Vatra ne faqet e shtypit njujorkez me rastin e 100 vjetorit

 
 
 
Albanian organization commemorates  100 years; looks to attract new 
generation for the next century 
Vatra group in Bronx  helps Albanians
By _Tanyanika  Samuels_ 
(http://www.nydailynews.com/authors?author=Tanyanika Samuels)  / NEW YORK DAILY NEWS 
Friday,  May 4, 2012, 6:00 AM

 
 
 



 
 
 



 
 
 
 
 


_Print_ 
(http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/bronx/albanian-organization-commemorates-100-years-attract-generation-century-article-1.1072057?print)   





 
Courtesy Vatra
Members of the Albanian group, Vatra,  with President Woodrow Wilson in 
1918.


 
For the last 100 years, the group Vatra has served as a home away from home 
 for many Albanian Americans. 
“Vatra is a place of historic value, with a big and important inheritance,”
  boasted Vatra president _Dr. Gjon Buçaj_ 
(http://www.nydailynews.com/topics/Gjon+Bucaj) , at the  group’s modest three-story walk up on Southern 
Blvd. 
The non-profit commemorated its centennial last Sunday with a gala  
celebration at Pier 60 in Manhattan. More than 1,100 dignitaries, politicians  and 
Albanian community members attended. 
“We made it for 100 years. That means something,” said Buçaj, who joined 
the  group 50 years ago. “We hope to live another 100 years.” 
Vatra’s beginnings date to a pivotal meeting on April 28, 1912 in Boston. 
At the time, an estimated 5,000 Albanians were living throughout the  
Northeast, mainly in Boston. Their numbers spawned several small grassroots  
cultural groups. 
After a series of meetings, a small delegation decided to unite their 
efforts  and create Vatra: The Pan-Albanian Federation of America. 
“’Vatra’ means ‘The Hearth,’” explained _Danny Blloshmi_ 
(http://www.nydailynews.com/topics/Danny+Blloshmi) , the  group’s current treasurer. “The 
idea was to say that we are all here in a  foreign country but we are all 
home together.” 
In the early years, Vatra members said, the organization played a key role 
in  Albanian politics. 
“We did a lot more for Albania than the government there, which was pretty  
weak,” Blloshmi said. 
When European powers gatheredfor the Paris Peace Conference in 1919 and  
threatened to carve up Albania, Vatra members lobbied then _Pres. Woodrow 
Wilson_ (http://www.nydailynews.com/topics/Woodrow+Wilson)   to quash the 
attempts. 
“To this day,” Blloshmi said, “President Wilson is known as the one who 
saved  Albania from being chopped up.” 
During the 1943-44 German occupation of Albania, Vatra recruited 
intelligence  officers to work alongside the U.S. 
In the late 1940s, the organization was criticized for its initial support 
of  _Albanian Prime Minister  Enver Hoxha_ 
(http://www.nydailynews.com/topics/Enver+Hoxha) . 
“We later denounced him when it was clear he was a communist dictator,”  
Blloshimi said. 
In the years that followed, Vatra became more of a social organization. 
Its Boston headquarters found a new home in the Bronx in the 1980s, when  
Albanians flocked here.. 
Vatra is now staffed by volunteers, and sustains itself on membership dues, 
 advertising in the monthly newspaper, Diell e, and donations. 
The group works mostly to help Albanian immigrants navigate their new lives 
 in the U.S., and organizes special events and celebrations of Albanian  
holidays. 
“There’s a need to help, especially the younger generation, with the 
culture  so they don’t lose that identity” said _Dalip Greca_ 
(http://www.nydailynews.com/topics/Dalip+Greca) , editor of  Dielli . 
The organization supports Albanian students with scholarships, and raises  
monies for causes such as 
when floods devastated two cities in Albania last year. 
“We want to move into the next century of Vatra,” Blloshmi said. “We need 
to  move on, get a new direction and be relevant again.” 
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