"My name is  . I teach in the kindergarten where we have 11 children aged 3 to 6. Some of them are from our village, but there are also children from more distant places. In the village and at home the children speak "our language", and in the kindergarten and at school they talk Albanian. Children are brought by family members or by older children from the school. We don't let them walk alone because it's dangerous. We used to have 35 children in the kindergarten, but every year there are fewer and fewer. That's how it is today. The village is isolated, communication with the city is very difficult, and people flee to the cities or abroad".

But some have returned to Cërnalevë. One of them is Seladin Xhaferaj. After eight years as headmaster of the village school, he moved to Tirana. Now he has returned to Gòra to teach grades 1 to 4. Seladin is a man with a keen interest in the language of his ancestral homeland. In his opinion, it would be a good thing if it were taught in schools, so that young people of Bulgarian origin in Albania could also speak modern Bulgarian, and not just the dialect preserved in Gòra.

The headmaster of the school in Cërnalevë since October 2022 is Lyabdrim Enishai. Asked why he decided to stay in the village, he replied:

"Many people have left. But I don't feel like running away. This is my home. If I leave, who will stay? If the state helps us, both states - Albanian and Bulgarian, those who left could return and life here could improve. Thank you for visiting us. We are your minority. At home we speak our own language, Bulgarian, at school we speak Albanian, but there is an interest among the people to learn Bulgarian at school". 

Since the autumn of 2023, the municipality of Kukës, which includes the Bulgarian villages in Gòra, has had a new mayor - Albert Halilaj. During a meeting with the Bulgarian ambassador in Tirana, Ivaylo Kirov, Mayor Halilaj assured that the municipality was committed to improving living conditions in Gòra, in close cooperation with the Bulgarian state. The mayor also confirmed to Radio Bulgaria that he and his team were committed to making a more tangible and rapid change for Bulgarians.

 

"We know about the problems with the infrastructure, with the health services, with the conditions in the primary schools. Together with the embassy, we have drawn up a roadmap of measures to tackle these problems step by step. I also guarantee that with the reconstruction of the Palace of Culture in Kukës, we will open a pavilion to present the culture, traditions, typical dishes and traditional clothing of the Bulgarian community". 

As a sign of good will to solve the problems of the Bulgarian minority in the Gora region, Agron Nouredinaj from the Gòra village of Oreshkë, who was educated in Bulgaria, has been appointed deputy mayor in the new Kukës administration.