Albania

Born in 2006 in Berat, Albania
High school student, Drita e Dijes Highschool, Berat

"An Empty Gourd" (2023)

In her work, Ejda describes the fate of her grandfather Hajredin Hekuran Qojle who was imprisoned in August 1949 by the ruling Hoxha regime. Among other things he was accused of opposing the regime and its reforms, and of expressing his dissatisfaction when the family estate was nationalised. His confessions were extracted after months of torture. In April 1950, he was sentenced to 30 years imprisonment which also included forced labour. Ejda describes in detail and impressively the deprivation, torment, cruelty and inhumanity which her grandfather endured. After his release, he married and two sons were born. As "sons of the enemy", they were also discriminated against.

The Albanian history competition 2023 invited young people aged between 14 and 19 years to look for objects with a special meaning or value to them. The starting point of Ejda’s investigation was a family heirloom: a gourd (= pumpkin canteen) that sat on a shelf in Ejda’s home for as long as she could remember. She interviewed her grandmother about it for whom this object had invaluable, intangible, emotional value, because her husband, Ejda's grandfather, had it with him most of his time in prison.

Ejda made the tragedy of the victims of communism in Albania tangible and emotional for the reader through the selection of this symbolic object combined with an elegant and sometimes even poetic writing.

Ejda Qojle's entry won the first prize of the Albanian History Competition 2023.