And Kosovo is a key example. Consequently, Serbs, despite being a small minority in Kosovo today, look upon the province as the source of their roots. Life for Adem, who lives on the outskirts of Prizren, and all other ethnic Albanians is hell. At any hour, Serbian soldiers, often out of boredom, ransack Albanian households, beat, torture, and even kill men, women and children. Adem and all of his peers are forbidden to play soccer.
Albanian students have no books, desks or blackboards.
Serbs have broken out the windows of their classrooms. There is no heat, and winters in Kosovo can be very cold. Adem and his classmates are frequently driven from their wretched classrooms by soldiers tossing tear gas through the broken windows, and their teachers are often beaten. Little wonder that Adem becomes frustrated with the Albanian policy of non-violent resistance and loses hope that American tanks will save his people. His older sister Fatmira is killed by a soldier's bullet as she is about to read a patriotic poem, and two of the three soldiers who commandeered his grandmother's little shop carve the Serbian Orthodox cross on his chest.