Journalism

6. KUKES - THE WORLD'S SADDEST PLACE

Until yesterday, no-one was aware of the existence of this small place in the north of Albania that was built for housing the workers on the hydro power plant in 1976. This 'newly com-posed' unstriking small town with its simple cubic socialist buildings with only 12,000 inhabitants, became the world's saddest place overnight, when it was flooded by more than 100,000 Kosovo refugees. Who would ever imagine that the forsaken Kukes (Albanians say Kux) would see the day when even the smallest available room for rent would reach an astronomical price. Those refugees that managed to keep some savings despite Serbian robberies, gave it away to pay for rooms and flats. Those who didn't, and that is the majority, live in tents surrounded by dirt and mud...

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