Albania, Land of Eagles (and Bright Young Kids)

Kath Parker, a World Vision Child Sponsor,  has just returned from meeting her sponsored child Ermelinda in Albania. Here she blogs about her wonderful experience and her perceptions of this incredible country.

Tirana, the capital

The manic dust of the traffic and noise of the constant horns is in sharp contrast to the extremely polite and generous friendly nature of the people. Take them out of a car, and the Albanian you meet on the street seems a genuinely friendly person. Even with the language barrier, through gestures, pointing and the occasional smattering of English and Italian, most people are enthusiastic to engage in conversation.

Traveling away from Tirana the views changed from high-rise, coloured apartment blocks to square-shaped, 3-storey houses, often surrounded by a small field with one bony cow or tall haystack and the occasional shepherd with a small flock.

Eljona, a World Vision Albania staff member, explained how since the fall of communist state 20 years ago, the collective farms have been split up and many families now only own a very small piece of land; enough to grow a few vegetables, maybe some grapes, and one cow. Some of the more remote villages have not had any electricity for 60 years, and the occasional horse and cart can still be seen out here.

Eljona explained the correct way to greet other people was to ‘hug’ and on arrival at the project office I made a faux pas by hugging Gjert, the Area Development Project (ADP) manager, much to his surprise! The greetings clarified – hugs for women and children, shake hands for men – Gjert outlined the projects World Vision were working on here and the ones I would get to visit.

School visit

After meeting the very friendly World Vision staff we paid a visit to Ermelinda’s school, which is relatively new at only 4 years old. Lessons had previously been taught in the local church.

The boys on the school council proudly explained the children are responsible for cleaning their own school: a great way to teach children about looking after their environment. I suggested this was also good for equality and when the boys are married with a home of their own, they will be able to help clean their house as many husbands in the UK do! This suggestion was greeted with great amusement, as it would be in any school I am sure.

The children were very interested in life in the UK and asked lots of questions about the London Olympics, where I lived and what I thought about their school and their country! They showed a really good grasp of English and an astute interest in politics.

They were surprised when I explained I didn’t live in London and I watched the Olympics on the TV because the tickets were really expensive! We also talked about aspects of our countries that are similar, such as farming of crops and raising animals such as sheep and cows, as well as corruption of politicians!

I asked the children how World Vision and the sponsorship project had helped their school. The children’s council was given some money and used it to buy curtains for the school and decorated it with flowers. They have created noticeboards on the walls for the pupils to display creative project work, and have arranged a visit to Kruja and its museum.

The children explained they meet regularly to organise activities to celebrate various festivals, and the lead for the organisation of these activities comes from the children themselves rather than the teachers. What a great way to learn planning and team-work skills!

Lunch with Ermelinda and her family

After our visit to the school, Eljona, Dennis and I went to a restaurant for lunch with Ermelinda, her parents and sisters and two of the teachers from the school. The children were very shy, but, through the excellent World Vision staff interpreting, we managed to have a little conversation over our meal. Terezina, Ermelinda’s mother, wanted to know all about my family, especially my parents and my niece, Solja, who I have sent lots of photos of. I was pleased to learn their eldest son, Augustini, is at university studying IT and Ermelinda has ambition to become a vet when she leaves school.                  

The Albanian tradition of bringing some fruit from your own garden when you meet a friend was enjoyed by all of us with Ermelinda’s family grapes – red and beautifully sweet.

We exchanged a few small gifts, and lots of hugs, and enjoyed a very special day. I received a splendid pottery eagle (the national symbol of Albania), beautiful hand-made knitted slippers and crocheted table mat.

I had tried to take what I hoped were practical gifts for Ermelinda’s family and a few special treats for her. For me, the photographs and memories are more important than gifts and the honour of being able to meet such a loving family and experience such a noble and proud people was the most moving part of my visit.

Take-home memories

The main impressions I have taken away with me of Albania, is the friendliness and generosity of the people. There is a lot of enthusiasm for working hard, especially among the school children, who are filled with energy and optimism to achieve their goals. The children I met were very respectful of their teachers, and adults generally, and conducted themselves in a mature, quietly confident manner.

I hope as Albania continues to develop economically as part of Europe, they are able to retain this strong culture of respect for others, their community spirit and close families. I also hope the individual children I met are able to pursue their ambitions with support from the State as well as organisations like World Vision.

If you have any questions for me about my trip you can post them here or on World Vision’s Facebook page. Click here to see photo album with more pictures of this amazing country.

Any views or opinions contained in this blog are those of the individual author and do not necessarily represent those of World Vision