Parents of eight children, Nezir and Hamide Avdyli, remember the time when the war separated them from two of their sons, whom they have not seen since. Three of their boys, Fadili (24), Fatmiri (18) and Kujtim (16), were separated from the family when they joined the large convoy of people being deported. Kujtim, together with some of his cousins, managed to hide in a hut. The other two brothers were pulled from the convoy, along with others, into the yard of a house. There, Fatmir was killed while Fadil managed to flee, but with his arm wounded. He met one of his neighbours, who bandaged the wound. This was the last person to report seeing Fadil alive.
Today, twenty years later, the family still knows nothing about Fadil’s fate, despite the efforts that his father Nezir and brother Kujtim have made to find him. Hamide tells how Fadil often comes to her in her dreams saying: “Come mother, come with me because I don’t have time! Come join me too!”
His parents are living in hope that they will, in their lifetime, at least find the remains of their missing son.