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Kosovo's 'Woman of Courage' Bridges Ethnic Divide
Valdete Idrizi, a 34-year-old ethnic Albanian, founded the multi-ethnic organization Community Building Mitrovica, which promotes links among Serbs, Albanians and various Roma communities — and earned her the International Woman of Courage award.
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Valdete Idrizi, a 34-year-old ethnic Albanian who survived the ethnic violence in Kosovo in the 1990s, has reached out to her Serb neighbors. has reached out to her Serb neighbors.
She founded a multi-ethnic organization to bring together Serbs, Albanians and the various Roma communities and try to heal the wounds of war. The group even facilitated the return of some displaced Serbs to their homes in Kosovo — which led to Idrizi receiving death threats from Kosovar Albanian militants.
However, it also led to her receiving an International Woman of Courage award from U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.
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