Flying for Kosovo

I am happy to report that I am in Guinea-Bissau today.  I am also thankful that I did not have to go back to Dakar, Senegal again, especially after my struggles of dealing with all of the border crossings and checkpoints lately.

So far on my African tour, I can see that Guinea-Bissau is a country that is struggling the most.  This makes sense if you know that this country’s gross domestic product is one of the lowest in the world and it has also struggled with ongoing military and political unrest.  On the other hand, I see a lot of heart here, the people work very hard and have a lot of determination to be successful.

The countryside is beautiful to visit and see. Most of it is either savannah or swamps near the coastline and is very wild and tropical looking everywhere that you look.  It is also very hot and, as you might expect, there is not the luxury of having AC.

The media were very friendly and I am grateful to Mr. Simoa Abine, Director of the state newspaper Journal Pintcha.  Mr. Abine is a 25 year veteran in the field of journalism and he was the first one that I came in contact with in this country. He was very nice,down to earth and was knowledgeable about our history and the former Yugoslavia in general.  He was so enthusiastic about our cause, that he expressed a strong desire to share this information with his people and his government right away.

After completing the interview with Mr. Abine, he suggested sending a journalist and I to the airport for photos of the aircraft so that he could use them in his story.  Then, he introduced me to Mr. Salvador Gomes, Director General of Da Agencia De Noticias Da Guinea-Bissau (BBC Africa Radio in Portuguese).  This connection led to an additional story that he promised would be broadcast everywhere in the Portuguese speaking countries of Africa.

Mr. Abina offered his help in regards to the local government.  Two days later we were meeting with Mr. Liberto Gomes, Chef du Cabinet, I hand delivered a letter from our own Vlora Citaku.  Mr. Gomes seemed nice, but with a distant personality.  But he did say that he would try to see what can be done as far as Kosovo’s Independence is concerned.

My friend and I met several more times during my brief stay in Guinea-Bissau.  Over snacks and coffee, Mr. Abina shared a lot about his own country and culture.  It’s always wonderful to get to meet so many nice people around the planet, even though we would have never crossed paths before.

I am sure that even if I am gone from this country, that Mr. Abina will keep bringing our issue of Kosovo up many more times to his people, colleagues, government and anyone else that he might come in contact with.

I wish for this wonderful country to be successful and soon, so that the great people of Guinea-Bissau will have a better future.  Thank you Mr. Abina for all of your interest and for your interest in our country of Kosovo.  Thank you for helping our people from this beautiful country of yours.

Finally, I want to express thanks to my Air Traffic Control tower friends (specifically Mr. Lassana Gano) who helped me to get my permit for landing in the neighboring country of Guinea for such a short time.  It was not their duty to do so, but my friends went above and beyond and I am grateful.

Nô Pintcha
Radio

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After taking off from Dakar, my goal was to take a quick flight into Gambia.  However, as with most of my plans, there was a unforeseen situation that changed my direction.  Upon reaching Gambian airspace, I was alerted that I would not be able to continue on.  Though I tried every angle possible to get them to let me land, they would not budge.  After more than 20 minutes of arguing, I was forced to change my course.  The Gambian air traffic controllers kept trying to get me to turn back and go toward Dakar.  But, I don’t like going backwards unless I have a safety concern.  Instead, I head for Guinea-Bissau.  It’s a good thing that I had enough gas in my tank that day.

I finally arrived in Guinea-Bissau around noon and the airport looked like it was abandoned.  Though it was an international airport, I couldn’t even find one customs agent to finish my bureaucratic paperwork.  This meant that I would not be able to fly into Gambia from here, even though it’s only 100NM air miles away.

Time for a new plan.  Since I didn’t want to waist time flying back to Senegal to get a permit to land in Gambia, I decide to take land transportation into Gambia.  Less than one hour after landing in Guinea-Bissau, I was in a taxi on my way to Gambia.  I had originally thought that it would take only three hours to get there, but it ended up taking about nine hours to get to Banjul, Gambia because we had to drive around the country due and up to Senegal first.  It took four taxis because there are so many rules and orders to follow in each country.  In the end, I had to fly south from Senegal, around Gambia and down to Guinea-Bissau only to take four taxis and nine hours to get back into Gambia.  Three countries in one day.  This is our mission in Africa, friends.

Not to forget that I had to take the four taxis back to Guinea-Bissau when I was finished.  Since the three countries are so close together (Guinea-Bissau to the South and Gambia which is surrounded by Senegal), I had to cross borders several times.  Everywhere, there were police and military checkpoints.  At least 20 times I had to go through borders and check points and every time was the same process: opening the bag, checking our passports, answering tons of questions, you name it.  By the time I reached Guinea-Bissau for the night, it was time to find an internet cafe in order to make contact with my support team back home and keep them updated.  It was a 19 hour day for me and after 1:00am the next day before I reached the hotel for the night.

The next morning I was up early and working on our mission.  I hired a taxi to take me to all of my destinations (media houses, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, etc.) for the day.  Thanks to my taxi driver, my new friend Sainey Sanyang, I was able to get to each place fairly quickly as he knew the area fairly well.  I completed three interviews with the local newspapers and the national TV station.  Mr. Ebrima Baldeh, a journalist with the national television station, knew a lot about the Balkans and has traveled a lot.  He took his time to do a great interview.  The taxi driver even drove us both to a park twenty minutes away so that we could get better shots and footage for our interview.

Since Gambia is one of the countries that has recognized our independence, I am visiting them to thank this great country, their government and their people for their solidarity.  The Director of Protocol in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Mr. Juma L.C. Janneh and the Permanent Secretary, Mr. Habib T.B. Jarra were wonderful.  They made time for me right away and were very happy to know that the people of Kosovo have lots of respect for them for having recognized our independence.  I also asked them if they could help us with the rest of the African countries, since they all have to participate in various meetings and conferences together.

It was a busy day, but I managed to finish all of the interviews in the shortest time possible, especially since Gambia is just a small nation.  It was early enough when I finished that I thought I could get back to Guinea-Bissau in a reasonable amount of time.  So I asked the taxi driver to take me back to the Senegal border so that I could transfer taxis and get back across the Guinea-Bissau border.  Luck was not on my side.  Apparently, the border closes at 7:00pm for security reasons, so I ended up spending the night in Ziquinchor, Senegal.

Despite all of the border and checkpoint nonsense, having to take the long way around back and forth to Gambia and dodging malaria panels, I was able to accomplish a lot in a short amount of time.  I am grateful, though, that I speak French and English, I don’t know how far I would have gotten so far without that.

Observer

all Africa.com

The Point Newspaper

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The national carrier of Cape Verde is seven hours late today picking us up from Dakar, so I had lots of time to kill at the airport.  As I was waiting, a gentleman approached me to ask questions about my visit to Senegal and about the pictures that I was taking at the airport.  His name was Mr. Claus Morgensen, from Denmark. He was wearing four ties and was with two of his friends, Mr. Marco Scatigna and Mr. Stefano Spalazzi, who were from Italy.  We hit it off right away, starting to talk about life in general and our reasons for traveling on this particular day, even talking throughout our flight.

It turned out that Mr. Morgensen travels quite a bit and and Mr. Scatigna and Spalazzi both live in the islands of Cape Verde and have many successful businesses there.  They are all good friends with each other and upon landing in Priaia, they offered to let me stay at the same hotel as them and travel with them to their next destination.  It felt great to spend time with a few Europeans that happen to live in this country and know everything about it very well.  The hotel is really nice too and it felt great to have arrived in a place that I felt comfortable with right away.

After checking into the hotel, we ended up going to the restaurant right across the street, which was very elegant and clean.  Wow!  You don’t know how good it felt to see this kind of place and be in the kind of environment that I’m more used to.  I am realizing that I have been spoiled in my life by being exposed to so many great places and things, because the more that I am away from them, the more I miss them. At least here, I can charge my batteries for awhile before going back into the unknown.  A great hotel, an awesome dinner, what else could I want…

Since it is the weekend now, it will be difficult to do any mission work on the weekend, so my great friends are offering to take me to Sal (another island of Cape Verde) tomorrow.  Mr. Scatigna offers one of his apartments for me to stay in for the night.  This way, I can avoid paying for a hotel and visit a new place this weekend.

I soon learn that my European friends know many people around here and are well connected politically, despite this country being made up of many small islands. Since they pay so many taxes to support the economy and have lots of local people working for them, my friends know a lot of important people.  What a gift that they offer to me.  They want to help me with our mission and the issue of Kosovo’s independence by talking with the local government and creating some pressure with the local politicians.  What else could I want for this weekend?  I am getting everything that I could want in these beautiful islands, thanks to my good friends who are now good friends to the people of Kosovo.  And let’s not forget that their home countries have already done a lot for our nation.

On Saturday, we take another flight to Sao Vincente and then to Sal.  Mr. Spalazzi is going to get off in Sao Vincent since this is the island that he lives.  Thanks to our flight captain Carlos Amado of the ATR 42 (who brought us to these islands), I was offered a visit to the flight deck and even offered a seat on a full flight so that I could get to the Sal with my new friends.

After saying goodbye to Mr. Spalazzi, we arrived on the island of Sal.  This is the island that I will stay at until the first flight out on Monday morning.  Here, I meet with Mr. Patone Lobo, another successful businessman and wonderful person. It was him who called the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Sunday to discuss my visit and Kosovo’s independence.  What an awesome experience so far – spending time with wonderful European friends, in a beautiful place in nice restaurants, discussing the future of our country… It felt like being in paradise.

I will be sad to leave this country, but I have no choice, as our mission is calling me to continue.  I will definitely be coming back to these islands someday because of the great experience that I had here with the people, food, beaches, nature, etc.

Back to the capital of Cape Verde on Monday morning after a 40 minute flight to Praia.  I head back to work by meeting with the media.  They are very nice to me here and my journalist friend Ricardino Pedro, who works for the newspaper A Semana, wrote an excellent article about Kosovo and our request to have our independence recognized.  Mr. Asemedo Monteiro, with the Expresso newspaper was also excited to write an article about my visit there.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs were excellent as well.  Thank you to Mr. Jose Luis Rocha, Director National for Political Affairs within the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.  He received me promptly and I was able to personally deliver our letter from Vlora Citaku, Deputy Foreign Minister of Kosovo.  Mr. Rocha promised me that his country was following Kosovo’s position in the world very closely.  I found it very interesting and promising when he showed me Cape Verde’s constitution.  It clearly stated that any country or it’s people of the planet has the right to self-determination and the right to freedom.  He said that they (his country) can’t go against that and that they will have to recognize our independence eventually.  He said that his entire cabinet has brought the issue of Kosovo to the table many times already, it’s just that those that do not support us are doing everything possible to delay that process.

You may have noticed that I had an excellent time in Cape Verde.  They have the absolute friendliest people here and I recommend these beautiful islands to anyone thinking about a vacation destination.

All I have to say is Muito Obrigada Cape Verde

Next up on the journey, Senegal to get my airplane and then southbound to Gambia.

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My original flight goal was to leave Mauritania early enough to avoid darkness upon arrival in Senegal.  As usual, the pre-flight nonsense set me back a few hours and quite a few Euros – the fuel people in Nouakchott dragged their feet for three hours and ended up costing me an arm and a leg.  As a result, I landed in Dakar ‘after hours’, meaning that the runway lights had to be turned on, costing me another 130 Euros.  Welcome to a pilot’s life.  After landing though, it was quite interesting to me that I did not have to through questioning in the terminal, even though I was coming from another country.  I’m not sure if this is a good or bad thing, considering that safety and security are so important nowadays, but it sure did help shave some time off of my routine and get a great night’s sleep.

I owe a big thank you to my friend M.r Saliou Ndiaye, who was quite familiar with the big city of Dakur and brought me to all of the media houses with no problems or hesitations (because of this, I was able to meet with them all quite quickly).  I have lots of respect for this man, who is very down to earth and quite friendly.  He was kind enough to drive his own car, which had a personality all its own.  I was unable to see out the passenger side of the front window and I was never sure at any time if we would make it to the next destination or not.  Especially given that I could not for the life of me figure out how to open and close the passenger door by myself.  No worries, my friend Mr. Ndiaye, as kind as he was, offered to close it for me each time.

The interviews were quite successful,  My sincere thanks to Mr. Ousmane Mangane, who took much care and pride during our interview and was excited that it would be shown on WALF-TV (a national station); Mr. Abdoul Aziz Agne who wrote an excellent article for the newspaper Walf Fadjri; and the entire team and Le Soleil.  I was excited to be introduced to their team and met each and every one of them.  Mr. Ali Diouf was wonderful and took time to do a detailed interview with me (along with his co-worker Mr. Jean Pires Dos Santos who was sitting next to us and also participated during the interview).

The people that I have met here in Senegal have lots of respect for the solidarity that we have shown them.  Many times at the airport, the police and border guards were very appreciative to know that the people of Kosovo had lots of respect and appreciation for them.  These moments are an exciting part of my journey.

Senegal is very dry right now and seems to be struggling economically like the past few countries that I’ve visited.  It appears that they are trying very hard to improve their living conditions.  The people are quite nice and friendly to me and I am noticing more and more languages being spoken and slight differences between ethnic groups the further through Africa that I travel.

Wal Fadjri

Wal Fadjri PDF

Le Matin PDF

Le Soleil PDF

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After our last post, James had an unexpected delay caused by a missing fuel cap.  With the help from a great mechanic, Baali, another cap was obtained in a town one hour away (though it took over a day to transport it back to Laayoune).

This morning, James finally arrived in Nouakchott, Mauritania after an 8 hour flight (over 5 of which were in the dark).  The current goal is to stay two days before flying to the next country, which is Senegal.

Le Quotidien de Nouakchott

Le Quotidien de Nouakchott Newspaper

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I hope you all are doing well. Flight went well 06h 30 minutes flight. I took lots of picture while approaching this place, though once on the ground, the environment prevented me from taking many more.  It looks very nice from above surrounded by sand everywhere (most of the landscape here is desert).  I plan on leaving the Western Sahara for the capital of Mauritania the day after tomorrow.

Seeing the vastness of the Sahara Desert is something that I have been dreaming of for a long time.  I was absolutely fascinated when I set my eyes on this great landscape for the first time.  The beauty of our planet has a lot to offer to humanity.  The many picturesque landscapes (mountains, rivers, oceans, deserts, etc.) that dot our planet all have something to offer to humanity.  These landscapes are something to really be happy and proud of what we have.
Though the landscape is phenomenal, the Western Sahara has had some political difficulty in recent years in regards to its own independence.  In fact, I was certainly surprised upon arrival to find police and military on nearly every street corner.  After spending a few days here, I quickly learn why this is the case.
This country has a long history of occupation, first by Spain and then by Morocco. And, though it has been formally recognized by various countries around the world, there is also recognition from other countries of it being part of Moroccan territory.  Regardless of the facts at hand, I learn quickly that there has been a long struggle here of it’s people fighting to be an independent nation.
The Western Sahara people are absolutely amazing.  They are very friendly, family oriented and dedicated to taking care of their own people.  It soon became clear to me that many people here share a common vision.  That is, to be independent and have their own identity.
One interesting side note is that I quickly learned that people here do not enjoy their picture taken at all.  So I promptly put my camera away and opened my ears to their stories.  I’m glad that I did because I ended up making many good friends here during my short visit and learned a tremendous amount of information about these wonderful people, their history and their ongoing struggle.  I will make sure to come and visit them again in the future.
My next flight is to Nouakchott,Mauritania, which will be a very long flight through the vast and empty African desert.

Note:  On November 7th, 2010, Morocco and Polisario began informal talks regarding the situation in Western Sahara.  Around this time, violent clashes between Moroccan security forces and Western Sahara protesters ensued, resulting in conflicting reports on the number of casualties.

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Friends:
Once again, I have been pleasantly surprised upon arrival to a new part of the world.  Getting here was tough because we had to order the Visa from Geneva,Switzerland, who made sure to tell us that it was a process that would take at least 2 wks.  My visit to Agleria actually turned out to be a pleasant experience and I received much better treatment than what I had initially expected

Seeing this country from above seemed very nice and the fuel here was quite cheap compared to places like Italy and Greece.  The only thing I knew prior to visiting, was that this country had its own civil war in the 1990’s.

My first stop was Annaba.  The people I met here during my brief technical stop were a great indication of what I was to find in the capital.  After reaching the airport in Algiers, it was nice to meet with friendly faces and border guards who had a great sense of customer care and satisfaction.  The friends that I met during my stay here have really helped me maintain a positive attitude in this country.

The capital of Algiers is a beautiful city with beautiful French style architecture (Algeria only gained independence from France in 1962).  Getting around here was easy and the food was awesome.

Meeting intellectuals like my good friend Lamia Tagzout, a journalist from the El Waton newspaper (who wrote an excellent article about our mission and the people of Kosova) is also something that surprised me.  Caring people like her who take things very seriously and try to make sure that something good will come out of our mission here in Africa was an experience above and beyond what I expected.

Hassan Gherab, from the journal La Tribune, was also an individual that I will remember for many years to come.  His efforts in publishing a great article about our country Kosova are to be commended.  Additionally, two new friends (Adjadj Belkacem and Samir Hamitouche) with the Arab newspaper Echourouk interviewed me and made sure to ask very intensive questions before inviting me out for a traditional lunch at a local cafeteria.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs were quick to respond to my request to meet on such short notice and Fouad Bouattoura, Director General of the Protocol, took time with me to explain Algeria’s position on Kosova.

This great country and its people will always be remembered and I hope to return here someday soon.

La Tribune

El Watan

El Watan PDF

City DZ

Echorouk Online

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Here you can see some photos of James Berisha by his plane Cessna 172 in Prishtina International Airport.

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I have to admit something to you all: I just don’t like flying anymore on a single engine airplane over open water but, I guess the love for your country is bigger than I thought.  Anyway, I will be over land for a long period of time now.  Flight to Tunisia went well over 3 hours with lots of headwind, which kept me standing still over water much longer than I would have liked.  But now that I am on the African continent, I must admit it feels amazing…   After Africa, the only continent I will have left to conquer will be Antarctica!
Something else that I must admit to you: I was wrong again, having perceived Tunisia differently before I came here.  After landing, I got the greatest reception (and this time, free of charge!)  Our friends at the handling company FAST (First Aviation Services of Tunisia) and supervisor Chamek Haider gave me a quick briefing about Tunisia and helped find a taxi for me with absolutely marvelous customer care reception.  He gave me his card and told me to call him 24/7 if needed.

Hospitality in Tunisia is great so far and, of course, there is more to be discovered later during my week stay.  The taxi driver brought me to several hotels, making sure that I found just the right one and one that was within my budget.  Hotel Belvedere was my choice which also had a great team working there.

For the next few days, I have been running around trying to find the media and going to visit the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.  Again, GREAT! Reception at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Tunisia.  I was able to meet with the Director of Protocol, despite no arranged meeting in advance.  I hand delivered a letter that was given to me by our own Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

The first newspaper that I contacted was Le Quotidien, where I was introduced to Lotfi TouAtir, Redactor in Chief – a great human being who was knowledgeable about Kosova.  He was glad to receive me in his establishment and soon after he called over Sameh Meftah, an excellent journalist. She interviewed me, making sure to take time throughout the discussion to make sure that nothing was missed.

Sameh became my friend and a friend of our entire nation of Kosova and our people.  She wanted to make sure that something great would come from my visit to Tunisia.    The article came out wonderfully and was republished by other online media.  It was also discussed on the local radios!  Another kind-hearted person, Melek Lakdar, from the Tunis Hebdo newspaper was also ready to share an article about the people of Kosova.  So I am pretty confident now that the great people and government of Tunisia have the most current and latest news about our country and our desire to be independent.

My friend Sameh then introduced me to her wonderful family and friends.  They made sure that I was comfortable everyday while I was in Tunis, not forgetting the great dinner invitation by her family, which will never be forgotten.  Her mother made excellent homemade couscous, which will be remembered for many years to come.  That kind of hospitality is hard to find these days, but I am so blessed to have been the recipient of it so many times throughout my travels.

Tunisia is a beautiful country, with a beautiful landscape and great food, which  I have noticed is offered by excellent and hospitable people.  What more could you want in life?  Everyone that I was able to talk with in Tunisia already knew about Kosova very well and also about our history.  I was wrong again, prejudging a country before ever even visiting it once to experience it firsthand.

Our next country is Algeria, and the routine keeps going….

Ansa Media

Le Quotidien PDF

Tunis Hebdo

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James is currently in Malta.  Today he had several interviews for local newspapers and will soon depart for Africa. He is awaiting the landing permit for Tunisia, which will be his next destination. James still needs your help and support for the fulfillment of this very important initiative!  Show your support and become a part of lobbying for Kosovo!

James has made it to Malta after five very difficult, long and expensive days in Greece.  He was able to get one newspaper interview in Greece, though their media was somewhat hesitant to address Kosovar concerns.  He was able to meet with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs though and they were somewhat receptive.  After multiple attempts to make it all the way to Malta (part of the issue is that many airports in Greece don’t carry AVGAS, which is necessary for the plane), James was able to make a few stops in Italy before finally landing in Malta.

During this phase of the mission, it is very important to have your ongoing support.  Many African countries are themselves dealing with issues similar to ours.  Therefore, working with the local media, aviation regulations and governments may be much more challenging than the South American and/or Caribbean portion of our mission.  Your support means so much to Mr. Berisha!

From James himself:

Landing in Malta was easy and joyful.  Upon approach, I was able to take some great pictures of this beautiful island.  I had been wanting to visit here for a long time now.

The ATC air traffic controllers were very friendly. Those are the first people who reflect their country’s friendliness by how well they cooperate with the pilot.   Based upon this first experience, I will be happily give them Euros for their friendly and cooperative service.

After landing we were great-ed by friendly staff of the airport and in no time we were on our way to the hotel. Here in Malta, people speak either English or Maltese, a language that I never heard before. For the next few days, we were able to speak with the media and visit parts of this beautiful island, which is loaded with tourists from around the globe.  This gorgeous island’s economy is very much concentrated in tourism, so they tend to cater to outsiders and take care of them. They are very customer-service oriented and are there to help at any moment.

The architecture of this beautiful country is great, the hotels are very
nice,cleanliness is great and people are amazingly friendly. Restaurants are full everywhere.  Boardwalks are so busy that it is difficult to walk at times.  It appears that anyone could afford a vacation here as everything seems to be within a budget and not extremely expensive (no $5 hot chocolates here!).  The temperature here is also very pleasant.

Here, the AVGAS has been the cheapest that I have paid in months (this helps make up for the expensive price that I paid in Greece).  The airport fees were also very reasonable, making the entire trip nothing but good memories!

The journalists and everyone I came in contact with here were happy to know that the people of Kosova have lots of respect for them!

The next country is Tunisia.  This will be my first landing and Flying for Kosovo’s first touchdown on the continent of Africa.  My journalist friend from Macedonia Mr. Jusufi, will be leaving me here in Malta.  So, starting in Tunisia, I will be on my own.

Africa, here we come!

Times of Malta

IT-Torca

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Hello everyone,

Greece.  The very first country to visit after leaving my comfort zone of being at home with my family and my people.  What a beautiful country with lots of great history.  I would like to visit here again in the future, although it is a very expensive country.

Luckily, the people are very nice and are customer-care oriented. Unfortunately, their services end up costing you an arm and a leg.  I had to pay $5 for a cup of hot chocolate – the most I’ve ever paid in my life!  Handling fees for our Cessna 172 (which weighs slightly over a ton) were 197 Euros.  Fuel was almost 2 Euros a liter and they added another 20% for tax.  Additionally, to have the fuel pumped into the airplane was 33 Euros.

For three hours of flight, I had to deal with another three hours of bureaucratic nightmares.  This is probably the hardest, continuing frustration of the mission – the bureaucratic issues in each country.

At least the two airports in Western Greece were much better and easier to deal with (though the fuel prices didn’t seem to change).  They also had a very friendly staff.

First country of the Africa portion of our mission is now complete!

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