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Emiljana Ulaj was sworn in a few days ago as a member of the Westchester City Council in New York. As journalist Burim Goxhuli reports, Mrs. Ulaj came to the United States at the age of 10. Her family was persecuted during the communist regime in Albania, while she left the country in 1997, after the crisis caused by pyramid schemes.
A few days ago, the Albanian-American politician from the ranks of the Democratic Party, Emiljana Ulaj, was sworn in as a member of the Westchester City Council in New York.
Mrs. Ulaj is the fourth and second immigrant of Albanian origin, after Vedat Gashi, to secure a seat in the 17-member council of this municipality. She is the first Albanian-American woman to take on this role in Westchester.
"It was a big and exciting day, very meaningful for me as an immigrant, a refugee who came to this country at the age of 10, with no knowledge of the English language, who was later asked to run for mayor and who was elected to that role. That means a lot and speaks volumes about how great this country is, that it gives these opportunities to immigrants. All the oppressed anywhere in the world can testify to this. I think America is a shining beacon, that if you are persecuted anywhere in the world, your dream is to come here. Because this is the place where your family name and your past don't matter. If you work, you can achieve", says Mrs. Ulaj in an interview for the Voice of America.
Mrs. Ulaj's family left Albania in 1997, when the country was plunged into a deep crisis, a few years after the fall of the communist dictatorship. She and her family stayed as refugees in Italy for almost a year before gaining asylum in the United States.
"One morning, a relative of my mother's knocked on our door at 5 o'clock and told us that a ship is leaving for Italy. He told us that if we want to leave, we have to leave now. The family decided to leave that morning. We left suddenly. There was a time when everything was scary. Schools were closed. There were tanks on the road. People bought guns to keep others away from their homes. It was an uncertain and scary time," says Mrs. Ulaj.
Although years have passed, Mrs. Ulaj, who came to the United States at a young age, continues to remember the suffering of her ancestors during the period of communism in Albania. She says that the stories she grew up with have influenced her ambitions and shaping her as a politician.
"My mother's family was severely persecuted during communism in Albania. They killed seven men of her family. My grandfather was imprisoned for ten years and then lived in an internment camp almost his entire life, until democracy came to Albania. In the internment camp he met his wife, my grandmother, whose family was also persecuted. I always heard these stories from my mother, their suffering during that political regime. All these experiences, stories of my mother, are in my mind. I hope that there is life after death, that my grandfather, who suffered so much, will see his granddaughter in America, who has become part of politics and is helping others," she says.
Ms. Ulaj sees her mandate in the City Council as an opportunity to improve people's lives. Some of its main advantages are affordable housing and renewable energy sources.
"Most people who live on rent are burdened by high prices. Seniors and those on that fixed income have a tough life. Young people, after finishing their studies, cannot afford an apartment. Renting used to be a sacrifice one made to save money to buy a home. People are not able to save and this brings other problems. The house is an investment for the future, your retirement. In addition, we have a planet that we must protect for future generations by building renewable energy sources. Expanding public transport is another matter. I also want to see the possibilities of engaging young people in the processes, to listen to their voices, because they will inherit our decisions, therefore they should have a voice in the decisions we make", she says.
Mrs. Ulaj says that at the center of her first mandate are the young people of the Albanian-American community, especially those who want to engage in politics.
"One of the biggest challenges when you grow up as a first generation immigrant is that, when you have an interest in something, you don't know what to do, you don't have the right connections. My parents didn't have the connections for me to get a job as an intern, or if I wanted to get involved in politics, I didn't know who to turn to. I didn't know who to talk to, to guide me in that field. Therefore, I want to be a resource for them, through civil society groups, so that they have somewhere to turn, to connect with the right people if they want to engage in politics, to show them the concrete steps of what to do" .
Although the exact data is not known, according to Mrs. Ulaj, about 15 thousand of the almost 1 million inhabitants of the municipality of Westchester are Albanian-Americans.
The City of Westchester is New York's seventh largest city by population, with a budget of $2.8 billion. / VOA
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