, diamonds and currency.  US sanctions were enforced and human rights organizations reported that the government of Zimbabwe violated the rights to shelter, food, freedom of movement and residence, freedom of assembly and the protection of the law.

 The countries landscape has also struggled as a result of inflation.  Though still beautiful and picturesque from above, the scenery has changed tremendously.  The once lush forestland with pleantiful wildlife has now become deforested and eroded.  There is no longer a substantial amount of fertile soil available and poverty, population growth, poaching and lack of fuel have led to a reduction in local wildlife as well.

One thing that shocked me in the other direction, my friends, was the upkeep of the international airport.  It was in working condition and clean.  The best part: when I attempted to clear customs, I was told not to worry about it, that it was not a concern and to have a nice day.  They didn’t require my passport and I didn’t need a visa in order to enter the country.  This is so very different from all of the other countries that I’ve visited, but nonetheless appreciated.

Another thing that I enjoyed was that, unlike most other countries in Africa, the airport here seems much closer to town.  Usually, I have had to spend a ton of money to go from the airport to the local city, but not here.  I was pleasantly surprised that the two were so close to each other and that I could catch a break on this one.

 Since it was approaching the weekend upon my arrival, I had not choice but to wait to do our mission work.  Plus, I still had to wait for a permit to land in Malawi before I could leave this country anyway.  At least the mission work was spread out nicely because of this. 

As far as the media is concerned, one thing that I have learned from my travels here in Africa is that it is often the case that one media organization ends up owning a bunch of subsidiary newspapers, television and radio stations at once.  This can be a great thing or a it can be dreadful because if you get rejected from one outlet, you are likely to be rejected from the others since they are all controlled by one source.

At least here I was able to get a few interviews and I am thankful to all of the media who helped to make our cause known to the public and to local government officials.  Thanks to Mr. Nevanji Madanhire with the newspaper The Standard.  He authorized my interview with Mr. Owen Gagare with the newspaper NewsDay, which is the first privately owned daily newspaper to be published in over seven years.  Mr. Gagare was very detailed and knowledgeable about Kosovo. 

Thanks to More Tirivashowa with the government newspaper The Herald for his time and effort in covering our cause.  Thank you to Mr. Zivisai W. Chagaka with The Financial Gazette for his hard work and dedicaiton toward expressing our wishes to country and finally, thank you to Mr. Reagan Mashavave with the Daily News newspaper.

Mr. Freedom Moyo and the team at the national station TV Zimbabwe were also wonderful.  Mr. Moyo was able to organize a live interview for me with his coworker Mr. Jonathan Hunzvi, which was transmitted nationally.

At the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, I have to thank the Deputy Director of Protocol, Mr. Claudius D. Nhema and his coworker in the European Department, Mr.Canisius Tanyanyiwa.  Both gentlemen showed a great sense of care and dedication towards Kosovo’s independence and promised to follow up with their bosses.  I was assured that they would do everything within their power to help our nation succeed. 

In the capital city of Harare, I was greeted by a landscape similar to any other city of the world.  The main difference, though, was that the struggles of the local people were evident everywhere you looked.  Again, due to high inflation that has occurred here, many people still struggle to meet daily needs.  Electricity is a problem, as it is in many of the African countries that I’ve traveled so far and some remote and rural areas go without any power whatsoever.  Similarly, these rural areas also lack access to running water.  Folks, it is sad to encounter so many people around this world that don’t even have access to the basic necessities that we in the Western world take for granted every day.  Here, things like running water, electricity, accessible roads, schools, hospitals, etc. are not readily available.  It pains me to imagine the difficulty of daily life that some people face and I am reminded of the ease of modern day life back in the States.  Today, I am trule grateful for the fact that I have been blessed with such small things.

 One thing that I haven’t mentioned yet is that, by traveling in countries that are so close to each other down here, I often find that I am running into relatives of someone that I had met in a previous country.  This is the case here in Zimbabwe.  It was a pleasure to meet the family of Ms. Kudakwangu Chisweto (whom interviewed me for One Africa back in Namibia).  Her mother and two sisters provided me with a small sense of meeting family in a home away from home.

Lastly, I can’t forget to thank my taxi driver, Mr. Joseph Mazarura.  He was such a polite, humble gentelman who was very polite during our drives around town completing our mission work.

Despite all of the struggles that I have seen here in Africa, there is always hope within the wonderful people that I meet.  No matter what circumstances I find them in, they always manage to present such optimism in the face of the big, messy governments that rule down here.  Although one would think differently, I have not seen much pessimism down here at all.  If it were people from the USA or Europe experiencing conditions like this, I think that the situation would be much different and you would be hearing lots of screaming going on day and night.  But with these great people it’s different.  They still manage to have hope in their lives, which is truly a gift to bear witness to.

Next country is Malawi.  Bless you all here in Zimbabwe.

News Day

Zimbabwe Press PDF

The Financial Gazette

Bulawayo24 NEWS

The Financial Gazette PDF

The Herald

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Very short distance today between Swaziland and Mozambique, but there is a huge difference in the infrastructure, organization, road system, cleanliness, etc.  The changes between these two countries are quite noticeable.  I suppose that part of this may be because Mozambique is a much larger country with many more people in it.  It’s comparable in size and, whereas Swaziland had a population of a little over a million people, Mozambique has well over 22 million.  I would imagine that it’s a bit harder to keep things neat and clean with so many people.

It’s so refreshing for me to be traveling north my friends.  Just knowing that I am on my up the continent of Africa and have reached over half of the continent gives me a small sense of relief that this portion of the mission will be coming to an ending at some point.  It helps me stay focused as I can now see a small light at the end of the tunnel.

Another thing that makes me happy here in this country is that I get to travel along a small portion of the Indian Ocean coastline.  It is refreshing and there is a different feel to it than there was on the Atlantic side of the continent.  And its actually a bit warmer here than in Swaziland.

I am feeling comfortable already and am sending thanks to God for the few Spanish speaking skills that I have acquired over my travels.  Since this country was once a territory of Portugal, Portuguese is the official language here. Though I definitely don’t have many skills in speaking that one, my Spanish is allowing me to get by fairly okay and at least helps me get my point across so that I can get my mission work done.

Remember, there are tons of different languages being spoken here in Africa every day.  Luckily, the culture here is that there is also a lot of trade going on across countries and cultures, so the people tend to pick up on each each others languages fairly quickly.  Even though they may not speak it perfectly, it is usually possible to carry on a brief conversation or make business transactions.

That fact has been my saving grace down here.  I am especially fortunate in the arena of all of the media communication that I have done.  Many of the journalists that I meet generally speak in their primary language, but because of their familiarity with either English, French or Spanish, we have been able to get by and I have been able to get my point across as far as the mission work is concerned.

Regardless of language, I have learned over the past two years that the most important qualities to have when communicating with others are those of tolerance, forgiveness, understanding and compassion for others.  When you present those qualities, it often translates into showing respect for the other person, no matter what their culture is, what language they speak, what race they are, what country there are from, etc.  When this magic happens, you end up finding solutions to many problems that may come up along the way.

I arrived in Maputo in the early afternoon and attacked work right away.  There have been lots of times, folks, where upon arrival to a new country, I don’t even check into a hotel right away because I am trying to make my brief stay as productive as possible and get our message delivered to the people and the government in the most efficient and effective way possible.  As a result, I am usually able to get my work done fairly quickly by taking advantage of official office hours, etc. to work and then do my personal business after hours in order to avoid spending days and days in one nation.  Remember, our planet has 192 countries and if I ended up taking my sweet time then James would never finish anything, so I have to get to work right away when I arrive in each country and be as efficient as possible.

There have been many times where I don’t see anything in a country except what their media houses and Ministry of Foreign Affairs offices look like, unless I have to take a particularly long taxi ride in order to get there.  This work is often in the capital of each country and so I am only able to see these two privileged perspectives as opposed to spending more time with the local people and exploring more of the regional nature that I would like.  But my friends, we have to get the word out about Kosovo to as many people as possible and the way our mission runs, almost broke all of the time, I don’t want to take up our precious time or finances acting like a tourist.  We have a serious request and I am on this mission in order to present our case for recognition to the rest of the world.

The media houses here in Mozambique were actually very receptive to our cause.  Thank you to all of the wonderful journalists here who have helped our people by using their professions and positions in life to help us gain strength and recognition around the world.  Thank you to my friends at the newspaper Noticias, Mr. Alcides Tamele and Mr. Aboobacar Amade for their valuable time in their help in sharing our mission and our cause with their country.

A big thank you to my friends at the national radio station, Radio Mozambique and Mr. Aderito Lipanga, a very detailed journalist who was well spoken and a very humble human being with great character.

Thanks to Mr. Adilson Mahomed Dos Santos Taju, with STV television and the newspaper O Pais, for his meticulous work and dedication to delivering a high quality story that would have great impact on his people.  He actually had something prepared and played on television within just a few hours of our interview.  And I can’t forget to thank Mr. Francisco Carmona, Redactor in Chief with newspaper Savana, who had lots of knowledge about Kosovo’s past history and our problems in the Balkans overall.
Finally, thank you to the wonderful team and Televisao de Mocambique (TVM) for their interest and to Mr. Admiro Feliciano and his cameraman Mr. Samuel Canda for their wonderful work during our interview.

At the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Mr. Antonio Bambissa, Directory Adjoint (Deputy Director) for the Europe and America’s Division was gracious with his time, even though I had no prearanged meeting scheduled.  Vlora Citaku’s letter was hand delivered to him and he assured me that if there was anything that he was able to do in his power within the Ministry that he would do so to help further recognition of Kosovo as an independent nation.

Most of my taxi drivers were okay here in Mozambique, except for a few dishonest, unreliable, greedy drivers.  I have been very lucky, folks, that this hasn’t happened to me more often during my mission and that, in general, most of my drivers have been quite helpful.  I do want to thank Mr. Denis Vilancules though. He really helped me out during my stay in his country and helped me to gain the most productivity from my very short visit here.

After working on this mission for the last two years, I have been through so many changes, challenges and experiences, but one thing that does make me happy is to know that a majority of the nations that I have visited so far actually agree 100% that we should be considered an independent country.  Two years ago, I would never have guessed that this was true.

But this does not mean that we should stop working on this cause now just wait for things to happen.  We must still continue to demonstrate to our world that we are serious in this area and that we are ready to begin a relationship with all of the nations around the world.  We must also take this opportunity to continue building relations with the countries that we have already visited.  This does not mean that I should have to go back to every one of them for a follow up visit, but that each and every one of us begin to think of ways that we can contribute to furthering our nations position worldwide.

As Albanians and Kosovars, we each have a duty and an obligation to demonstrate our capacities to the world so that they will continue to hear our message.  We must all use our individual talents that we have been given so that we can further contribute to society, the world, humanity, peace, etc.  As a new nation, we have no choice now but to do our part and demonstrate to the world that we can show strength and perservere in being recognized and that we actually have the capacity to be stable politically, economically, socially, etc.  We need to continue to harness the power that we have within all of our individual abilities in order to demonstrate to the world that, as a nation, we can become a contributing member to the world community and that we do not intend to settle for mediocrity.  I hope that you all will find your own individual ways to help our country become stronger in these areas and live up to what we all know our Kosova can be.

Back here in Mozambique though, it looks like this country is trying to grow stronger as well.  It is unfortunate, but this country maintained a civil war from the late 70’s through to the early 90’s.  Because of that, there were many people who fled from here as refugees and the economy was not as strong as it could be.  I see here though that they are trying to improve things since then and that there is great potential for future growth and success.  There are many dynamic, hard working, welleducated, aware and wonderful people here too, like Kosovo, which puts both of our countries in a position to progress in a positive direction.  All that remains to do is to put all of our talents to work and to use so that our nations can play an even bigger role in the world – for Kosovo with Europe and for Mozambique with Africa.  Despite the common struggles that I see, things could turn around fairly easily if things move in the right direction.

Maputo overall seems very well develped, except for a few improvements that might need to be made here and there and looks fairly similar to any other European city that I have seen.  There is some construction being started which is a positive sign for their economy I would guess and the locals tell me that most of the people who fled during the civil war have returned, which is also helping the economy to grow.  It definitely takes a village to grow a nation and progress cannot be gained when there are only a few people here and there contributing to efforts such as this. There is tremendous opportunity to be made if we all begin to realize that we are all responsible for our future success and that we each have certain strengths that can be given towards leading us in that direction.

The next country for me will be Zimbabwe, which I am looking forward to visiting and seeing what progress has been made their after the sky rocketing inflation that they experienced a few years ago.

God bless our neighbor Mozambique.

Premiero Journal

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This country is beautiful, clean, with a nice location.  The topography is that of some mountainous areas along with much farmland.  The infrastructure is great and the people are also very nice and friendly here.  The weather here was great upon my arrival in the mid afternoon.  I was able to enjoy some of the nice countryside by taking pictures during the entire time that I was here.

This country is very small in size.  Though it is a little bigger than Kosovo, it has nearly ½ of the people that we do back home.  Part of that is because the population hasn’t grown in awhile due to the debilitating AIDS epidemic and many adults now have a lower life expectancy.  On the other hand, I have seen so much strength and determination in the eyes of people in the last few countries.  They are committed to finding an end to this current struggle and have been some of the best people that I have met in my life.

After landing in the capital city, Mbabane, I find that it is quite small but refreshing, as it means that there are not enough people to run you over like they would in a bigger town.   The people here also seem very relaxed and not stressed out at all.  I guess they must have been practicing that lifestyle for a while since this place is known to have had residents living here as far back as 25,000 B.C.

I feel good about trying to find another bed and breakfast here because I see that the city seems very neat and clean, so I will have to worry a little less about our little mouse friends visiting me in the night.

Folks, it feels so good to be visiting this country.  The main reason: Swaziland is one of the nations that have graciously recognized our independence so I will be speaking with the media and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in order to thank them for their swift action and the good things that they have done for us.  Remember, part of our mission is to visit these countries too in order to thank them and not ignore the ones that have already recognized us.  At least I get the sense that my mission work here will be fairly quick, easy and laid back since the people here are also relaxed.  Being such a small nation, they will probably only have a few newspapers, but I do want to be sure to get a television interview as well, since nowadays that is the best way to communicate your message to people.

It’s Sunday night when I arrive, so I am able to check into the B & B, put my luggage down and go for a small walk to take pictures and familiarize myself with the surroundings.  I spot a beautiful plaza area with a charming little shopping mall in the heart of town.  Wouldn’t you know it though, that right this beautiful spot is where all of the taxis, mini-buses and other transportation run as well.  They have an outdoor market in this same location, so you can imagine the type of chaos that this scenario may produce sometimes.

It also appears that city life here starts very early in the morning but also finishes very early in the evening.  The people here often leave to go home earlier in the day to get to their home on the outskirts of town.  The younger people here tell me that, though this is the capital of Swaziland, it is very different from the economic capital, Manzini, which is about a 30 minutes drive down the road.  For one, Mbabane is fairly small, so you can reach everywhere within a 20 minute walk or so. Also, the young people report to me that, though this area is relaxed and lower stress than Manzini, they often get bored easily and don’t have the luxury of crazy and wide-ranging entertainment that places like a bigger city, Johannesburg would have.  To me though, I prefer this environment instead as it is much more peaceful and you don’t have people running you over all of the time.  After having a good food at our American chain restaurant KFC, it was time to go back to the B & B and get some rest before beginning tomorrow morning at full speed ahead.  I am confident that things will go very smooth here for me as far as media goes.

Early Monday morning I am up and ironing my shirts, which I hand washed last night and hung to dry.  This is one of the things that I will never miss in my lifetime after finishing our mission.  I don’t like having to hand wash my clothes at all, but circumstances make you do everything in life.  Another thing that I do not like at all in this portion of the mission is the money issue.

Here in Africa, the most important and most difficult thing for me to learn has been patience in all areas of the trip, as far as all of the logistics go.  Since Morocco, I have been without reserve cash and my team has had to send me money via services like MoneyGram or Western Union, who rip you off and often charge double or triple what MoneyGram does at times.  In more developed Western countries, a transaction like this would usually takes 3-5 minutes tops.  However, here in Africa, the minimum amount of wait time is over an hour and it could be as high as four.  I have encountered many problems when making one of these difficult transactions.

Often, the amount of money that I need transferred to me at times is more than $1000 USD since the expenses of landing fees, parking the plane, fuel, accommodations, etc. often total more than that.  So, back in Gabon for example, I tried to make a transaction like this right there at the international airport, but they did not have $1000 USD in order to pay me.  Other times in the past, the transaction system has been down due to electrical and/or Internet outages and unlike other places, most African nations aren’t even able to make the required copy of your passport that they need in order to complete the transaction (or the more ridiculous scenario where they don’t have any ink in their cartridge), so instead, you have to leave that place and travel miles away sometimes to get a copy made and then travel back to the company to complete the transaction.  That is just the beginning my friends.

In places like Zambia, for example, you are limited to transactions under $1000USD, but by accident, you are sent 1000 Euros instead (around $1300USD).  Well, you can’t complete the transaction because the amount equals more than your limit so you are forced to find another place to get your money sent to you.  If you find another place aside from Western Union or MoneyGram, then they give you the countries local currency.  My friends, you can just imagine James Berisha walking around with $1000USD worth of local cash.  I have to carry it like a bag and since I already look suspicious (being white in mostly darker skinned cultures) I then start sweating (both from the heat and the stress of it) and the people start staring at me more.  On top of this I’m then terrified of getting robbed or killed for that kind of money since most of local peoples live on less than $2 a day.

If you do take that risk and get it changed at a local exchange business, the first question that they ask you is if you have a local bank account.  Can you imagine me opening a bank account in every country around the planet!  To add some more frustration, places like this often limit you to only $500 USD worth of local cash, so then you have to either go buy USD on the black market or at the Burem De Change (Exchange Offices) which are hell to deal with folks and 90% of the time they don’t even have $1000USD worth to give you, so you end up having to go to three or four of them just to try and avoid the black market.  I had to do this once in Caracas, Venezuela and ended up losing $200 USD as a result of dealing with those heartless people.  In exchange for $100 in local currency I had to give them $200USD.  But when I tried to use it, I was told by the cashier that it was fake money, that I was taken for a ride and that I could end up going to jail for being found with fake money in my wallet.  Needless to say, the cashier then took my $100 worth of local currency, leaving me without my original $200 USD and broke again.

Over time I have learned that these banks or bureau de change locations are just decorations for their city.  Just because you see one doesn’t always mean that they will provide a service to you, especially when you are dealing with the large amounts of money that I often need.  And to add to that, don’t forget that each time you exchange money, you are charged a service fee and an exchange fee, which will vary depending on if you are switching it into local currency or into USD.  So what may start out as an initial transfer to you in $1000USD might end up being only $600 in your pocket by the time you are done with all of this nonsense. I don’t even want to think about what would happen to someone if they ever needed to exchange larger amounts like $10,000 USD or $10,000 Euros.
And let’s not forget that a lot of these places will not provide services if you go even just one minute after 15:00pm unless you want to wait until the next business day.  In some of the banks, you can’t even go past 14:30 pm because the queue is already so long and you will have the security guard telling you to come back tomorrow.  Unless of course you want to start throwing scandals in there when being lighter skinned is already something that gets additional attention brought to the situation.
Try dealing with these things when you have a landing permit for the next country that expires at midnight and were up to an especially early start today in order to get this done because if you try to fly there tomorrow they will not let you since your original dates are set in stone.  When that happens, you are stuck for another three days of your life because you then have to go and reapply for a permit with new dates on it before you are allowed to take off again.

Add to this chaos the fact that you have been held up at the airport for a number of reasons.  One of which may be the fact that they only charge you and accept payment in the form of USD, which means that you don’t have the right currency after you have already spent so much time trying to arrange to have local cash.  So back to town you go again trying to exchange the money back to USD, which then costs more astronimical fees.  After you get back to the airport and are ready to pay the fees again, you have to do so in many different offices and sometimes someone may require you to pay a random fee by using their local currency again.  So now you may have to go back to town and change some USD back to local currency, all of the time knowing that you have now changed the original USD into local currency once already and then back again to USD before this additional transaction that now needs to take place, remembering the whole time that each of these transaction has charged its own fees.
By the time you have run around the airport paying all of your fees (and/or going back into town to exchange some more money), you are leaving late and now have an eight-hour plane ride to fly in a single engine plane over jungles with lions and tigers under your feet and can do nothing about the fact that you know that this will only lead to unsafe flying after dark in order to arrive at a safe aiport on the ground, which will now charge you an extra $100-200USD in order to land because you need to use the required runway lights because it is after dark.  On top of which you have flown all the way there in an airplane which was built in 1967 and that you’ve had to fly like the pilots did in the 1920’s and 1930’s because the primary navigation instruments stopped working about 15 countries ago and I haven’t had the the couple thousands of dollars that it would cost to install a new GPS.

My friends, I wish to higher powers that I was only exaggerating, but these things are true and I have had to deal with things like this on a daily basis because This is where a lot of our money goes and part of why our mission is broke all of the time.  But I have no other choice because I can’t give up.  I could keep going with this list for days and days, but try to explain it to someone sitting in the US or Kosovo or Switzerland what the heck James is talking about and their eyes will start going blank.  By the way friends, I know that this is not part of the Swaziland description, but since I started talking about why I will not miss hand washing my clothes I thought I would let you all in on the other little secrets of my day to day frustrations because my sunburned, bald head was already starting to explode.  I guess to accomplish a mission of this magnitude, one has to have the character of an elephant or a donkey because otherwise you might have a nervous breakdown or end up in a clinic with a bunch of mentally ill “bingo” friends of yours, though you are in perfect health otherwise.

When I am feeling stressed about all of these little things, I try to remind myself of why I started this mission in the first place.  It is because of the atrocities that I saw in Kosova after losing my father.  All of those people in the refugee camps that I saw and the trauma and destruction that I witnessed firsthand.  I knew then that their stories needed to be told, which is why I wrote my first book Escape From Kosovo.  But after that, I knew that it was only a matter of time until we gained our official independence.  When we finally did, I was devastated to learn that world would still not legally recognize our country on a simple passport, instead reminding us that because not enough countries recognize our independence formally, the official country name on our passport and even some maps is still Serbia.  It was then that I decided that I needed to use the skills that I have gained in my profession as a pilot in order to further our place in the world and share with others our request to be accepted finally as our own country.

I guess to accomplish a mission of this magnitude, one has to have the character of an elephant or a donkey because otherwise you might have a nervous breakdown or end up in a clinic with a bunch of mentally ill “bingo” friends of yours, though you are in perfect health otherwise.

Okay friends, I’m sorry about venting and enough with the problems.  Let’s be an optimist and be positive in life.  I guess that if I was not an optimistic person in my life today then I would still be back in Brestovc driving my tractor and raising cattle.  The bright side of my mission is that I also get to visit countries like Swaziland who have recognized our independence and re-energize me to continue on.

Thanks to all of our media friends who were excellent.  Mrs. Gcinangaye Tsabedze with Radio Swaziland organized an interview there within minutes of reaching their doors with Mr. Mbuso Tilman was awesome to work and whom I thank for his time.  To the great team at the main newspaper, Times of Swaziland, thank you to Mr. Maqhawe Nxumalo and Mr. Mbongeni Mbingo who called our us “our Kosovo”.  They both had been wanting to write an article about us since Swaziland recognized our independence last year.  Finally, thank you to Mr. Oscar Mabusela at The Swazi Observer for his detailed interview about our nation of Kosovo.

Thank you my wonderful friends at the national television station, Swazi TV.  They were all excellent and appreciative of learning that the people of Kosovo respect them very much.  They even invited me for a live interview on their morning show, so thank you also to Mr. Oscar Mabusela, the boss man and news editor, for authorizing such an interview.

Thanks to Ms. Xolile P. Mkhonta, the personal assistant to the Minister of Foreign Affairs.  She was very charming and also very appreciative of our interview.
The next country is Mozambique and I would like to thank Arlindo at their embassy here in Swaziland for giving me a visa for his country with no complications at all and within ten minutes of entering their doors.

May higher powers bless this beautiful nation, I will miss it very much.

[View with PicLens]

Compared to some of my very long flights, I feel like I’m going across the street here when I only have to fly from Maseru, Lesotho to South Africa, which is just across the border.  After just a few minutes, I am in South African airspace and its time to say goodbye to Lesotho (a country that I will never forget).

I could already start to see a huge difference in the amount of air traffic between the two countries.  This is by far the busiest airspace that I’ve encountered Africa so far here in Africa.  Planes are flying around all over the place and this is the first time on this continent where the air traffic controllers have alerted me to keep an eye out for para-gliders in the sky and that I should be careful to watch for them.  The air traffic is probably contributing to the slight turbulence that I’ve been experiencing, but it’s all good and just part of the process of flying.  It’s a joy today to speak with the air traffic controllers in English.  This is a tremendous relief as it means that I can fully understand them and they can understand me.  It also raises the level of professionalism when both parties are able to speak in the same language.

Down below I see little airports everywhere.  Some of them don’t even exist on any maps that I have seen.   Also, like the past few countries, I start to see some diamond and mineral mines below.  Down this way, the economy relies heavily on those types of natural resources.  They also rely on tourism is, which makes me think that their customer care will be more aligned with what I am used to in the USA and again, I am able to see a few fruit trees here as well.

After that short flight I landed at Lanseria airport, which is just north of Johannesburg.  Instead of landing at the high traffic international airport, they have routed me to one more suited for our baby plane.  This airport is generally used for smaller or ‘general aviation’ aircrafts, but compared to places like California or New Jersey, this airport definitely seems to have a bigger airfield.  I am starting to understand why this country is considered to have the third most developed aviation industry in the world.

Folks, upon landing, I was in heaven.  All of the overhaul or maintenance hangars at this airport were big name providers, like the companies that you would find in the USA.  They also had an aviation or pilot supply store here, which brought tears to my eyes.  I have always loved flying and aviation so much and to be near services like this gives me such a sense of comfort and familiarity with a world that I am used to.  I know that right now, my airplane could break down and that things would be fixed here in no time at all and with no problems at all.  I’m also certain that the quality of service would be comparable to in the States.  South Africa is definitely the aviation heaven of Africa as far as I’m concerned.

After I parked the aircraft in TPSC’s (Turbo Prop Service Center) parking area, I was given my first sense of South Africa’s great customer care.  Mr. Andreas Diener was very helpful and friendly to me and was gracious enough not to charge me for parking.  As another gracious gesture, he also offered to give me a ride into Pretoria (the administrative capital of South Africa) in order to get a hotel.  I was actually supposed to be getting some preventative maintenance done on the plane too while here at the airport. But since the mission is totally broke right and waiting on more funding, I can’t afford it so things will have to wait a little bit longer.

I was able to get a great bed and breakfast owned by a wonderful couple, Madame Hannie Greyling and Mr. Giel Greyling.  It was comforting and felt like a home away from home to be in such a warm and welcoming private home instead of an huge, impersonal hotel.  The Greylings helped me out so much throughout my swaye stay here in South Africa and became like a second set of parents to me right away.  It was comforting and felt like a home away from home being in their very warm and welcoming environment.  Mr. Grayling was so generous and offered to help me with some of the transportation that I needed to do for our mission.  This was especially helpful to me since the average rate to hire a taxi for the day here is around $200USD.

One thing that I dislike about traveling to certain countries is that some of them have more than one capital.  It is very time consuming and expensive when you have to travel to more than one capital in order to accomplish your goals.  Here in South Africa, there are many capital cities: Pretoria, which is the executive capital; Bloemfontein, the judicial capital; Cape Town, the legislative capital; and Johannesberg, which might be considered the economic capital.  Because I had the goals of meeting with the media and also the government officials, I had to travel to more than one city in this country.  Luckily for me, most of the work that needed to get done was in Pretoria and Johannesburg, which are less than 60 kilometers away from each other and that I don’t have to go around chasing capitals all over the country, since Cape Town is over 1200 km away.

One thing that I found interesting here was that even in places like South Africa, they still have their fare share of problems.  For one, this is the birthplace of Apartheid, which was a time in their history where it was legal to separate black and white communities in all areas of society.  This went on from the late 40’s until 1990’s when Nelson Mandela was released from prison after twenty-seven years and went on to become the President of South Africa.  Since then, the climate has become much better between the two communities, although the UN does rank this country very high in terms of assaults and rape per capita.  There are also 11 official languages spoken here, which means that there are many more cultures than that which makes it difficult sometimes to communicate with each other.  I guess that all of these issues are too big expected since even in places like the United States there are still some areas affected by the same types of things.

I was shocked though at one particular difficulty.  I would have thought, as economically strong as South Africa is, that it would have been exempt from things like power outages.  But as it turns out, though they may be the biggest producer of electric on the planet, they are also the largest consumer and their government power plants haven’t been able to keep up with the demand.  Now I don’t feel so bad about our problems in Kosovo, knowing that big places like South Africa have some of the same troubles.

On a more positive note, this country seems no different from any other place like the USA or Western Europe.  It’s beautiful here, the infrastructure is great, they have nice roads and parks and the people here are wonderful.  More to the point though is that I have to admit to you here that I never in my life would I have imagined that I could miss something as simple a McDonald’s restaurant.  But after seeing one here for the first time in many months, I know that this is no longer true.  I went crazy like a little child here in South Africa when I saw the golden arches and I couldn’t help but to buy myself a lunch there to feel that small comfort of my home in the States.

I wish the media made me that joyful, but they were a little more difficult to deal with.  A majority of them wanted me to arrange future appointments to meet with them.  Now let’s not exaggerate here people, I am not trying to meet with the President himself for lord’s sake, just a reporter (at most an editor) so that they can write about our nation and our cause.  If I would have made appointments for all of the times I needed to meet with the media, I would never finish our mission in this lifetime, especially when I’m trying to fly across half of the planet.

Another thing about the media that I’ve learned over time is that unless something is a disaster or there is something bad happening and thousands of people have died, they usually don’t want to cover it and the story is not that important to them.  This makes me feel kind of good actually though because it means that Kosovo is not considered a hot spot anymore and we are not such a big interest today.  On the other hand, after doing this mission for over two years, I have also learned big countries like South Africa still remain knowledgeable about exactly what is going on with Kosovo and follow our developments step by step.  They are all well aware that we are asking to be recognized in the world.  Especially when we remember that it is big countries like this where Serbia also tries to focus their attention and lobbying efforts.  Make no mistake my friends – we are very much on the radar of internal documents in big countries like South Africa.  The smaller nations, however, need a little more sometimes because they don’t always have the required staffing to keep up with all of the world’s events.  Instead they have to just go with the flow and address things as they come up.

So I want to say a big thank you to all of the media houses that were willing offer their time and meet with me here, given the challenges that were presented.  Thank you to the great team at the national radio station, South African Broadcasting Company SABC FM 104-107FM for being part of our mission.  Mr. Themba Dlamini is the wonderful person who organized a live interview for me that lasted over 25 minutes, Ms. Mignon Van Deventer, who was their evening program manager and Ms. Nthateng Lerate who was the one who actually interviewed me and also had a great personality.

Thanks to Ms. Seugnet Esterhuyse with the newspaper Beeld, who did in-depth interview with me lasting over an hour.  At the newspaper Sowetan, the staff was also wonderful, so thank you to Ms. Nonku Khumald for her dedicated work and professionalism.  Finally, thank you to Peter Fabricius, the excellent editor and journalist who interviewed me for his newspaper The Star.  He was the foreign editor of that newspaper and had lots of knowledge about the functioning of the globe that we live on.

It is great to be continually reminded of just how much can actually be done just by being sincere and nice to people and treating them with respect.  The Ministry of Foreign Affairs so far on this portion of the mission have all been excellent and I have luckily been able to get what I want accomplished with them in the shortest amount of time possible without having to wait for weeks on end just for a quick meeting.  Especially in the nations where we are not yet recognized, it would be extremely difficult to get a meeting organized without having the protocol reject your request.  But, I have been able to get in without arranging any meetings so far just by showing respect, being nice and talking to the right people.

I have been very happy when I can get in to these places so that I can get our main message out, which is ‘we the people and governance of Kosovo request for your formal recognition of our newly independent nation’.  It helps that I am there to hand deliver a letter from Ms. Citaku requesting such, so that I can leave them with a formal document to help them remember us.  I guess that if you know how to be nice to people and show them respect, it allows you to get things done in the way that you want them to happen most of the time.

Thanks to Mrs. Nowetue Luti, the Director of the Eastern Europe Division of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, who granted me a meeting and accepted our letter from Vlora Citaku.  Her response to Kosovo’s independence was clear: we are following the progress of your nation very closely and your position in the world.
My taxi driver (a gentleman in his 60’s), Mr. Anelius Mthembu knew journalism quite well.  He had great values as a mature human being and also showed character in providing a service instead of just being worried about taking my money and moving on like some of the others that I’ve dealt with.

I have nothing but excellent memories of this beautiful nation and it was great to be able to see a bunch of malls around me during my short visit here.  I had no idea that I would ever miss those types of things either.  It was also nice to see the booming construction and advancement of life that was happening around me.  Its surprising to me the things that I realize I’ve missed while on this mission.  Like KFC, back in the States I would never dream of enjoying a meal or two there, but down here my friends, my taste buds were having a party.

South Africa is a country that I have been wanting to visit for a very long time.  I have always had the desire to reach the most unreachable places and to try and aim for the furthest things in my life.  This experience has definitely been one of those occasions.  To be able to have traveled throughout half of the African continent already makes me very happy.

Psychologically though, I have personally struggled and had to quickly accept some preconceptions that I had about this place.  I had always thought that the African continent was only the home of darker skinned people, but I was wrong.  This continent is a home for everyone – white, black, Asian, you name it.  There are many lighter skinned people who have lived here fore many generations and who call this place their home.  And I have already learned so much more than I could have imagined from all of the darker skinned cultures that I have met.  There are some truly beautiful people in this world my friends, with the kind of beauty that money can’t buy.
I can see that South Africa is place where all people can prosper in life and I wish for this country and its people to be blessed for centuries to come.

IOL travel

This amazing country looks very similar to places Austria, Switzerland, or even Colorado in the USA.  It is full of mountains and valleys and, unlike some of the other countries that I have visited, I actually see lots of lakes and rivers below.  I could not believe the beauty that my eyes were seeing.  I never would have imagined that this country would look so magnificent.  It is all very nature and wild looking with beautiful sunshine (which makes it better for me to take lots of pictures).

Like Botswana, Lesotho is one of the rare countries that do not require a crazy flight permit in order to land, which gives me even greater joy to be landing here soon.  During approach to this beautiful nation I was actually able to take pictures of both Lesotho and South Africa at the same time, since the capital city of Maseru (where I landed) is right on the border.

In no time at all after landing I cleared customs and was out the door.  This facility seemed fairly calm and empty to me for being an international airport.  One thing that I noticed right away was that the taxis are not lined up outside and waiting for passengers.  I couldn’t find one anywhere.  I was later told that this is because they don’t come around until they know that there will be an arrival of a plane full of passengers so that they don’t waste their time waiting.

I ask a gentleman outside if he knew about how to contact them or when the next big flight arrival would be and the distance from here to the city center so that I could get an idea of how much the trip would cost me.  Without hesitation he offered his help to me right away.  Without asking for or taking any compensation, he drove me the nearly 20km into the city.  I can see right away here that the great people of Lesotho take hospitality very seriously.

I am reminded of traveling in the past few countries where the people have been very friendly and willing to help out in any way.  After traveling to so many countries so far, I have learned to look closely at the little details of each nation.  I pay close attention to things like the infrastructure, cleanliness, the beauty of the surroundings and most importantly, the friendliness and courtesy of the local people. To me, those details are very important and serve to demonstrate just how much that country wants you to visit.  Personally, I think that there is nothing better than to have a nation really pay attention to its foreign visitors because those visitors will keep the perception of their experience in their memory for a long time to come and share it with the people that they know back home.

Both Lesotho and Botswana gave me the impression that providing a service meant more to them than just seeing you as a walking dollar sign screaming at their ears to come and get me.  Then there is the other end of the spectrum where there are certain countries where the mentality is purely that of ‘give me all your money’ (even if they just come to greet you).  In some countries, local people try to come and help you even if you do not ask for it.  They impose themselves on you in order to get you to give them money.  It makes your life miserable when they do that.  Its important to remember folks that I’m not talking about the truly needy people that you can see struggling, but rather some people in general who provide a service to you whether you ask for it or not and think that because you look different that you must have a bank account with money that flows out of it like a stream.  At least with people who you can see as genuine and truly needing to work, you sometimes want to give them more because they aren’t asking for it.  But many times people are just trying to take your money and treat you like you are a dollar sign.

After my gracious ride into town, I arrived at a hotel near city center suggested to me by some locals.  Price wise, The Victoria was fairly reasonable for the quality that they provided, especially since they gave you a nice breakfast buffet each morning.  The only bad thing about staying here was that I found it slightly annoying that the cab drivers would honk all throughout the day.  I am not talking here about a few of them honking a couple of times a day, but hundreds of them honking all day long.  I guess that the people here are accustomed to it and expect to be alerted to their taxi pick-up via the honking.  Usually when checking into a hotel, I try to request the highest floor possible to reduce the amount of noise that I hear (and mosquitoes and encounters with rowdy hotel guests, etc.) and to get a good view of the local scenery, but  I guess you can’t have everything perfect all the time.

After checking in it was still daylight, so I took advantage of the small opportunity for a nice walk.  It was such an invigorating experience to enjoy a walk around town while I explored and took pictures of this brilliant setting.  The view is absolutely stunning with the cooler temperatures (due to the higher elevation), the beautiful mountains the distance and approaching peach sunset.  I could not stop taking pictures the whole time.  After that refreshing experience I head back to the hotel to prepare for tomorrow’s working day in which I hope will be successful.

For the next two days I work to finish a bunch of media interviews, all of which were excellent and very comprehensive.  I first owe the biggest thank you to the amazing team at Lesotho Television, the national government station.  They did an excellent job in transmitting the important details of our mission.  Thanks to Mr. Dyke Sehloho, the Operations Director, who after a brief few minutes of discussion authorized and organized a team of journalists to visit the airport with me so that we could do some live footage in front of our baby plane.  Mr. Sehloho sent Ms. Mamotseki Paanya to cover the story.  She was an amazing journalist and news producer with a very charming personality and very sharp and focused leadership style.  Along with her and the  cameraman, we rode out to the airport together and filmed some coverage for the interview.  The best part of this experience my friends, was that I was able to take them up in our plane to fly for a few minutes.  This was exciting to me for a couple of reasons.  One, the cameraman had never before been on an airplane, which I always enjoy.  Two, this country gave me no problems whatsoever about authorizing a television crew to visit airport, which is rarely the case and oftentimes requires a lot of bureaucratic nonsense.  And three, the best part was that this was the first time in the African continent where they authorized me to take a local flight without having to prepare flight plans or have a permit in order to take off and land.  So far, in all of the countries that I have visited, this would have been impossible, except for maybe South Africa, Botswana and here.  The interview was excellent and we were able to get some great live footage in addition to the brief, unexpected flight.

Thanks to the Public Eye newspaper team and Mr. Lloyd Mutungamiri who authorized an interview with his journalist Ms. Tsisti Matope.  Thanks to Mr. Khutliso Sekoat, an excellent gentleman from the native language newspaper Moeletsi Oa Basotho (Bathoso Advisor).  Since the main language in this country is Sesotho (or Sotho), the local people (known as ‘Basotho’) will be able to read about our plea for recognition as well.  It is estimated that nearly 40% of people here live below the international poverty line of $1.25/day.  Yet Lesotho has one of the highest literacy rates in the region, with 85% of the adults being able to read.  Females actually have a higher literacy rate than men here, which is highly unusual for this area of the world.

Thank you to Mr. Mapamela Khanyela with the newspaper Informative for his interview and to Ms. Lerato Matheka with thenewspaper Lesotho Times/Sunday Express, who was a sharp young lady with a lot of knowledge about the history of our country.  Thank you to the awesome team at Radio Moafrika FM (99.3, 90.7, 89.7 and 94.6), Mr. John Ramane and Mr. Selebalo Mathebekoane, who gave me the best 45-minute live interview.  In that short time we had over 30 people that called into the show to ask some great questions.  Had we been able to continue the interview I’m sure that the phones would have kept reading off the hook, but the radio station had other programs to cover for the day instead of only talking about Kosovo.  Interviews like that will stay in my memory for a long time to come.

The meeting at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs was also very productive thanks to Mr. J.T. Metsing, Principal Secretary to the Minister who graciously took some time to talk with me and share his knowledge about Kosovo’s situation.  Mr. Metsing stated that his government and the Ministry totally agree that we should be an independent country and that they had advised Serbia many times of their position and stance on our independence.  The only concern that they have is that they want it done right and to make sure that we maintain peace and stability in our neighborhood.  I should note here that Lesotho has a long history of supporting just causes.  Though they are sometimes vulnerable to the political and economic decisions that are made by South Africa, Lesotho was one of the original supporters of the end of Apartheid and at one time offered a number of South African refugees political asylum during that time.  Additionally, they are one of the minority of countries that officially recognize Palestine as its own state.

Mr. Metsing was very personable, friendly and down to earth and our interview was very comprehensive.  A day or so later I called him back in order to update him on the status of my media interviews.  He was happily surprised to see that my interviews were broadcast on the national television station of his country and of the things that I had to say during my interview.

Finally, I can’t forget to thank my taxi driver, a very young man by the name of Mr. Moeketsi Sekeleoane who drove me around during my entire stay in Maseru.

Lesotho is one of the nations that will always have a place in my heart and I hope to visit this nation again in the future just to enjoy the beauty and splendor that exists here.  The people are very friendly and for the first time in Africa I even saw some fruit trees growing.  Seeing the peach trees, grapes and other fruits brought me comfort and gave me a brief reminder of home.

Another thing that I noticed is that I could feel a sense of isolation and sadness in some of the voices and eyes of the local people.  For one, this country is completely surrounded by another (South Africa), but more than that, there are some other problems here as well.  Many local people have to travel into South Africa for work and so are gone for three to nine months out of the year.  The work that they find there is difficult too, mostly finding employment at diamond or mineral mines.  Most households here subsist on farming and it has been reported that there is somewhat of an issue here in regards to child labor.  Finally, this country has been devastated by the horrible AIDS epidemic, which is rumored to infect up to a third of the countries population.  It is so serious that the government now offers free screening to anyone who wants it.

During my next trip here I would definitely like to explore some of the natural wonders found here.  In addition to the beautiful mountains, many local people have talked to me about visiting the dams that exist in this country.  Apparently they are part of the Lesotho Highlands Water Project, which was put into place in order to provide an ongoing water supply to this country and to South Africa and to allow for hydropower to exist.  The locals say that this is quite a large system of several dams and tunnels that have been put in place and tell me that it has positively impacted their local infrastructure.  Because of all of the additional new roads that needed to be built in order to maintain the system, rural villages in the mountainous areas have had increased access to communication with the outside world.

One thing is for sure my dear friends, I could definitely see myself living in a country like this, Zambia, Botswana or Namibia with absolutely no problem at all, especially when it comes to being surrounded by the very friendly locals.

May higher powers bless this beautiful nation and its people.

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It is a small relief to finally arrive here in Namibia.  I have been waiting a long time to be able to touch down in the last country on the western side of this continent.  The only western coastline after this belongs to South Africa, which will be the southernmost tip of Africa.  What a joy to reach this point.

The only other thing that I knew about Namibia before landing here was that there has traditionally been a strong German influence in this country for many centuries and that a lot of things down here work like a clock (always organized and on time).  In the early days Namibia was known as German South West Africa (later South West Africa, when it was taken over by South Africa).  Several Germans stayed on here and this was later one of the countries involved in Apartheid (legal racial segregation). While much of the white population flourished, many of the natives did not fare so well and the previous genocide is still remembered here today.  In 1990, the nation was able to win independence in the Namibian War of Independence and has since been under self rule (though it still maintains strong economic ties to South Africa).

This country is huge my friends.  For a land area the size of Texas and Louisiana combined, there are only a little over two million people here.  That turns out to be about 3 people for every 7 sqare miles of land.  In other words, people here are very spread out, unlike our tiny country of Kosovo.

Because it is so vast, many people still have a lot of room to farm here.  But most people rely on subsistence as over ½ of the population lives below the international poverty line of $1.25/day.  Though mining for diamonds and other minerals is popular (similar to the last few countries visited), there is still a lot of outside aid that comes to this country.  Since Libya and Cuba provided a lot of help during the war, Namibia tries to maintain good foreign relations with them as a result.

As I approached  Namibia’s airspace, I could already see the vast, untouched land below.  I could see no civilization for miles, except for a farm or two sprinkled here or there.  It was so beautiful and green everywhere and very flat looking.  Remember, part of that Kalahari Desert from Botswana is here in Namibia and there is another desert land here as well known as the Namib, for which the country is named.  That desert is considered the oldest in the world.

I have to stop here and again thank our friend Jean Philippe van Nyen whom I met back in Sao Tome and Principe.  Remember that he requested that I receive a diplomatic passport through his organization, OSJ Ecumenical Knights of Malta.  It has been a tremendous gift that has worked out very well for me.  It is now much easier to travel and has really cut out a lot of the bureaucratic nonsense that I hate.  Here in Namibia, it allowed me to clear customs with no problems and in no time at all.

Catching a taxi was a bit of a different story.  I quickly learned that taxis in this country are not cheap.  Though I did try to explore other options, it turns out that buses here are nonexistent, which meant that I had no choice but to pay the steep asking price of $50 USD for a ride into town.  It was nearly a 50km distance into town, so I guess that this price might compare to what it costs to get a taxi from Prishtina to my home in Brestovc.  Last time I took a taxi there it was 35 Euros, which is pretty close to the price here in Namibia I suppose.

After all of my travels, I have learned a thing or two about how to save money though.  Thanks to god for that knowledge, otherwise I would have remained broke and stuck in some place like Mauritania.  After taking so many cabs and having been a cab driver myself, I have gained some knowledge on what types of bargains can be made, how to cut corners in cost, etc.  I have found that if I am not vigilant, everyone starts to see me as a walking money sign.  Remember, these taxi drivers, they sit sometimes for many hours waiting for a passenger and once they get you, they want to charge you all of those astronomical prices.  They definitely don’t like people like me who know a thing or two.  Once they know that how persistent I can be and that I will not take any crap, they start to reconsider their asking price and we tend to get along just fine.  Basically my friends, they mostly just give up arguing with me and agree to my demands in order to make at least a little bit of money, which is always better than none.  This time, they finally gave up trying to get the full amount for a ‘solo’ taxi ride.  Since I was not willing to pay their asking price just for a ride into town, we worked out a deal where other people who were as poor as me could share the ride and the cost.  So after rounding up another passenger, we all agreed on a total price and were off to town.

On the way, I see that Namibia has a beautiful road system, very clean and neat everywhere that you look.  Our taxi driver was now acting as our tour guide and ended up giving us lots of information about his nation.  One thing that I learned was that these people seem happy to have received lots of rain this year.  It turns out that their government regulates water here and when there is not enough rain, it limits people from their water supply.  Actually, Namibia is one of the few countries in the world to specifically address conservation and protection of natural resources direclty within its constitution.  But the people here, they don’t seem to like being limited in their water usage, so they are very happy this year to have more than enough.

During our short drive to town, I was also starting to get a feeling like I was taking a ride somewhere in California in the spring time.  The sun is out (no surprise since they get about 300 days of sun per year here) and the topography is the rather flat, much like that of the golden state.  I am feeling a lot of charm to this place.  I see a lot of true nature here and it looks fairly wild too.  Everything is green and apparently it has been raining quite often here lately since it is now the rainy season.

We arrive in no time at all to the capital of Windhoek.  Such a pleasant ride with enough time to get a feel for the nature that exists in this part of our beautiful planet.  The taxi driver dropped me off at  a local bed and breakfast which was within my budget and not far from the city center.  Shortly after check-in I was off to a nearby mall to find an internet cafe in order to update my team on my whereabouts.  Though I ended up getting there around close, the workers were nice enough to let me stay and use the computer while they cleaned and closed up shop.  In a lot of these African countries, everything closes at around 17:00 or 18:00, which often makes it difficult for me to finish up some of the work that I need to get done.

Friends, I could not believe my own eyes when I walked out of that place.  Directly in front of me was a bright and shiny sign with the words Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC) in beautiful, mouthwatering letters.  It was like the heavens parted and I literally got chills down my body from missing home so much.  Without any further thought I went straight for their comfort food and had one of the best meals that I’ve had in a long time.

On my way back to the bed and breakfast, I was trying to negotiate a price with the taxi driver for tomorrows drive around town.  He agreed to 350 Namibian dollars for the day (which is around $50USD), so I decided to hire him (even though I was getting a strong negative vibe at the time). In the morning, he had completely changed his tune and was trying to charge me triple the price that we had agreed upon, acting all innocent and unaware of our agreement.  To cut it short my friends, it ended up being my worst experience with a taxi driver since I began this mission.

After getting that mess resolved, I finally started my day by heading to the media outlets and then to the Ministery of Foreign Affairs.  The first and greatest people that I met that morning were the wonderful team with the television channel ‘One Africa‘.  Those people were excellent, very nice and just a happy group of people.  I owe a big thank you to Mr. Willem Snyman and Ms. Kudakwangu Chisweto who were both amazing to work with.  They gave me an awesome interview for their tv show and were very professional.  I could start to see here part of the German-style work ethic.

Thanks to the rest of the  media here, Mr. Nico Smit with The Namibian who was very intelligent and dynamic with a great personalitiy.  Thanks to Mr. Kae Matundu Tjporuro and Ms. Albertina Nakale with New Era newspaper for all of their great help.  Thank you to Mr. Tafanji Nyirenda and Ms. Belinda Apollus with team at 100 FM Energy Radio who were all amazing people to work with.  Lastly, thank you to Mr. Nghidipo Nangolo with the newspaper Informante for his dedication to publishing something that would make his government pay attention to details and remain on their toes.

At the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, I found a very professional team as well who were willing to help and hear me out.  Thank you to Mr. Pinehas Aluten, the personal assistant to the Minister.  He took our letter from Vlora Citaku and offered to forward it on to the Minister.

I feel fairly well at having accomplished many things in just a few days of work here in a nation like Namibia.  I will miss this country very much, especially the nature.  It is so beautiful and wild looking and remains very much an untouched and remote part of our globe.  I should mention here the best part of this whole stop over.

On the way back to the airport, I was able to see a bunch of monkeys hanging around on trees.  The most amazing part, though, was that from the highway I was also able to some gorillas running wild and free out there.  Real, live gorillas my friends – in nature and not locked up in a zoo somewhere.  To me, it is things like this that have no price tag.  There is no price that you can pay that would equal the pure joy that I get from experiencing this kind of nature.  The beauty and wild looking creations made by higher powers are something that we can never replace and I will rememer this about Namibia for years to come.

Further down the road I was able to stop and take a few pictures of my raw and natural surroundings.  I spotted many more monkeys out there playing around and having a ball.  I am very blessed to have experienced these moments and it helps me to forget some of the struggles that I have been through.

As a reminder, Namibia is the last nation on Africa’s west coast and I am leaving here, which is something to celebrate.  Next country is Lesotho, which is a small, tiny nation surrounded by South Africa.  After that will be South Africa, which will be the southernmost nation on the continent.  I am excited to know that after that, I will be on may way north and working my way toward home.

New Era

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