In Kosovo, War Rape Survivors Can Now Receive Reparations. But Shame Endures For Many
Sana and Violetta, both middle-aged moms with grown children, spend their days embroidering traditional Albanian shirts and scarves.
Under the buzzy flicker of malfunctioning fluorescent lights, they stitch in the drafty classrooms at the Center for Promotion of Women's Rights in the Drenas municipality in central Kosovo.
The work helps the women relax enough to talk about a deep pain they can't share with anyone else. They are among thousands of women — up to 20,000 by some estimates — who were raped by Serbian militias two decades ago, during the 1998-1999 war that resulted in Kosovo's split from Serbia after the breakup of Yugoslavia.
"Being able to talk about what happened is like having oxygen," Sana says.
"Because we cannot speak to our families," adds Violetta.
Sana and Violetta are not their real names. They chose these names when speaking to NPR because they don't want their families, neighbors or friends to know they were raped during the war.
After years of lobbying by women's activists, women like Sana and Violetta are now eligible for compensation — a government stipend of about $280 a month for
