Oral history interview with Adonis Alaj

Interview 1 hour 25 minutes 53 seconds.

Adonis Alaj was born and raised in the capital of Kosovo, Prishtina, Adonis Alaj remembers a secure early childhood surrounded by his family, including his beloved grandmother, and many friends. At the age of 13 everything changed. He experienced the increase of aggression as people were violently evicted: forcibly turned out of their flats and ordered out of the country by armed Serb police and soldiers. After several moves and three unsuccessful and terrifying attempts to leave Kosovo, his family reached Macedonia and were evacuated to the UK with special needs due to his grandmother’s blindness and fragility. Adonis quickly settled at a reception centre, attended a Catholic Secondary School and went on to college and University in Manchester. He is overwhelmed when comparing the treatment his family was subjected to during the war compared to their new life in Manchester. Adonis lives with his wife in South Manchester and works for an insurance company. His closest friends continue to be 3 boys he met at the reception centre on arrival in Manchester.

In the interview Adonis talks about his life in Kosovo before the war, how it affected his family, their journey to U.K. via Macedonia, and life in Manchester.