By Visar Zeka, YES 2014-2015, Kosovo, hosted by AYUSA in Prosper, TX

On December 23, more than 150 people attended the third edition of Kosovo Slam Poetry at the American School of Kosovo Auditorium.

Kosovo Slam Poetry is a poetry slam competition organized by YES alumni that gives the youth of Kosovo the opportunity to express themselves and target problems in their society through poetry. In this edition, nine participants were selected to perform their original poems in front of a live audience and a professional jury.

The poets participated in pre-event workshops on December 16, 17, and 22, where they had the opportunity to get to know each other and work with mentors Theodore Stanton (Peace Corps volunteer) and Adelina Tershani (last year’s Kosovo Slam Poetry participant) on further developing their poems and practicing their stage performances.

On the day of the competition, jury members Arber Selmani (poet and journalist), Kate Wallner (Peace Corps volunteer), and Fjolla Hoxha (playwright) selected Verona Kadriu as the winner for her poem tackling the problem of overuse of social media.  It began: “Ahhh… If I would only have more time to…  To do what?  Ohh… Believe me, I have, but I choose to waste it by snapping every place I go, and every moment I laugh or I just pretend I am laughing so people will see that I am very happy.  But, am I?” Other poets tackled themes such as depression, nationality, abortion, racism, and gender discrimination.  All poems were translated into sign language for members of the hearing impaired community, who were invited to attend to event.

This year's competition was organized by YES alumni Rinë Fetahu (YES ’14),Visar Zeka (YES’15), Erris Boshnjaku (YES ’16), and YES’17: Valisa Osmani, Anda Rama, Altin Kondirolli, and Arbresha Beqiri.  It was supported by a small grant from the U.S. Embassy in Prishtina.