Paving the way in Kosovo

Reporters on the Job: On the face of it, you might not expect that a profile of a man who builds highways would be a compelling story. But during the last couple of reporting trips to Kosovo, I found that Fatmir Limaj’s name kept popping up in conversations. I soon discovered he was one of the most popular people in the country. (Read the Monitor's story here.)

Why? Well, at one level, Kosovars are very practical people. The highways weren’t working. In fact, roads were so bad in winter that people couldn’t leave their villages. They were literally moving to the capital city of Pristina to survive. Mr. Limaj dealt with the problem – and everyone can see the results.

One woman who worked for the highway department told me she realized how significant their work was when the milkman in her village stopped her to say that Limaj had changed his life.