By Memisha Gjonzeneli
Memorie.al / Many years had passed since I was released from prison, where I served my sentence as an “enemy of the people”…! (I was still only 16 when I was arrested…). One afternoon I was walking by the sea. It was summer. I put my feet in the water to cool them and I had left my shoes by the sea. I was completely lost in my own memories, but suddenly, as if bringing me to life, a woman’s loud cry: – “He is drowning, help, help, save my son. Help, help! She was trying to get herself into the sea as she was dressed and very alarmed. I turned my head from where the screams were coming from and saw the woman running towards the sea and screaming louder. In the sea, in front of her, I could barely make out a human head, which sometimes disappeared, sometimes appeared on the water. I didn’t think any longer, I quickly ran towards the boy, who was almost drowning. Maybe it was his last fatal moves.
As I approached, the boy sank again and lost sight of me. I dived deep, unaware of what I was doing, I looked for him in the depth of the sea and barely spotted him. He was being pulled towards the depths by the sea current. More and more air bubbles were coming out of his mouth. I caught him, not thinking that he might take me with him, and fortunately, making full use of my youthful strength and skill, and experience as a schooner and early swimmer, I brought him to the surface. He was a beautiful child, about 15 years old.
I dragged him with difficulty to the shore, where many other curious people had gathered, and turned him over, head down. Water began to flow from his mouth and my joy, that I felt the revival, exploded. His mother kept on praying and shouting and interfering wrongly, so much so that she wouldn’t let us deal with the boy. We put him in a car and straight to the hospital. As soon as we got him in, I wanted to run away, they begged me to finish the mission. I was barefoot, because I had left my shoes by the sea, and wet, but I didn’t leave him without accompanying him to the hospital, until the nurse came out and told me:
– “Well done! You saved a human life. This child owes his life. Come see it.”
It was yellow wax, but luckily, it was recovering. The doctor asked for the child’s relatives. Two citizens who accompanied me told him that they did not know him at all, they had seen that he needed help and had helped him, their duty ended here. I did the same and started to run away.
– “No,” said the doctor, “you will stay here until a relative comes.”
After a while they heard shouting at the door. It was the child’s mother, since the rush, they had not taken her in the car. She continued: “Amani, amani, save my son, because he is the only one I have”! -And he went inside, he saw that he was trapped in the day of trouble.
– “Doctor, please save my son”! He didn’t wait for an answer, he quickly went to his son’s bed. He opened his eyes. She began to kiss and hug him, thanking God for the miracle, then turned to me, hugged me tightly and kissed me on both cheeks.
– “Thank you, thank you”! – he kept telling me…!
I asked the doctor for permission and left quickly, because I learned that the boy’s father was a Security officer and I thought it would be good if he didn’t find me there. I went outside, but where would I go like that, wet and barefoot? I was very ashamed. And while I was walking in thought, a police car passed me quickly. I turned my head and saw him. “In this car, – I thought, – will be the father of the child whose life I saved.”
After a few days, I happened to meet the doctor. As soon as he saw me, he started laughing.
– “What do you have”? – I asked her.
– “That day, when you brought the drowned child, when you ran away, the boy’s father came. When he found out that you had saved his son, he turned to his son nervously:
– “Do you see what you have done to us, you took the palace”?! The boy covered his head with a sheet.
– “Even this we had shortcomings, may the ‘enemy of the people’ save us”!
– “Wow! – said his wife, surprised and scared, – but I kissed him on the cheek too”!
– “How? he shouted. – No one saw you”?!
– “No,” said the woman, “only the doctor.”
– “Well, the doctor is ours, no problem.”
– “But how did I know, man, who he was?! He seemed to walk on water. As soon as I screamed, he found the boy, who was writhing in the water. Pa, you watched him swim in the sea, without asking about the danger that; drowned, drown you”!
– “Ah, my wife! – said the upset husband. – You don’t know what kind of enemies they are. Their files, we kneel when we squeeze them, they have so many bundles of crimes, but leave it, take your mind from there and forget that man completely”!
– “Thank you, doctor,” I said thoughtfully, proud that we saved a man from certain death.
So barefoot, I walked through the alleys, so that no one would see me, until I arrived at the Pier. I headed to the place where I left my shoes, but I struggled for them in vain, someone in front of me had taken them. The shoes were not new, but for me they were good and I had to replace them with others, which I had to buy. I went home upset, told the incident to my parents. Father laughed happily.
– “Yes, my son,” he said, “you saved a life, don’t worry about the shoes, because we will fix them from the bread savings.”
Internment in the village of origin, Tragjas
The city of Fier was looking for specialists. Several important new industrial works would be erected there. Since I was a welder and had graduated from the Reserve School, I went to the Executive Committee, where they provided me with a worksheet. The next day I left for Fier. I was sent to work as a welder in the water supply sector. I worked there until I finished it as a line. I started the line at Qafë i Koshovica and, until the hotel “Apollonia”. Then I was sent to the Azotic Plant, where construction had just begun.
I worked there for a couple of years. We completed the gas pipeline from Azotik to Divjak, until the Exploitation Company took it into charge. It was a difficult and very special job. The pipeline would work under pressure, from 45 to 60 atmospheres. On all the welding heads, you had to weld the personal number. I wore the number &7. We went back to Azotik. I worked for a while at TEC. We started work with a pipeline in Azotik, in the old office.
One of these days, a policeman comes and tells me to quit my job, that we were going to Vlora. On the way, the policeman told me that I had been interned in my village, in Tragjas. I handed over what I had in charge and we left for Vlora. The policeman took me to the Internal Affairs Branch. There, as soon as they saw me, they told me to take what I needed and leave for Tragjas, where I would meet the chairman of the People’s Council and I would respect what he would tell me.
– “There you have your family, father, mother and brothers. So, take what you need and be in the village for dinner”. In Dega, they informed me that they had sentenced me to 5 years of exile, for political reasons. My brother, Tekiu, had also bought me a German “Mifa” bicycle. I finished work quickly, got on my bike and at dinner I was in Tragjas. My family members were waiting for me there, because they had been informed that I was coming. He spent a year in exile. The work was hard, but the insulting bad treatment we received made it even harder.
I asked for leave to go to the hospital, the Security officer who saved the boy, gave me 6 hours leave…!
I had a cold for a few days. I received written permission from the Council and with this permission I would appear at the Branch and, as long as they would assign me, I would stay. I got on my bike and straight to the Inner Branch. A policeman appeared in front of me.
– “What are you looking for? Why did you come? Why did you run away from the place of exile”? he asked.
– “Where is the guard officer”? – I asked him.
– “Wait to see, talk to him”! – and left.
I waited for half an hour, until the guard officer came out.
– “Why did you come”?! – he asked me.
I handed him the Council’s letter. After reading the letter, he turned to me:
– “You are from Gjonzenelajt”?
– “Yes”, I said.
– “One day, you’ve had enough”, – he said, without looking me in the eye.
– “Comrade officer, I don’t have a day, – I tell him, – I have to go to the doctor, then take the medicine myself, now we are at lunch”.
He wrote on the back of the letter that I had “a day off” and told me:
– “At dinner, be in the village. Go now”! In an instant I remembered that this was the father of the boy whose life I saved.
– “You have stayed at the Pier and you know how to swim”, – he told me ironically.
– “Yes, – I told him, – we also saved people.”
– “Maybe, you are ‘enemies of the people’.” Your brother has escaped by swimming to Corfu”. I was looking at him with a smile…!
– “Go,” he told me, “if we take you out of time, we will arrest you”!
– “I didn’t ask you, how is your son”?!
– “Where do you know me?” – he asked and his face turned yellow. I went to the doctor. From behind I heard: “You are all enemies, you belong in prison”!
I finished work quickly and left for the village. But the face of the officer could not be removed from my mind. How can a person behave like this?! I had done nothing but good to him, hastening his only son from death.
After a few days I got better. Life in the village had become difficult. Often the youth of the village provoked us. I always looked at my work. Often, when it was a difficult job, they sent us, and when we finished it, they sent us to other difficult jobs. I worked in several important works in Albania, everywhere I earned the respect of those I worked with, especially the managers, humane ones who felt gratitude and I reflected reciprocally, but the officer who was very indoctrinated from the human side, I still haven’t understood!
How I saved two children in the pioneer camp, they wanted to exclude them because they saved the “Enemy of the People”
…. One day I finished work quickly and sat on a stone by the Izvor. I reminisced and laughed to myself. At the house on the sea side, we lived from 1943 until 1956. So, we spent almost all of our childhood there. I always stayed by the sea. I really liked to fish. Fishing also became a help, however small, for the family. The father was put in prison in December 1944, after he had been with the “National Front”. We grew up almost without a father.
During that time, I was given the opportunity to help many people, who were being lied to by the sea with its secrets, so much so that they risked drowning. I don’t know any of them, because the years have taken their toll. There are those who know me, but they don’t speak, with the thought that they cannot wash away the obligation created, for the life saved. Once I was fishing at New Beach. There used to be a wooden pier, about 70 meters long, embedded in the depths.
It was about two meters deep at the entrance and about five meters at the end. In the summer, a pioneer camp was opened nearby. Campers came and bathed by the sea, but there were also those who dared to come to the pier. The worst thing was that they didn’t know how to swim, therefore from those who had never been washed in the sea. They often watched their peers jump and swim and they tried it too. One day I had thrown the hooks and was waiting for any fish to fall, when some people shouted: – “They are drowning! Help! Help!
I quickly jumped into the water. There were two children. I had no problem, it was close to getting them out. They were yellow, a little from fear, a little from the water they had drunk. After a week, the two children, one 13 and the other 14, came and found me. They both jumped on my neck. At first I was surprised, then I recognized them, I hugged them with love and I was happy and very happy. The children took out of their pockets the 20 lek they gave me. I laughed with them, I even enjoyed it, I returned the money, but they didn’t want it.
– “We didn’t have more, please, forgive us”, – they told me annoyed. They barely got the money back.
– “Please tell us what you would like us to bring…”? My mind went to the former Security officer…!
One day, when I was fishing, without breakfast, I was so hungry that I didn’t even eat dinner. When those two children come.
– “Hey, friend, – we came, – they told me, – what do you want us to bring”? We don’t leave without ordering…! Without thinking long, I said: “Yes you can, bring me some bread”.
They ran away happily. The next day, before they went into the sea, they brought a rowboat filled with pieces of bread. I thanked them wholeheartedly and said: “Now we are equal, don’t come here again.” I will love you forever. I thank you from the bottom of my heart.” They ran away looking behind, I don’t know what they were thinking. I ate the bread and the leftovers at home.
After two days, a friend of the boys comes to me and tells me that the children who had brought me bread wanted to expel them from the camp, that they had given bread to an “enemy of the people”, they were taking advantage of the fact that the camp had two days and will to run home. After two days, they fled to Berat and were never seen again. Yes, the vigilant Director sent home and to school the motivation for the “crime” they had committed.
I was reminded of these memories and headed home. Villagers were passing by. No one spoke. Some turned their heads so as not to speak to me. We had a bad biography, so we had to pay something.
Finally, I think I escaped, the Reclamation Company made a request to the Executive Committee, that they needed welders, so they asked me too. I did a lot of very good work there, so I justified the interest. Later I went again with the Assembly Company of Tirana. I worked in Ballsh, later in PVC-Vlora, where I did some dangerous and special work, one of which was the metal chimney of the Cement Factory, over 50 meters high, which no one had undertaken.
Then I moved with the whole brigade to Metallurgy and finally, for political reasons, I was sent to work with a lot of friends like me, …in agriculture. And the finale:…from Frutores – in Chicago, in America, in one of the most industrial cities of the USA. I started working as a welder. After a couple of years, I returned for vacation to my beloved Vlora, which I wouldn’t exchange for any place in the world, especially the wonderful Pier, which you can’t find anywhere else. Every palm of her, says something to me.
Meeting after 41 years with Luan
One dinner I was sitting in a bar near New Beach. The bar was by the sea. I sat on the porch, where the sea and my beloved Pier were quite visible. There was nothing more beautiful. The sea was calm, the waves slowly crashing on the shore, an amazing sight, which gave you special pleasure.
I was lost in this atmosphere, when I hear a voice:
– “Sir, allow us to sit here too”? There were four people, one woman and three men. I turned my head towards them.
– “Please, there are plenty of places near here”, – I told them.
– “Yes,” said the man who spoke before, “yes, we want to stay with you, sir.” I looked at them carefully. It seemed to me that I had never seen them. They looked smiling, but a little shy. They did not know how this meeting would come, which was probably the most interesting. The man repeated the prayer, addressing me by name. His persistence impressed me.
– “Order, sit down”, – I told them. They expected this and sat down without further ado.
– “Mr. Memisha, you have changed very little since I last saw you”, the oldest of them opened the conversation.
– “Please, can you introduce yourself, I don’t know you”!
– “You’re very right, I’m sorry”, – the interlocutor continued, standing up and, with tears in his eyes, without saying anything more, threw himself on my neck. Out of inertia, I also put my hand on his neck. When he broke away from the hug, he said: “Now yes, we will introduce ourselves: I am Luan Zamani, the boy who years ago was drowning in the sea and you saved him, down there, near the Academy; these two are the boys, and this is my wife”. In an instant I remembered everything that had happened at that time.
– “Yes,” I said, “I remember and I know why you came.”
– “Why”?! – he asked surprised.
– “That day, when I took you out of the sea and took you to the hospital, I forgot my shoes by the sea and I couldn’t find them again, so today you will have given me the shoes,” I replied with a smile and shook hands with the four of them.
– “Now that you found me, it’s up to me to rent to you. Order what you want”. The waiter came to the table and addressed me:
– Why did usta Memua come…? Dear priests… you got the first drinks from me, while the others were ordered by these people”, and was addressed by Luani.
– “What school did you finish”? – I asked Luan.
– “Mechanical engineering”, – he answered. At this time, two waiters come and fill the table full of drinks and food. Everything was passing for beauty. I haven’t felt this good in a long time. The lion got up in the middle of dinner, but I didn’t let him and he obeyed me. Then, he took the glass of drink and stood up. Addressing me, he said these words: “Today is one of the happiest days of my life. We “met” when I was 15 years old, and today I turn 56 years old.
Even though we have not met for 41 years, I have never taken you out of my mind, I have followed you wherever you worked and I enjoyed seeing how much you fought for life. Many times I dared to speak to you, but my mother begged me not to do that, because my father would find out and where we would end up. I found out that you returned from America, I also knew that I would find you here, that you have never left Skela. I took the whole family with me, so that they can also get to know you”.
The four stood up and we hugged like old friends. We thanked the great God who arranges things so beautifully, as was this meeting, as unexpected as it was significant. After that day with Luan and his family, we formed a very good friendship and built excellent relationships with each other. Memorie.al
