Author: Chelsea Rae Ybanez, Emanuel Smaka, Inva Hasanaliaj
A project aimed at promoting local production, preserving heritage and reducing imported products is not bearing the right fruits.
Tourists in the old bazaar of Kruja are not news.
But a group of Chinese tourists, who want to buy Cretan souvenirs and find Chinese products there, is more than curiosity.
"I came from Beijing and I want to get something from this city with a centuries-old history, but as far as I can see, many of them are produced in my country," says Henry Wang, standing on the cobblestones of the bazaar, next to a shop that sells traditional clothing.
Three years ago, a project was launched in Krujë with the aim of increasing jobs and reducing the number of products coming from abroad, designed by the Ministry of Culture, the Albanian-American Development Foundation, the Ministry of Urban Development and the business community. of the Old Bazaar.
The memorandum signed in September 2014 by four important institutions in the country aimed to reduce imported products by 30% during the first two years and for each subsequent year by 20%. An important part of this project was also the infrastructural interventions in the Kruja bazaar, with the improvement of sewage drainage, the extension of the network and electrical installations, as well as the creation of the information office for tourists.
From the memorandum was created Zone for the development of tourism in the city of Kruja, known as TID Itch, a non-governmental organization, which provided grant support to preserve the tradition.
The first phase of the project (reconstruction of facades and roofs), worth 1 million dollars, has been completed, while the second phase, which aims to support artisans to increase the quality of Services, has been in progress for a year.
Today, in the Kruja bazaar, next to the products produced by the 19 remaining artisans in the city, there are cells made in China, national flags, ordered in Turkey, and Bosnian souvenirs.
"These souvenirs cannot be removed. Cooperation between local and central institutions is needed, in order to respect the tradition in the Kruja bazaar", says Bledar Kaçiu, administrator of TID Itch.
Artisan Fazan Berhami, who sells silverware in the old bazaar, says that it is impossible to avoid selling products imported from abroad.
In his shop there are souvenirs produced in Sarajevo, Istanbul and Beijing. Berhami is also a member of the board of TID Itch.
"The sale of these products will always continue. They have a low cost and it is the only way to survive", he says.
Even during the Albania-Serbia match, played at Elbasan Arena, although patriotism reached its peak, in Krujë the fans bought thousands of cell phones from China.
In the center of the bazaar, Ndriçim Guni is the only artisan who produces artisanal cells.
"Since the Second World War, our family has been involved in this type of handicraft. Imported cells are sold everywhere in the bazaar. This has made our work difficult. Concrete support is needed, as the competition is harming us. A cell produced abroad is cheaper than the one I produce", says Guni.
Artisans say that not all commitments that TID Itch received for tourism have been met. Security cameras are missing in the entire old bazaar area.
It has been a year since the Ministry of Urban Development and Tourism announced that this process will start soon. Lack of security cameras is a concern for artisans.
Fazan Berhami says that this is a promise that is being delayed, but which is expected to be resolved.
The project financed by the Albanian-American Development Fund and supported by the Ministry of Urban Development and Tourism, the Ministry of Culture and the Municipality of Kruja provided for the creation of 600 new products in the Bazaar, as well as the support of artisans for the sale of products online.
The artisans say they have had support through training, but, according to them, creating 600 products is impossible. As for sales online, no service is provided in this respect, while a negligible number of small producers advertise their products.
This is mainly due to the lack of knowledge and costs that this type of marketing creates.
The aim of the project was not simply the preservation and support of cultural heritage, but also the implementation of a law. Article 5 of the "Craftsmanship" law prohibits the sale of objects of a cultural-artistic nature, imported in areas declared "historical or archaeological centers".
The ban on the sale of these products should have started from the beginning of this year. The organization for the management of tourism in Kruja itself is skeptical about the implementation of this law.
"I don't know if it is possible to implement this law, but we will try to support the artisans", the administrator told PSE TID Itch.
The large number of imported souvenirs is not the only problem in Kruja bazaar. Although this is one of the most visited cities in the country, it still does not have a tourist information office.
The only institutions that provide official figures are two museums that received 100 visitors during 2016.
"The number of tourists is satisfactory. In the last three years, the figures show an increase of 5 visitors every year", Medi Hafizi, director of the "Gjergj Kastrioti Skënderbeu" museum and the National Ethnographic Museum, told PSE. Hafizi is a representative of the Ministry of Culture on the board of directors TID Itch, but chose not to comment on the progress of the project TID Itch.
In the Municipality of Kruja they talk about 300 thousand visitors a year.
The lack of an information office is attributed to the "inherited situation" from the past.
"We will try to have one ready at the beginning of the summer season in the service of tourism," says Drini Masha, head of the Public Relations and Tourism office at the Municipality of Kruja.
The last generation of artisans?
Beneficiaries of the grants distributed by the project have been only nine of the artisans of Kruja. According to the representatives of TID, the selection is made to promote competition.
"Of course there was dissatisfaction with the selection among the artisans, we have chosen nine, in order to engage as many as possible", says the administrator of the organization.
Handicraft heritage is another element of the project. It is not easy to get an answer as to what support the artisans had in this respect.
Dallandyshe Tabaku is one of the artisans who received support from the $1 million project. She says that the inheritance of this craft from one generation to another is very difficult.
"The state must do much more to engage young people. Our hard work is not justified and that is why our children do not want to continue on the same path. We are the last generation of artisans...", says Tabaku.
Some of the artisans, with whom PSE spoke, say that, even though it is a craft that gives you pleasure, they do not want to pass it on to their children. Some of the young people have left for Tirana or have left the country for a job that gives more profits.
"Both of my children do not live in Kruja, the daughter is in England, while the son fled two months ago as an asylum seeker in Germany", says Behare Kasmi, while weaving a carpet on the loom he inherited from his ancestors.
It takes two more years for her to retire. For Beharen, it's two years, which promise him the well-deserved rest of a life full of fatigue.
In the characteristic bazaar of Kruja, there will be one less artisan, fewer products made by the hands of Croatian craftsmen and more products produced in Sarajevo, Istanbul and Beijing....
And this is not good news for Chinese tourists either!
