In Kosovo, pandemic lets humanity shine through

Soprano volunteers in clinic as ‘ people’s lives matter more.’

Helping her elderly father beat back his coronavirus infection on her own taught Arta Jashari how the power of one can offer hope to others and change things for the better.

The 32- year- old soprano took it upon herself to treat her father, Baki Jashari — the Kosovo Philharmonic’s maestro who suffers from diabetes and a heart ailment — after she discharged him last June from the country’s overwhelmed Pulmonological Clinic.

Under quarantine, the job was difficult. It was with the kindness of neighbors who provided Jashari with food and other essentials that she was able to cope. Her father recovered a month later, but it was the compassion of strangers that made her understand the world is in this together and that kindness should be paid forward.

Jashari, a famous artist at home, resolved to help by donning protective gear and heading back to the Pulmonological Clinic to offer whatever assistance she could.

“You give them hope when you are around. They know that you are here to help,” she told The Associated Press.

Jashari has no medical training but assisted doctors in any way that was needed, offering succor to those suffering either at the clinic or at home. For patients recovering at home, she would often act as a liaison between them and the overworked medical staff, even guiding nurses to some who needed hands- on treatment.

Jashari never received official permission to help out at the clinic, but no one ever got in her way.

“I never thought about whether it would be a problem for me if I got infected or not because I think people’s lives matter more than if I get infected or not,” said Jashari. What’s most important is just being there, she said, for patients who “long for your presence, since they need so much support emotionally.”

Jashari, whose mother is also a soprano, graduated from universities in Pristina, Berlin and Ljubljana after studying singing. A concert in late February was among the very few held over the last year because of the pandemic.

Jashari said she misses the intensity of a full season of concerts, which are now held mostly online or with a very limited audience. But her time at the clinic, combined with translating world operas into Albanian, have kept her busy.

VISAR KRYEZIU/ ASSOCIATED PRESS Soprano singer Arta Jashari checks a patient at the Pulmonological Clinic in Kosovo’s capital Pristina. Jashari, a well- known and much- loved soprano in Kosovo, could hardly forget her neighbors’ assistance while in quarantine helping her father cope with the virus. That prompted her do the same thing to others, as a hospital volunteer.