Interesting. We were there during the summer of 1999. My kids were there during the summers of 1998 through perhaps 2004 or so.
We were mostly teaching English and the Bible. I went out some with those who were involved with the relief efforts. I remember once coming across 36 people crammed into a two bedroom apartment after they fled from Kosova.
Summer of 1999 I was in Elbasan. Part of my work included going into the camps run by the Red Crescent and interviewing refugees. I also helped translate between the workers at the bread factory there and the UN troops who were flying in a couple of times a day to pick up bread to take to the Albania/Kosovo border.
Always found it interesting that the Albanians had a hard time understanding the Kosovar Albanians but those of us who learned Albanian as a second language didn’t have any problems with the two dialects. It’s my opinion Kosvarce (Gheg dialect) is the more pure Albanian dialect.
About a year later we were negotiating with the Albanian government to update the water delivery system in Tirana. They wanted to impose a 40% tariff on all supplies the United States brought in (pumps, pipes, etc.) even though those were to be a gift to Albania from the people of the U.S. We eventually had to tell them to take a hike and keep the unsafe water they had.