The Hiseni family, father, mother and their two small children, embark on a journey through hell, punctuated by frontier posts and police blocks, in a desperate attempt to escape from their home in the devastated region of Kosovo. Their saga begins in Pec (Kosovo). After negotiating the Kulla Pass on the border between Kosovo and Montenegro, they find a temporary haven in a refugee camp at Rozaj in Montenegro. The camp lies within the confines of the Yugoslavian Federation in a high risk enclave between Serbia and Northern Montenegro. One night, the family decides sets out for Podgorica, the capital of Montenegro, defying the dangers inherent in crossing territories controlled by the fanatical followers of Milosovic and Bulatovic. They reach Podgorica unharmed, but their troubles are by no means over. The next move is to cross the border into Albania through an area patrolled by Serb police and para-military units. Once across the border, there is still no safety. The Albanian roads are infested with bandits and robbers who prey on the refugees, on the trek into the Albanian hinterland, the Hisenis are appalled by the poverty they encounter and realize that the country holds no future far them. They decide to push on to the port city of Valona and find a smuggler with a power boat who will ferry them illegally to Italy. The head of the family is determined to get his family to safety in the West and then return to Kosovo to join the fight for independence. ln Valona, the Hisensis hide in the house of the head of the illegal immigrant smugglers. There, they meet Professor Smail and his family who are also from Kosovo . The Professor is a political dissident and was imprisoned for eight year since the 1980s for his anti-government views. During the fifteen days that the two families wait for a passage to Italy, they see, with their own eyes the dangers that they can expect to meet while being ferried across the Adriatic sea at 70 knots an hour. They decide the risk is worth taking and, once again , place their lives on the line in the hope of finally gaining their freedom and a better future. Under cover of darkness they are taken by truck to a secret covem and board a rubber power boat along with another 30 people from Kosovo. The boat speeds through the night eluding both naval and coastguard blockades. Several hours later the refugees are landed on the ltalian coast not far from the city of Otranto in the Puglia region. The refugees' spirits sink when they realize the smugglers have dropped them on rocky outcrop surrounded by choppy water. In the pitch darkness, men, ,women and children stumble into the sea, blindly striking out towards the mainland. The haunted, tear-streaked faces of the members of the Hiseni family as they fight their way ashore, after successfully winning the battle to escape from Kosovo are emblematic of the tragedy that has befallen an entire people. Written by A.B.