Growing up
Ikbale was born in 1936 in Albania in the capital city of Tirana. Ikbale was the sixth and youngest child in a large, close-knit family. She grew up surrounded by her three brothers and two sisters in family as well as her parents.
Albania was one of the first countries occupied by the Axis Powers in World War II.Ikbale’s childhood was spent growing up under the shadow of occupation by the Italian armed forces from 1939 to 1944. 
In spite of the difficulties experienced by her family and others in Albania, Ikbale’s naturally joyful spirit shone through. She was much loved by her father who often teased her for being a “tomboy”. As a young girl, she would often play in her family's garden, climbing the nearby fruit trees to collect almonds, cherries, plums and figs. She was impulsive, friendly and talkative, which lead her father to declare to everyone at the dinner table, "We don't need a radio, we have Ikbale!"
In school, Ikbale studied hard, but loved sports more. She would spend long hours in the gym practicing gymnastics often until all the other students had gone home. Then she would beg the teachers to let her stay so she could continue to practice! On vacation days, Ikbale would travel to the beach with her family. On those days she could be found swimming or tanning on the nearby local beaches of the Adriatic Sea.
In 1944, towards the end of World War II, the Albanian resistance fighters finally defeated the Italian forces and liberated the country. A communist government was established and modeled after the USSR (Soviet Union). Though the living conditions initially improved for Albanians, the communist regime was autocratic and repressed individual expression. Ikbale remembers how people she knew in her neighbourhood simply would “disappear” during the night. Shopkeepers, for example, could be arrested if they had no bread in their stores. Political expression was prohibited by the government. Simple freedoms were denied. Ikbale recalls that people, for example, were not allowed to have personal cameras as the government feared they might record unfavourable events.
