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M I N U T E S T O WA R : Picnic in Hell<br />
Firouz exclaims: ‘Every step we move, every move we make, we are walking greenbacks.’<br />
But like many here, it was either<br />
greed or survival which was<br />
expressed in his every move.<br />
half-daft with an idiotic-grin which stretched across his broad face which occasionally lapsed into a snarl<br />
with greedy eyes like raisins. On the first few days he would follow us around like an old fox pursuing a piece<br />
of succulent meat. But because he could not speak English this fox had lost all its teeth and could not eat<br />
the meat. In spite of the fact his eyes betrayed this greed he was continuously confiding through translators<br />
how much he was here for his love of us and that he was our colleague and friend. He would pronounce<br />
bombastically:<br />
‘All Albanians are loyal, when they have friends.’<br />
And then how he would support us to the bitter end. When all was lost he would be there for us.<br />
Every time we would see him at a coffee shop or at the ‘America Bar’ he would run over to sit beside<br />
us; impose himself in order to be our friend. But like many here, it was either greed or survival which was<br />
expressed in his every move.<br />
(Note: We knew our judgment was correct when we discovered he had gone to the widow’s apartment<br />
and asserted that every night that we stayed the widow must pay him a US$20 commission fee for<br />
having found us for the apartment… Ardian the new translator who we met later had emphatically said<br />
that this was unacceptable and that for her to stand by her guns.)<br />
I suppose in a banana republic like Albania everything is possible or everything is impossible.<br />
Along the roads in the town there are abandoned and rusted automobiles and files of sad, bored people,<br />
waiting and chain smoking around telephone booths attempting to telephone loved ones in distant countries.<br />
Our arrival in Kukes has catalysed mixed reactions. I was affronted by the way the journalists are separated<br />
from the refugees. They were all sitting huddled insecurely in one group as we strode into the ‘America Bar’<br />
decorated with a two and a half meter plastic Statue of Liberty draped in the American flag with walkie talkies,<br />
satellite phones and savvy technology. They would be coming in, drinking coffees and then leaving to document<br />
and record a new exodus. This was CNN Disneyland and they were on overfuckingdrive...And all I could think<br />
is: ‘What the f…. are these people doing?’
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