Our purpose

As humanitarian missionaries for the Church of Jesus Christ of latter-day saints our purpose is to find organisations and individuals who are already working with the poor and needy. We identify ways that we can support and strengthen these organisations so that their capacity is expanded.  We look for partners who we can  work with on projects which will be sustainable, and  in this way, we help people to help themselves. Our aim is to relieve suffering and foster self-reliance for families of  all nationalities and religions.

This is the health centre in the village of Grabjan which is aprrox. 1 hour outside Tirana. We received a request to go there because they were needing some basic items of equipment.

Shall we start with a list?

New chairs for our waiting room please....

Very hard-working but frozen doctor.

Serious problems with leaking roof and building subsidance

Nurses office, Ola's heart went out.......

This is one of 3 nurses serving approx 5500 people, with 2 doctors.

The clinic provides all healthcare for families including babies and children.  The babys slide out of these scales so that is definitely on the list!!

These  pictures shows the simple life these villagers live. Their livlihood is mainly agriculture and they raise  sheep, chickens, pigs, cows etc. The staff at the medical centre work do a terrfic job in difficult conditions with limited resources.

Out and about in Tirana

Here is our local police station. Dave gets saluted every time  he passes! Because he has the title 'Plaku' he gets respect!  ps  Plaku=old man.

 This is a common scene, older men gather together outdoors for games of chess, backgammon and dominoes.We see them everyday on the pavement or in the squares. 

Recycling!!

 This is the wiring for these apartments, (ours is a little better than this). There are no poles or pylons, the wires are attached wherever.

                                                      Electricians required!!!

Ola supporting local economy

These two teddies look so innocent hanging out to dry???......then we noticed teddies everywhere.......
stuck onto fences, tied to garden posts, attached to flagpoles, on half-finished buildings, in people's doorways??? Why, we asked, and were told that the teddy is there to ward off the 'evil eye', the teddy becomes the focus of the evil eye and so misfortune or bad luck is directed away from the  property.

Albanian language is extremely difficult to learn and we had no  training before we arrived. Here is Dave studying Albanian verbs.

Talking to a friend; no Albanian needed.

Our neighbourhood

   This is where we live,  middle building, top floor, at the back. The street is Boulevardi Bahram Curri.

 This is the river Lana which flows down from the nearby mountains carrying a lot of junk. Workers wade into the water and clear all the  rubbish out of the dam. We saw a fridge in there one day.

 This is a good example of thrift and hard work. She is an expert knitter producing lovely woolly socks and slippers. Ola was inspired by her to buy needles and wool and has managed to finish a scarf!

This is  the local creperie across the road.

Ola likes the  pana nutella (chocolate, cream and bananas),

          Dave goes for Hawaiian (chocolate, pineapple,banana,coconut).