kosovo

Such a Big World!

/ Dusty Lynn Baker / Leave a comment

Being in Albania currently has me thinking of about where my next stop will be after another month of Germany in July. While here in Albania though, I plan to visit the surrounding countries and explore more cultures.

Kosovo, however, is a special return for me. I was there as a Red Cross manager with the US Army in Gjilan in 1999 while it was still an active zone. I can’t wait to see the beauty of it’s recovery and to see a happy people, moved on from the war. But for now, I’m at 19 of 195. That’s just shy of 10% of the world’s recognized countries.

Warrior’s Soul

/ Dusty Lynn Baker / Leave a comment 
Waking to a dog barking,
   mother calling her name,
      sounds of air whizzing by.

Lost in a world of conflict,
   father gone to his grave,
      younger brother hiding in the crawlspace.

A pang pulls at her stomach,
   dry lips reach for the sky,
      tears as her mother looks her way.

Safety is nothing to a girl
   who is already starving,
      already ill from the war filled waters.

One day she'll leave her home,
   as she stands holding her father's rifle,
      a warrior's soul forced upon her.


~ Written in memory of my Red Cross service in Kosovo, 1999-2000