After I was released from prison, all of my rights were limited. I didn’t have the right to work, nor in governmental institutions, nor in sports activities like I did before, nor literary activity. I either had to change my last name or find a connection through friends to publish poems here and there. So, from that small prison, I came out to this big prison called Kosovo, and [it was like that] until I married my husband. Before I had the wedding, I got a marriage certificate so that I could take my husband’s last name. I changed my last name and then I was able to work for about four or five years in the Municipality of Klina. After five years, they tracked me down and fired me from there as well. From there I went to the Municipality of Lipjan, to Gadime. I read in the newspaper that they were looking for a physical education teacher. I submitted my application there, they accepted me and I worked there for a few months. They expected me to be politically compatible with them, a trait that was required at the time. I didn’t have it in me.
Zyrafete Kryeziu Manaj was born in 1958 in Theranda. In 1984 she graduated from the Faculty of Physical Education at the University of Prishtina. From the 1980s and onwards, she worked as a physical education teacher in the March 7 Elementary School in Theranda. She was arrested in 1982 for her political views and sentenced to 18 months in prison. In 1992, she left for Sweden, where she worked as a teacher in the elementary school in Albanian language. Currently, Mrs. Kryeziu Manaj is retired and lives with her family in Sweden.