Alum enables other Kosovars to attend TLU

 
Most TLU students have more than a two-day notice that they are leaving for college. And most do not travel halfway around the world to attend the university. But Aida Sopa, Bukurje Zeqiri, Drenushe Bislimi and Getoar Mjeku are not your typical TLU students.

These four students came to TLU in August from Kosovo on Education for Peace Scholarships established by the Bislimi Group, founded by Faton Tony Bislimi last year.

A 2005 TLU graduate, Bislimi earned a B.S. in computer science and a B.A. in math, graduating summa cum laude. He says he came to this country from Kosovo with nothing, but God guided his way to TLU, and he is now a Kennedy Fellow at Harvard University’s JFK School of Government.

“Am I satisfied though? No. Just as my dreams came true, my faith grew. And I kept asking for more – not for me, but for other sheep out there in my beloved Kosovo,” Bislimi said.

So through the Bislimi Group and Texas Lutheran University, two full scholarships and two half scholarships are being given each year to students from Kosovo. The Bislimi Group is responsible for finding the most promising students, who must go through a rigorous selection process in Kosovo before TLU makes the final selection.

Since this is the first year for the Education for Peace Scholarships, there was a learning curve. Problems in obtaining visas caused the students to know only two days before they had to leave that they were actually going to be able to go to TLU.

“That’s a very short time to prepare your things and say goodbye,” Sopa said.

Despite the difficulty in coming, the students from Kosovo were delighted to be able to study at an American university.

“That’s one of the greatest dreams of every student in Kosovo,” Sopa said. “We are the lucky ones.”

“I would like to go back to Kosovo and do something for my country,” Sopa said, echoing the sentiments of all four students to return to their homeland to make it a better place. “Kosovo is a place that has had a war and now it really needs people – reformed people – who can bring something new to Kosovo,” she said.

Bislimi trusts that TLU is making a difference in the lives of the four students, and that as they study at TLU, they will be prepared to help produce a better future for Kosovo.

“In our Lord’s service, I believe we are helping build a generation of leaders for a newly born country – a generation that will lead Kosovo into becoming a true democracy and an open and progressive society in Europe,” he said. “TLU is making a difference in Kosovo in the best way possible, and Kosovars will be thankful forever.”
 
Previous page