PRISTINA – Kosovo’s first microbrewery Sabaja, located just outside the city in Gracanica continues to find growing success as they enter their fourth year of business. Working with local restaurants, supermarkets and festivals, such as Beer Fest Kosova. Sabaja founder Alex Butler has made a name for himself and his partners in the Kosovo beer scene.

In a small office south of the Bill Clinton statue in Pristina, Nora Cukaj scrolls through a picture album on Facebook. The page for her organization —Let’s Do It Kosova – is filled with pictures from projects across the country. With a bright red fingernail, she pointed at the most recent set of pictures. Two men stand in a shallow river, pulling paper and plastic from a tangle near the pillar of a bridge.

Nita Qena handpainted the entire monument herself last February and has been involved in the Newborn sign’s evolution since Ismaili, her husband, revealed it when Kosovo gained independence on February 17, 2008. She hoped to use environmentally-friendly paint to fit the theme, but Qena had to use oil-based paint in order for the design to handle all kinds of weather until the monument is repainted next February.