Your Woman in Skopje: Letters from Macedonia, 1995-1999

Copyright © 2001 by Dianna M. Porter.

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Contents

INTRODUCTION  

LETTER 1  

November 2, 1995

LETTER 2  

November 23, 1995

LETTER 3  

January 7, 1996

LETTER 4  

March 10, 1996

LETTER 5  

April 7, 1996

LETTER 6  

May 14, 1996

LETTER 7  

May 19, 1996

LETTER 8  

August 29, 1996

LETTER 9  

October 20, 1996

LETTER 10  

December 10, 1996

LETTER 11  

February 23, 1997

LETTER 12  

March 23, 1997

LETTER 13  

May 11, 1997

LETTER 14  

June 22, 1997

LETTER 15  

September 1, 1997 Labor Day

LETTER 16  

November 9, 1997

LETTER 17  

January 24, 1998

LETTER 18  

April 5, 1998

LETTER 19  

July 26, 1998

LETTER 20  

October 26, 1998

LETTER 21  

January 31, 1999

LETTER 22  

April 4, 1999 Easter Sunday

E-NOTES, FROM THE LAST BALKAN WAR OF THE 20TH CENTURY  

March 26-June 30, 1999

REPORT, JUNE 21, 1999  

Macedonia on the Periphery of War and Reconstruction:The Real Story

LETTER 23  

November 6, 1999

THROUGH A LENS, 1995-1999

This book is dedicated

to

Teofana, my best friend,

and Mimoza and Marga,

my adopted daughters.

INTRODUCTION

Macedonia has a history spanning nearly 25 centuries. It is perhaps best known for the era when it was ruled by Philip the II and then his son, Alexander the Great, in the 4th century BC. Following the collapse of that powerful empire, it became part of the Roman and later the Byzantine Empires. Slavs arrived from the north in the 7th century AD and, after two centuries, converted to Christianity. A Slavic university founded, in the 9th century, in the city of Ohrid laid the foundation for a Macedonian cultural identity and also marked the beginning of the Macedonian Orthodox Church.

After the first Macedonian state (of King Samuel) fell to the Byzantines in the 11th century, Macedonia had a succession of rulers and rebellions. Then, toward the end of the 14th century, Macedonia came under the rule of the Ottoman Turks, a domination that continued—for five centuries—until early in the 20th century. In 1912, in a conflict known as the First Balkan War, Serbia, Bulgaria, Montenegro, and Greece united to successfully oust the Turks. In the Second Balkan War, the following year, these former allies then fought each other over the division of Macedonia, into three parts. Subsequently, the area known as Pirin Macedonia was taken by Bulgaria, and the area known as Aegean Macedonia was incorporated into Greece. Vardar Macedonia—the territory of today’s Macedonia—became part of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia. Following World War II, Macedonia became one of the six constituent republics of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia headed by Josip Tito. As the Yugoslav federation began to break up in the early 1990s, Macedonia became an independent state (1991) and was admitted into United Nations membership as The Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia.

Today, Macedonia is a country of just over two million people and comparable to Vermont in size. Nearly one third live in the capital city, Skopje, and close to 60% live in rural areas. The ethnic breakdown of the population is approximately 65% Slav Macedonians, 25% ethnic Albanians, and 2-4% each of other ethnic groups—Roma (or Gypsies), Turks, and Serbs. Religious affiliation is roughly two-thirds Macedonian Orthodox and one-third Muslim, with a small number of Roman Catholics and minuscule pockets of Protestants. During World War II, the Jewish population was deported to concentration camps.

Within, there is constant awareness of borders—Greece to the south, Bulgaria eastward, Albania westward, and to the north Yugoslavia (Kosovo). Macedonia can be seen as a crossroads, a stepping stone for travel throughout the region, a developing trading partner, an anchorage within the currents of Balkan political waters, even a refuge—large burdens for a vulnerable little country, whether we think of it as ancient or as new and unfolding.

I went to Macedonia in the fall of 1995 as an in-country advisor under a contract that CARANA Corporation had with the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID). The overall goal of the project was to provide technical assistance in areas identified by USAID and Macedonian government officials, particularly creation of a multi-pillared retirement system. What was to be an assignment of one year, with the possibility of a second year, evolved into four years. My enthusiasm for a taste of fascinating places and cultures around the region also evolved—into friendships, participation, and shared concern for the future of a young country—one with the opportunity to establish lasting democratic institutions and, perhaps, to benefit from enlarging the participation of women in doing so.

My thanks go to Cora Martin, who suggested periodic letters as a way to preserve a chronicle as well as keep in communication with those long time zones away. Many people, in many places—from Butte in western Montana, where I was born and raised, to Washington, D.C, where I’ve lived and worked for decades in the field of public policy concerning aging—had wondered, when I announced I was going on this assignment, Why Macedonia? For her careful attention to my responses, pruning them for publication, thank you to editor Louise Cleveland. And, finally, many thanks to all the friends and members of my family who extended each letter to an ever-widening circle and who urged me to publish them in a book.

D.M.P. Washington, D.C. October 2000

LETTER 1  

November 2, 1995

Dear Family/Friends:

I ARRIVED IN Skopje on October 18th and have been busy since with meetings and making arrangements for living and working here for the next year (and possibly two).

Skopje is a city of about 600,000 that sits on a plain surrounded by mountains. A river, the Vardar, meanders through, dividing the part of the town that was rebuilt following a serious earthquake in 1963 from the Old Town. There, structures date back primarily to the 15th century, although an old fortress has origins in the 6th c.

WALKING AROUND THE CAPITAL CITY

A stone bridge from the 15th c., called the Kamini Most, connects the old and new sections of town. On the new side is a large square, named for Tito, with sidewalk cafes. Only pedestrian traffic crosses the stone bridge, and on it many entrepreneurs sell assorted items: interestingly, mostly underwear.

The Old Town, on the other side, is most interesting because of the historical buildings and also for the open market. This is the old Turkish quarter, from the 500 years of domination by the Ottoman Empire.

Among the first buildings we come upon are a 19th c. Orthodox church, St. Domitrij (where we saw both a baptism and wedding when we walked in), and the multi-domed 15th c. Turkish baths. (The project manager from Washington came out with me for the first week, to help me get set up: thus the we.) A part of the Baths—which accommodated both men and women, but separately and with separate entrances—is now used as an art museum; the rest is undergoing repairs and restoration.

Then we enter a maze of streets called the Bazaar. This is in contrast to the open market, called the Bit Pazaar. The Bazaar once housed small shops (permanent, as in having walls and a roof, versus the daily comings and goings in the open market) with separate streets devoted to trades or crafts such as carpenters, tinsmiths, tailors, and weavers. Now, it is mostly some small shops and also cafes and restaurants. I have found a section, however, devoted to artists and artisans, and I have seen one tinsmith shop.

One of the most impressive buildings in Old Town is a large 15th c. mosque, which had some damage from the earthquake. A Muslim who was present showed us around the mosque, and even took us around to the back and allowed us to enter a small mausoleum where two very important men are buried, but language differences did not facilitate finding out who they were. Later, I visited two other very old mosques that are in use.

Macedonia is made up of about 65% Macedonians (Slavs), 25% Albanians, 2-4% each of Serbs, Greeks, Gypsies (Romas), Turks and others. The Macedonians are Orthodox, and the Albanians are primarily Muslim. Thus, in areas where Albanians predominate—particularly in western Macedonia, closer to Albania—nearly every village has a mosque. These mosques tend to be contemporary: they don’t look different from the houses surrounding them, with the exception of the minaret. On a drive into the country, it is possible to look up at villages hanging on the mountainsides, each with a distinguishing minaret.

There are also at least three surviving caravansaries, or inns, in Old Town. These are large enclosed areas, open in the center, where once they had fountains. Caravans—the goods, animals, and people—rested here. The animals and goods were on the lower level, and the people on the upper level. Today, one is a museum, another houses restaurants and a few small shops, and the third seems to be in disrepair.

At one time the Ottoman powers were so confident, it seems, that they allowed the building of an Orthodox church with the proviso that it couldn’t be any higher than the mosques. Thus, a little church from the 17th c. is mostly underground. The iconostasis (the piece that visually separates the priest from the people) is a masterpiece of carving by two brothers from a small village. What is particularly striking is that the biblical figures are depicted in Macedonian costume. The brothers even included themselves in the carving. As in all the churches I have seen, there are some very beautiful icons and frescoes.

Two synagogues built in Old Town in the 15th c. were lost when the Austrian Empire burned Skopje in the 17th c. and never rebuilt.

BEYOND THE CITY

Another church we visited, in the mountain above Skopje, is St. Panteleimon. It is a 12th c. Orthodox church with some magnificent frescoes that were covered up until sometime in the 20th c. The Ottoman Turks usually converted churches into mosques and destroyed or covered the art. I am amazed that the originals have been restored when I see how they were, in effect, plastered over. Those of you raised Catholic know the image of Our Mother of Perpetual Help as a Byzantine-style icon. In the churches here, I see many of these icons of Mary, with variations. In some she looks serene, in others sad. The infant she holds also has varied expressions—either looking directly at you, or at Mary. One of the most amusing ones I’ve seen, although I am sure it was not meant to be, has a very belligerent Jesus looking at Mary, while she is looking at the viewer as though about to say she’s at the end of her rope with this kid.

St. Panteleimon is located so high up on Mt. Vodno that it provides a breathtaking view of Skopje and the plain it sits on and of the mountains on the other side of the plain. In fact, the view is almost unreal, it is so spectacular. However, Skopje is usually shrouded in smog, caused by industry and perhaps also by the enclosure of the mountains.

We also drove down to Lake Ohrid, in the southwest of Macedonia. The drive itself was worth the trip. The road goes over several mountain passes, and the trees are changing. Lake Ohrid is about 210 square miles, about two-thirds of it in Macedonia and one-third in Albania. The old town was the medieval center for the Macedonian Orthodox Church. The placid lake and the town itself have a Mediterranean atmosphere. The Macedonian USAID staff go there frequently throughout the year. The lake is famous for the Ohrid trout, a species found only there and in the adjoining lake Prespa, as well as in Lake Baikal in Siberia. An Orthodox cathedral, St. Sophia, goes back to the 9th c., with most of its frescoes from an 11th c. reconstruction.

SINCE YOU’VE ASKED HOW I’M FARING

As for the food here, the restaurants provide large (i.e., double) portions of whatever meat one may order: lots of pork, followed by lamb and chicken, but not so much beef. Some meat is loaded with fat—particularly kabobs, which are like little sausages—and nearly all the meats are grilled. Somehow, the grilled chicken is often greasy, though I don’t understand why that is. On the other hand, I have had some marvelous pork on a skewer that is like roast loin of pork, and also marvelous lamb shish kabob. They generally do not serve vegetables with the meat, unless you count the ubiquitous French fries as a vegetable. The most abundant vegetables are tomatoes, cucumbers, and peppers, which you can get as a separate salad. There are several variations on the tomato and cucumber salads, all of which I haven’t tried yet. The most popular one, called shopska, is like a Greek salad without the olives and with feta cheese shredded over the tomatoes and cucumbers, not in cubes. It is delicious. I’m told that peppers are used as a staple during the winter. Right now, they can be purchased in large quantities inexpensively. People roast them and boil them down—it sounds like canning tomatoes. They also make their own paprika from the peppers. They have some fairly good wines, but the selection is limited. I’m not an expert on beer, but the local beer seems to be good in that it has a strong taste and is not one of those light wimpy beers. The breads are marvelous, and one can buy bread fresh daily and get it in a restaurant.

Even though I have had some good meals in restaurants, nevertheless this is a fairly homogenous population, and they do not have the variety we know. In Washington, when going out to eat, I could choose Thai, Chinese, Cambodian, Burmese, Vietnamese, Japanese, French, Italian, German, Ethiopian, Salvadoran, Mexican, South American, Tex-Mex, Turkish, Pakistani, etc. Here, the choice is only Macedonian! (However, in Old Town there’s said to be a Tex-Mex restaurant, with poor reviews, and a Chinese restaurant.)

I am waiting for my things that I had shipped, including my kitchen things, before I can get into some real cooking for myself. I have a furnished apartment located in what is called the central city, so I am close to all the offices I may be going to for meetings, as well as my own. The family I am renting from recently moved to another apartment. There are four of them, so my space is quite adequate for one person. I have a fairly large living room with an alcove of windows from which I can see the sunrise and most of Mt. Vodno. Other rooms are a small one off the living room that was a bedroom but is now unfurnished, a dining room area as an extension of the living room, a small kitchen, another bedroom, and a bath. The large TV, on which I can get (barely) a British channel, sometimes in the morning has CNN international news and at other times a movie or cartoons. I was watching a movie the other night, and in the middle the programming was suddenly switched to something else. I have a telephone, but ex-pats here tell me that it is very expensive to call internationally ($2 a minute) and even then you can be suddenly cut off in mid-conversation. I’m also told that calls coming in from the U.S. can frequently get busy signals even though no one is using the phone.

I do have limited pouch privileges through USAID for LETTER MAIL ONLY … .Send a stamp with your letter, as I need U.S. stamps for the mail that I send out. The mail goes out and comes in once a week.

Last Sunday, I went to a run sponsored by the Hash House Harriers. This event was started decades ago by some Englishmen. Those who want to participate come together at a specific time either to run or walk a certain route, laid out in advance with challenges such as false leads and the need to backtrack. It is an opportunity to get some exercise and meet other English-speaking people. About