Flora Brovina facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Flora Brovina
Born	(1949-09-30) 30 September 1949 (age 75) Skenderaj
Occupation	poet, pediatrician and women’s rights activist
Language	Albanian
Nationality	Kosovar Albanian
Signature
Acting Chairwoman of the Assembly of Kosovo
In office 17 July 2014 – 8 December 2014
President	Atifete Jahjaga
Preceded by	Jakup Krasniqi
Succeeded by	Kadri Veseli

Flora Brovina (born September 30, 1949) is a Kosovar Albanian poet, a doctor who specializes in children's health (pediatrician), and an activist who works for women's rights. She was born in a town called Skenderaj in the Drenica Valley of Kosovo. She grew up in Pristina, where she went to school and started studying medicine.

After finishing her university studies in Zagreb, where she became a pediatrician, she returned to Kosovo. For a while, she worked as a journalist for the Albanian-language newspaper Rilindja. Soon after, she went back to working in healthcare. She worked for many years in the Pediatrics Ward of the Pristina General Hospital, helping many children.

Helping During the Kosovo War

As the situation in Kosovo became difficult in the 1990s, and fighting started, Flora Brovina opened a health clinic in Pristina. At her clinic, she shared important health information. This included advice on things like snake bites, how to dress wounds, and even how to deliver babies safely.

She also used her center to give shelter to orphaned children. Many of these children had lost their parents because of the fighting. She and her co-workers took care of as many as 25 children at one time, making sure they were safe.

Brovina's Capture and Release

On April 20, 1999, during the Kosovo War, Flora Brovina was taken from her home by a group of masked people. She was driven away to a place no one knew. She was held captive in Serbia even when NATO forces entered Priština and Serb troops left Kosovo.

News of her capture first came out on April 24, 1999. Her son managed to contact an international writers' group called PEN. He asked them to spread the word about her capture as widely as possible.

Flora Brovina was moved to a prison in Požarevac, Serbia. In her first month there, she was questioned for over 200 hours. This happened in 18 separate sessions, often lasting from early morning until late afternoon. On December 9, 1999, she was unfairly accused of 'terrorist activities'. She spent a year and a half in Serb prisons. She was finally released because of strong pressure from international groups and countries.

Flora Brovina's Writing

Flora Brovina is known as a poet. She has written three books of poetry. Her first collection, Verma emrin tim (which means Call me by my name), had 42 poems. It was published in Pristina in 1973 when she was just 24 years old.

Six years later, in 1979, her second collection, Bimë e zë (Plant and voice), was published. In this book, some of the main ideas in Brovina's poetry became clear. She often wrote about the lives of women in society, especially their role as mothers. She saw mothers as givers of life and caregivers.

Her third and last collection of poems, called Mat e çmat (With the tape it measures), was published in Pristina in 1995. This was a time when Kosovo was moving closer to war. While this book isn't mostly about politics, many poems in it show her concern for people's problems and hopes. They also show her care for the future of her people, and for freedom.

Awards and Recognition

In 1999, Flora Brovina received the Tucholsky Award from the Swedish PEN Club. This is a special prize given to writers who have faced difficulties. She also received the PEN/Barbara Goldsmith Freedom to Write Award from the PEN American Center. Another award she got was the Human Rights Award from the Heinrich Böll Foundation in Berlin.

Even with these important international awards, her poetry wasn't always widely recognized in her home country of Kosovo. However, a collection of her poems was translated into English. It was called "Flora Brovina, Call me by my Name, Poetry from Kosova" and was a bilingual Albanian-English edition.

Politics

After Kosovo declared its independence, Flora Brovina became involved in politics. In 2001, she ran for the President of Kosovo as a surprise candidate for the Democratic Party of Kosovo (PDK). Since then, she has been a Member of the Assembly of Kosovo in every election period, helping to make laws for her country.

See also

In Spanish: Flora Brovina para niños

• Rreze Abdullahu
• Mimoza Ahmeti
• Lindita Arapi
• Klara Buda
• Diana Culi
• Elvira Dones
• Musine Kokalari
• Helena Kadare
• Irma Kurti

Images for kids

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  Flora Brovina's signature

Sources