Rifat & Ela

Rifat (23), from Malisheva, and Ela (22), from Ferizaj, are now raising two children in Germany. Not long before that, they were two strangers separated by a border and by a whole world of hesitation: he was lonely in a foreign city, and she never imagined love could begin on a screen. All it took was like on dua.com and a first message brave enough to stay with them forever.

Rifat is the kind of person who decides quickly and does not spend much time looking back. At 21, with a suitcase and a work visa, he left Malisheva for Germany and stepped into a life far from everything familiar. Today, at 23, he works delivering bread for a bakery, starting his day while most of the city is still asleep. He is direct, almost without a filter. When he feels something, he says it, even when saying it feels risky.

Ela is different, and maybe that is exactly why they fit. From Ferizaj, she is a make-up artist with a steady hand, turning faces into art. At 22, she is calm, independent, and careful with trust. When she was 18, her mind was on work, not romance. Love was not part of her plan. But behind that careful distance was someone who, she chose, chose fully.

A first December away from home can feel cold in more ways than. Rifat felt that loneliness deeply, between long working hours and an apartment that waited for him empty every evening. night, scrolling through TikTok, he came across a dating app made for Albanians: dua.com. That small detail meant something big to a young man missing home.

"I had heard about dua.com much earlier, but back then I was not ready to use it," he says. "When I was in Germany and felt very lonely, that was when I felt ready."

He downloaded it and filled out his profile. In Ferizaj, Ela wanted nothing to do with dating apps. Her cousins kept nudging her: "Download dua.com, that is where you will find your destiny." She installed it mostly to make them happy, not because she expected much. She even paid for Premium. She had no idea how quickly she would change her mind.

It was December 2022. Rifat was getting likes on his profile, and of them came from Ela. They matched. Then Rifat did something very few people would dare to do. His very first message was, word for word:

"Are you ready for me to send the matchmakers?"

No small talk, no games, no slow build-up. Ela froze for a moment and answered with the thing that came to mind:

"Are you sure?"

Then came silence. Ela disappeared without explaining why. For two full weeks, Rifat waited for a sign, until his hope slowly started to fade. Just when he had almost convinced himself that everything had ended before it began, Ela's name appeared again. They talked for another two weeks inside the app, exchanged numbers, and a conversation that began like a proposal slowly became something real.

The timing was almost strange: Ela replied just as Rifat was preparing to travel to Kosovo, as if the moment had been waiting for them. They agreed to meet, and their first meeting happened in Ferizaj. True to himself, Rifat did not hide his intention. "Are you ready to start a relationship?" he asked her directly. That day, Ela did not answer. She left the question hanging.

The next day, they met again. Rifat waited with the patience of someone who knew what he wanted. This time, Ela said: "Yes."

"It was very emotional," she remembers, "because I gave Rifat my answer." three days later, both families met. Things were moving faster than anyone expected, including the two of them.

On their third meeting, Rifat asked more, as if he needed final confirmation for a lifetime decision: "Are you sure you want to continue life with me?" Ela's answer opened the door to everything that came after.

That same day, they went to Peja and bought gold. On February 1, 2023, a few weeks after the first message, they were married. They celebrated the joy in both homes, first with Rifat's family and then with Ela's.

The road was not all easy. At Rifat's home, his parents were cautious. They wondered if Ela was the right girl and advised their son not to rush. But from that first like, Rifat had felt that Ela would be the mother of his children, and nothing could shake him. In Ela's home, the support came immediately: "My daughter, if you love him and you are sure, we are behind you," her family told her.

Everything happened at a pace that still feels almost unbelievable to them:

• December 2022 – match and first message
• January 2023 – first meeting in Ferizaj and meeting the families
• February 1, 2023 – marriage
• February 9, 2024 – Riel is born
• October 28, 2025 – Riela is born

On the day they exchanged rings, Rifat and Ela made a promise of their own: every child they would day have would carry two letters from each of their names. A piece of him, a piece of her, joined forever.

And that is exactly what happened. Their son, Riel, was born on February 9, 2024: "Ri" from Rifat, "El" from Ela. Almost two years later, on October 28, 2025, their daughter Riela arrived, built from the same syllables and carrying the same meaning. "So they never forget where their names come from," they say. If a third child comes day, the name is already ready: Eldi for a boy, Elda for a girl.

Their family grew while distance was still part of their life. For a while, Rifat was in Germany while Ela was in Kosovo with their little. For Rifat's birthday, she prepared a small cake with a message written in the voice of a father who was still following his family through a screen: "Daddy, I am coming through the camera."

But the sweetest surprise came from him. A week before May 30, Ela's birthday, Rifat appeared at her door without warning. They had not been in touch that day, and Ela had already started to worry. When she opened the door and saw him, she was speechless. "The surprise was that I came to Ela week earlier without her knowing," he says now, when asked about the most romantic thing he has ever done.

Not everyone welcomed their story. Comments and gossip followed them for four to five months, often from people who did not even know them. "The biggest challenge was the resistance and gossip from people who did not want to see us together," Rifat says. Ela also faced the question many young women hear: why was she marrying so young?

Today, with two children and a life they built step by step, their answer does not need many words.

"It changed my life. Now, with two children, I feel settled. A dream came true," Ela says.

Rifat sums it up in sentence: "If I had to say it in word: it changed my life for the better."

When asked why he would recommend the platform, Rifat answers from experience: "I found the love of my life, and I would tell anyone who is single to try their luck." His message to anyone still waiting is as direct as his first text:

"Download dua.com and do not stay single."

Find the love of your life on dua.com 💙