Nineteen international visitors passed through Oil City, Franklin and Titusville on Thursday as part of a tour of northwest Pennsylvania through the Friendship Exchange program of Rotary International.
Rotarians from Rotary District 2485, encompassing the countries of Kosovo and Albania, were in the area because they were returning a visit from local Rotary District 7280 — northwest Pennsylvania — which District 2485 considers its sister district in one of the world’s largest service organizations.
On Thursday, they visited the Vintage Wings hangar and WWII-era plane “Beach City Baby” at the Venango Regional Airport before traveling to the home of a local Rotary member overlooking the Allegheny, taking a Tiffany window tour at St. John’s Episcopal Church in Franklin, having lunch at Core Goods in Oil City, and visiting Drake Well Museum in Titusville. The trip goes from Oct. 17 through Saturday.
“I have loved that we have seen: warm-hearted people, great spirit and energy,” said Florentina Dushi, of Kosovo, district governor elect for Rotary District 2485. “We’ve been staying with host families, and we feel like it’s at home.”
Zachary Covington, the immediate past governor of Rotary District 7280 and member of the Franklin Rotary Club, said representatives of the local district went to Kosovo in October of last year, when District 2485 was formed, and signed a memorandum to become sister districts.
Butrint Batalli, of Kosovo, immediate past governor of Rotary District 2485, said this trip was his third time visiting Pennsylvania after the now-sister districts began participating in the Friendship Exchange program in 2016.
At that time, Kosovo and Albania had Rotary clubs but lacked the number of members to form a district. However, over those nine years Kosovo Rotarians have traveled to the U.S. three times, including this trip, and northwest Pennsylvania Rotarians have traveled there twice.
The exchange was interrupted during COVID-19, but Batalli and Covington, both governors of their districts in 2024-2025, resumed it last year.
“We have a lot of brothers and sisters here,” Batalli said.
The Rotary Friendship Exchange program is an international exchange program for Rotary members and friends, with the goal of cultural interchange and international friendship, according to the Rotary website.
“We cherish our bond with the U.S.,” Batalli said. “In Kosovo, we celebrate three flag days: Kosovo Flag Day, Albanian Flag Day, and the U.S. Flag Day. We celebrate the Fourth of July. The U.S. is like a big brother to us.”
Following the Kosovo War of 1998 to 1999, in which NATO aided the Albanian forces in Kosovo, the U.S. helped Kosovo and Albania rebuild, and many young people from Kosovo now come to the U.S. for education, said Dushi.
Rotary International’s emphasis on peace is particularly important to her country, she added.
“I was a teenager when the war happened. I became a refugee, so I am one of the war generation,” she said. “To us, it has even more meaning. We always say Rotary teaches us the language of peace, harmony and love.”
Dushi said that this trip to the U.S. allowed her district to glimpse humanitarian projects of Rotary District 7280, providing ideas to take back to communities in need in Kosovo and Albania.
Among the projects were the Day for Girls center in Grove City, where rotary members were packing supplies to send to girls in Africa, Germany and Kosovo, as well as a Crutches for Africa project of Rotary District 7280, which is filling a shipping container at the Mercer County Career Center with equipment like crutches, wheelchairs and prosthetic limbs to send to Africa.
Rotary District 7280’s exchange with Kosovo was started in 2016 by then-District Governor Ruzdhi Bakalli, now of Warren, but originally of Kosovo, Covington said.
Bakalli helped plant Rotary in Kosovo and was also involved in the founding of its democracy in 2008, said “Big Mike” McElhaney, of Indiana, Pa., international service chair for Rotary District 7280.
District 7280 has supported the Kosovo and Albania district through global grants, supporting its school system, getting computers into classrooms, and helping to provide counselors for childhood trauma after the war, Covington said.
The Beqiraj family made up four of the eight Albanians on the trip, and for Artion and Pranvera and their two sons, Noel, 14, and Leor, 10, this was their first time in America.
“We like it. We don’t call it travel, we call it experience,” Pranvera said. She spoke of how “nice” people were, and of the area’s natural beauty.
“We are lucky to visit this place at this time of year,” she said, gesturing to the fall colors and noting that their family is from the city.
After landing in Washington D.C. when they arrived in the U.S., the group stopped in Pittsburgh, where Artion said they saw the famous Pittsburgh incline and rode one of the boats in the Gateway Clipper Fleet. They also visited with 2024-2025 Immediate Past Rotary International President Stephanie Urchick, of McMurray.
“We went past three sports stadiums,” said Noel, who said he “loved” America, and especially America’s sports culture.
“We just have soccer, you guys have everything else,” he said, adding that he bought a Steelers jersey during the stop in the Steel City.
In Albania, Noel has started an Interact Club, a branch of Rotary for youth ages 12 to 18.