Buddying up for an Albanian visit

Recently, Anna and Chris - two child sponsors and World Vision supporters who had never met - requested to visit the same community in Albania at the same time. We decided to put them together for our first ever combined visit that turned out to be a great success.

Anne unfortunately broken her thumb since she got back to the UK and wasn't able to send us her thoughts, but here are Chris' reflections on their joint adventure:

I first considered visiting Elvana when her letters regularly said that she’d really like to meet me and thought, ‘I’d really like to meet you, too.’

Having made my plans, a little apprehensive as I was travelling alone to a country whose language was completely different from my own; I learnt that another lady, Anne was planning the same trip, on the same day! What a relief!

World Vision UK put me in touch with Anne and our plans became reality.

We stayed in the Albanian capital city, Tirana, where the traffic and driving have to be seen to be believed!

We were collected on the morning of the visit and taken to Lehza. Our driver drove us safely and expertly to our destination, along with Jona, Florida and other members of World Vision Albania.

On our arrival, we were introduced to World Vision staff and I was very soon meeting with the Elvana and some of her family.

Meeting Elvana

Elvana and her young brother, Eridon, were a little shy at first, but soon began to relax. Their mother seemed as pleased to see me as I was to meet her and greeted me warmly.

I had learnt one or two Albanian words and she had learnt on or two English ones and with the help of the World Vision staff translating, we managed to converse pretty well!

Once we’d spent a little time getting to know each other, we all climbed back into two vehicles (one for each family) and were taken to a school just outside the city. This was a school and community who have been supported by World Vision.

It was end of term and the students were putting on a show – music, dance, even some Shakespeare! It was loud, lively and, above all, the students were loving it. We arrived part way through and were greeted warmly by the head teacher and shown to our seats in the front row facing a brightly coloured banner with the words ‘Thank you World Vision’ creatively written across it.

Following the performance we were lead upstairs where a buffet had been laid out for us. We were introduced to a number of the school’s staff and a delightful young lady, who spoke perfect English and told us about a project she was involved with called Youth Vision which, we were assured we would see more of later.

The school staff proudly showed us an excellent display of the children’s work about healthy living.

After this we were taken back in the vehicles to separate restaurants for a special time getting to know our families and to enjoy a meal together.

It was a time when Elvana and Eridon relaxed considerably and, with the help of the translators, we were able to find out a bit more about each other. It was lovely to be able to give them one or two gifts – I’m not sure how Eridon managed to eat his dinner, so attached was he to the badminton racquets and shuttlecocks I took!

Following the delicious meal and a very happy time with Elvana’s wonderful family came the sad part of saying farewell.

I know that having met her, it will help me picture her and her family, her city and the surrounding beautiful countryside where she lives. I know what the homes and schools are like in the area. It has helped me understand how the community has benefitted from the support of World Vision and encouraged me that my support is worthwhile! My time with Elvana and her family will live with me forever.

Youth Vision

Having said our ‘goodbyes’, we had one more visit to pay. It was short but...Wow! What an inspiring group of people we were about to meet!

Youth Vision were out in the city making women aware of health issues (in particular, breast cancer.) We met again, the young lady (just 18 years old) we’d met at the school and her group of friends.

They explained in confident, perfect English that they meet twice a week for two hours to plan their projects. The women’s health project was their second and they were about to make a TV documentary!

They said, "Ours is a poor country, so we have to do something about it."

They were supported by World Vision, but the initiative was very much from them. They all had ambitions to go onto further education and study a variety of courses from education to social work to medicine and every one of them wanted to help others.

I will never forget my short time spent talking with this amazing group of young people... with the support of World Vision; they are leading the way to a better future for Albania!

I am delighted to have met Elvana and her delightful family. I am grateful for the opportunity to see firsthand what’s being achieved, and for all World Vision does in the community of my sponsored child. I really enjoyed my visit to the project with Anne. Finally, a special thank you for introducing me to Youth Vision...what an experience!

Thanks to Chris for sharing her thoughts from such an inspiring visit. If you have any questions, click over and join the discussion on Facebook.