What were bedrooms are now packed with forty bright-eyed boys and girls taking notes. Since the universities were expelled from their former quarters, they have existed in old buildings scattered around the city, often in private homes. Today about 1,000 professors are teaching 15,000 students in thirteen departments. The same thing has happened with clinices. An individual will vacate his home, then volunteers will renovate the home into a clinic, while foreign-aid organizations will donate equipment and medicines.
Albanian doctors staff the clinics, working for almost nothing.
The Albanians of Kosovo were not prepared for civilian-based defense before the Serbian military moved in in 1989. Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic declared martial law when Albanians objected to Serbian government plans to pass constitutional amendments limiting Kosovo's autonomy. Under cover of the emergency declaration, there were, says Sommer, arrests, killings and torture. The regional legislature was abolished and the police and Communist party packed with Serbs. More than 100,000 Albanians lost their jobs and apartments.