Today, Pnishi is a dad of three, a loving husband to his wife Albana who came to Canada after marrying Pnishi in 2008. She’s from Drenica, the part of Kosovo that was hit the hardest during the war. But living through war in Kosovo wouldn’t be the end of difficulties journeys for Pnishi. The new life in Canada would not be an easy transition for Pnishi who was part of ‘Operation Parasol’ Canada’s airlift response in the crisis in response to UNHCR’s call to assist with the refugee crisis overwhelming Albania and Macedonia, countries already facing their own economic despairs. Pnishi would need to learn English in his twenties and find work unrelated to his journalism studies to make ends meet in this new foreign land and help reignite hope for his family and help in rebuilding the family home Serbia destroyed during the war, all of that combined with the traumas that war left in refugees as they began a new difficult road ahead.
Starting over a new life in Canada was anything but easy for Pnishi “when I came it was hard to find a job, or at least for me, no English and bored. I think that the sponsors that we had for integration in Canada should have been replaced with employment counselors, because the first step of integration in a country is employment, not buying things at Walmart, which is important as well” he says, recalling a difficult new beginning in Canada as he began a new life away from the family he left behind and a field he was passionate in “we were upset for our families, for our burnt land, for our killed people, for our destroyed lives, and these people, as if to comfort us, said: "Don't worry, you are Canadian now!". How did I become Canadian in three days? I was a war refugee, missing what I left behind!”
‘Albanian News’ issued its first paper copy last month. For a short period, the newspaper has managed to cooperate with the relevant institutions such as the Embassy of Albania and Kosovo, with the Consulate General of Kosovo in Toronto, and with the largest and most active associations from most provinces in Canada coast to coast whose activities have often been a source of information, and a proper address for communication. The paper documents community activities and individual achievements profiling successful Albanians in Canada 'Profile of the week'.