Kosovo's Daily Bread Now More Expensive
By Arbana Xharra in Pristina

Increasing bread prices and market instability are pushing more and more Kosovars to the edge of poverty.

Alma Gjekaj, a 28-year-old woman from Pristina, is just back from shopping and sorting out the goods she bought. This time she had to leave a lot of items off her usual shopping list, because bread and flour prices have recently doubled in Kosovo. Many other prices have also gone through the roof.

"I just don't know how I will manage", she says despairing.
Only two months ago, a loaf of bread, weighing 600 grams, cost €0.25. Today it's €0.50, and many in Kosovo predict the price may go up to €0.70 within another few months.
"I receive a monthly salary of €150. We can't cope with these prices", says Gjekaj, a mother with a three-old-year son, whose husband is currently unemployed.

Charity Concert to raise funds for
Hope and Aid Direct

This is the sort of thing our volunteers organise to help raise funds for their next trip to places such as Kosovo where the humanitarian aid we take is desperately needed and the situation does not seem to get any better either. What was originally suppose to be a short term arrangement immediately after the war in Kosovo, has turned into a regular twice yearly convoy of aid, which is now relied upon by these poor and displaced people who might not survive without it.