24 July 2014 I Tirana, Albania [Jennie Hall, tedNEWS] What an amazing time we have all had in Albania. We have been truly blessed to have been given the opportunity to come to, as Leslie says, this ‘hidden treasure’, Albania!
On our last night a group of us carried our beds out and slept under the stars. It was great to be outdoors, looking up at the clear starry skies, and reflecting on the past few weeks.
Our mission trip to Albania lasted over two weeks (22 June – 7 July) and took much planning by the team at ADRA Albania who have strived for many years to help improve everyday living and bring the message of Christ to the people of Albania.
We stayed in Tirana, Albania’s capital, at an ADRA compound and base for the project Love Your Heart.
Our group of 20 was led by Pastor Stephen Wilson and his wife Lindita (Albanian national) who were always on hand to translate and tell us what to do. Pastor Stephen has worked and volunteered in the country for 11 years and now speaks fluent Albanian. As well as looking after his churches in Ireland he continues to support the growing churches in Albania.
We were divided into 2 groups, one week half the group stayed on the campus with the Roma children whilst the other half travelled to churches near and far to help with a health expo and evangelise around the cities. The following week we changed places and on the weekend we all went to Voskopoje in the south to join in with the youth congress.
Every morning we worshipped together and took it in turns to share an inspirational for the day. It was great to start the day all together as a group praising God and praying in small groups. To end each worship we sang: “Lord prepare me to be a sanctuary, Pure and holy, tried and true, with thanksgiving, I’ll be a living sanctuary, Lord for you.”
I was part of the first group to travel around Albania sightseeing and evangelising on the street with literature and providing health checks. At the health checks we took blood pressures and blood sugar levels, giving advise when required. The rest of us walked around the immediate area inviting people to come to the gazebo for a free check-up. I had never been involved in anything like this before especially not in a foreign country so it took a bit of getting used to. It was nice when we had a translator as they got a good response from the elderly, those more likely to need the checks. Often we found that the youth wanted to practice their English so they were easier to talk to and often happy to take some literature.
For the weekend we joined the youth of Albania for their youth congress. We stayed in beautiful Voskopoje, in the mountains of southern Albania. We stayed in a hotel just outside the village, it was luxurious and had beautiful stonework and gardens full of roses, plus the food was great!
It was wonderful to be able to worship with them and get to know everyone. Most of the songs we recognised and we were able to join in in Albanian with the words on the screen, they also did some verses in English for us.
On Sabbath afternoon we headed into the village and did a health expo in the town square. We walked the 15 minutes to town to where the health tent had already been set up and some had started to gather. A few of the group did the health expo whilst some of us sang songs of praise for the whole 2 hours; it was really fun. Poor Eric had sore fingers from the guitar by the end! We also had face paints and a puppet show for the kids, they seemed to really enjoy it and even accepted some books 🙂 others in the group went handing out literature door to door. We must have reached at least 60% of the village. What a fantastic day!
After a busy weekend away in Voskopoje it was our turn to look after the kids whilst the others travelled. It was such an amazing experience that I will never forget. There are approximately 120,000 Roma people in Albania, they originated from India many years ago. They are often not registered in the civil status register and therefore they have no civil rights or benefits such as the right to education. The Roma kids have so much love to give, they just needed gentle encouragement and in no time we were all best of friends. Our team put together fun and educational crafts and activities with very little resources. We had a great time helping them make beautiful pictures by weaving with colourful bags and much more, a little goes a long way.
I know I’m not meant to have favourites but mine was Sonia. She was so trusting and loving towards me, smothering me in kisses and big hugs. She loved to do my hair in different styles and quite easily bossed me around. I love her so much and she will always be in my heart like many of the other children. I pray I can some day see her again and hopefully, by Gods grace, see a change in her circumstances thanks to the love we showed her and the work of ADRA Albania.
On the last day with the children we prepared for each of them a gift bag with school and hygiene supplies as well as a football for the boys and hair things for the girls. They loved receiving their presents one by one and getting an applause and cheers.
We accompanied them back to their village and I was relieved to see brick walls and relatively clean streets. Apparently four years ago it looked a lot different. There used to be sewage in the unfinished streets, no electricity and a lot of corrugated iron in place of bricks! They had fought to get the changes in the area from the government; election time is a good time to get things done! The children invited us into their homes and introduced us to their families, what a lovely community they live in.
We had such a great time. We all got along with each other and the whole trip ran smoothly, what a blessing. I especially enjoyed the spontaneous worships we had daily, one person would start and an hour later we would still be singing. Many times it was Eric’s gentle humming and strumming on the guitar that got us all singing late into the night. What a talent he has and it was great to hear contemporary songs from artists like Matt Redman and Hillsong as well as hymns.
I am going to miss everyone so much. Waking up with friends every morning and starting the day with group worship was such a blessing for me and helped me to remember that we are not alone in the world. We had people from the UK, US and Finland all coming together in Albania to help those who need it the most.
To see more photos from the trip, please click here. [tedNEWS]
tedNEWS Staff: Miroslav Pujic, director; Deana Stojkovic, editor
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