Besarta & Shkëlqimi

Besarta from Lipjan and Shkëlqim from Kumanovo now live happily married in Switzerland. Two Albanian hearts once separated by great distance were united by unexpected love, thanks to the app dua.com, which connects Albanians wherever they are.

Who are Besarta and Shkëlqimi?

Besarta (34), a successful woman from Lipjan, educated, carefully built her career in marketing and politics. Deeply rooted in Kosovo.

Shkëlqim (34), originally from Kumanovo, raised and educated in Switzerland, is a young, successful entrepreneur with a stable professional life and his own business.

For Besarta, the idea of leaving her life in Kosovo to start anew in Switzerland was challenging. Similarly, Shkëlqim doubted finding someone willing to leave everything for love. Yet, love proved stronger than doubts and distance when dua.com connected them.

Stigma around dating apps and dua.com’s difference

Although today they’re happily together, Besarta never imagined finding love through a dating app.

“Generally, there was a stigma about dating apps in our society—thinking people mostly sought quick encounters, like one-night stands, rather than serious relationships,” she candidly explains.

However, in March 2021, just one day before turning 30, she decided to download dua.com.

Solving anxiety and loneliness

She still vividly remembers matching with Shkëlqim on March 16, 2021, a day before her 30th birthday, only 3-4 days after joining dua.com.

It was a reflective period, full of challenges. Having faced anxiety, she felt somewhat lonely. At 30, single, she sought a change—not because of her age, but due to loneliness.

“I wanted someone who understood and listened to me, someone to fill the void. Sometimes you miss someone even if you’ve never met or seen them,” she recalls. Meeting Shkëlqim changed everything.

When paths of love crossed in Tirana

The distance from Kosovo to Switzerland was significant, and Covid-19 made traveling difficult. Symbolically uniting Albanian territories, fate had their first meeting take place in Albania’s capital, Tirana.

Besarta traveled from Kosovo to Tirana’s airport to meet a man from Switzerland she’d never met.

Alone, emotional, one question lingered: “What if he doesn’t come?”
“I thought, what if I travel all the way to Tirana and he leaves me waiting at the airport?” she remembers. Nevertheless, her intuition was right; he arrived.

“I risked a lot, especially by not telling my dad”

“I left Lipjan by taxi to Tirana’s airport, where I’d wait for him. Neither of us knew each other. I only told my mother, sister, and brother—not my father,” recalls Besarta. recalls Besarta.

She emphasizes her close bond with her father, hesitating to tell him she would meet a man she didn’t know—typical hesitation among Albanian women discussing life partners with their fathers.

From love “at first voice” to marriage

Besarta confidently describes their relationship as love “at first voice,” since their connection began by talking and hearing each other’s voices.
After their first meeting, their communication never ceased. For months, they shared beliefs, values, and future plans.

Eventually, she visited Shkëlqim in Switzerland, experiencing his everyday life, hearing his voice not just on the phone, but in their shared daily moments.

“When I got vaccinated against Covid, I went to Switzerland for the first time, stayed 10 days, and saw firsthand the life I could build there,” explains Besarta.

A new life and family in Switzerland

Their love became official in August 2021, followed by engagement in August 2022, marriage in August 2023, and completed with their daughter’s birth in November 2024—the ultimate symbol of their unity.

Two different characters, one great love

Besarta is lively, energetic, and expressive. Shkëlqim is calm, composed, and gentle. “We’ve found the balance we lacked,” she says, highlighting true love’s beauty—complementing each other rather than being identical.

Ultimately, the story of Besarta and Shkëlqim is more than a love story. It proves that even in dark times of loneliness, one small decision can ignite a significant light.

For them, dua.com wasn’t just an app—it was a doorway opened precisely when they needed it most.