Sreten Đorović , also known as Becko, has lived in Belgrade for the past 17 years but says that his heart still beats for his hometown, Prishtina. While he sips a glass of white wine from Rahovec that sits beside a plate of Sharr cheese, Becko wears a melancholic smile as he recalls his time in Kosovo.

Since the end of the Kosovo war, his circumstances and profession have changed, but a part of his heart still remains in Prishtina, a city where he spent most of his life and  his fond memories dwell. He owns a small restaurant in Belgrade whose menu includes traditional foods from Kosovo.

“I’ve lived in Kosovo for 45 years and in Belgrade for only 17,” Becko says in fairly good Albanian.

He says that he was very successful in his former profession and employed people of different ethnicities.

“I worked in transport… I had 50 employees, half of whom were Albanian. We were ranked 127th among 66 thousand enterprises,” he says. Becko is overjoyed by the frequent visits from his Kosovar Albanian friends who help him travel back in time and maintain ties with his birthplace.

“I miss Prishtina because it is the place I was born and raised; all my friends are there, I’ve worked there, everything I love is there,” he says.

Becko says that he tries to relieve his homesickness by making and selling traditional Kosovar products.

“I make this Sharr cheese, a friend of mine owns the Sharr cheese farm in Prizren and shared the recipe with me. I can give you a nibble of it, it’s just like the one from Sharr,” he says.

Becko says that the suxhuk, a spicy traditional sausage, he uses to prepare specialties at his bistro, is produced in Peja.

“Every day, there are 10 to 50 people in my bistro in Belgrade. If there are football matches, especially if Albania is playing, many people come to watch the broadcast,” he says.

Becko says that his family also loves Kosovo. He helped them gain Kosovo citizenship and says they would do a great deal to return there.

“I would walk to Kosovo just to work with my friends again. Living with other people was much better there, I grew up with them and they know me,” Becko said.

He says that Kosovo reminds him of many things, even his experiences of love and infatuation.

“There’s nothing in this world that I like more than Prishtina. I’ve spent all of my life and youth there, the time of my life. Everything good happened to me in Prishtina: my youth, my crushes, love and everything, all of it I have experienced there. Now I’m 63 years old, waiting for death,” Becko says.

Becko did not want to speak about his property in Prishtina, or the circumstances under which he left the city seventeen years ago, saying that he found the story too sad.

Having knowledge of both pre and post-war Kosovo, Becko says that, although Kosovo has developed since the war, the wellbeing of the people remains unchanged.

“Kosovo has changed for the better, yet the people still encounter difficulties. I’m not keen on or interested in politics, but the people complain every day that they lack many things,” he says, referring to the basic provision of services to fully developed democracy.

Watch Becko tell his story in Albanian here. 

This piece was produced as a part of the Balkan Trust for Democracy’s Enhanced Policy Dialogue of Professionals in Kosovo and Serbia Program. Opinions expressed in this publication do not necessarily represent those of the Balkan Trust for Democracy, the German Marshall Fund of the United States, or the UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office.