Majlinda shows her sons’ pictures and proudly tells how good they are at school despite the fact that they could not speak any Albanian when they arrived in Tirana a few years ago. They were born in Greece where their parents emigrated 20 years ago and left it when Majlinda had the courage to flee with them to Norway, far from her husband who, psychologically and physically, abused her for many years. In Oslo she applied for asylum.

Majlinda - big blue eyes and hair tied with an elastic band - smiles and flushes at the same time. Her home is simple and tidy and she has cooked an amazing sultiaç (a typical local sweet with rice and milk). She has regained a normal quiet life. The children are at school and she is about to go to work at the bakery for the afternoon shift although she prefers the morning one as she can spend more time with her kids. Majlinda was for almost a year in Norway; she has kept a local football team t-shirt as a souvenir of those months, while she doesn’t have anything from Greece as it reminds her too much of the years she spent with her abusive husband: “there are places that are too related to terrible periods of our life and, because of that, they bring us only bad memories”, she says.

Once her asylum claim in Norway was rejected, Majlinda voluntarily returned in Albania with IOM assistance throughout the return process. 

“At the beginning I was not happy to return from Norway.  I wanted to stay there to seek job opportunities and better life conditions for my children. I did pass a bad experience with my husband (with whom I have broken relationships since we were in Greece) who physically abused me and spent my salary in gambling.  That was the reason I decided to flee and seek a new life in Norway, but it did not go as I wanted to.  The first months in Albania were difficult for me to adapt with”.

When she came back to Albania after so many years, she seemed to have found herself in a different environment which she considered estranged to her. At the beginning she could not count even on her parents’ support: they broke ties with her because against her marriage and her departure abroad, far from them.

IOM provided her with vocational training, job placement, payment of rental fees and also covered some of her children’s school needs. She also received psychological support from an Albanian NGO (an IOM partner) that helps abused women. This enabled her to start step by step a new life in her own country, build new relations with people who helped her and with those she works with. She has also reconnected with her parents and her family.

“I am back to life again and happy to have a job in which I am learning a lot and which, I think, will help me for my future career in the bakery business.  Above all, I am happy that my children are doing well at school and enjoy the company of their peers. They are happy, too”.

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