Scenes in and around Tirana

This is our neighbour and alarm clock!!

 Fruit veg and fresh chickens for sale!

 You never know who will be parked outside when you go out!!

 Or who will try very hard to sell you something you really don't want!

 Waiting for work, often in vain.....

 Maybe he has the right idea.

 Recycling is a big activity mainly for the Roma

These industrious women have picked various 'weeds' from the grass to sell as well as olives, nuts and veg. 

 Three lanes of traffic! Much nicer than driving in Tirana........

 Careful weighing of the carrots, every leke counts!

 This is what you get when you order fruit salad for dessert!

 Typical scene at the end of our street

Carrying cans to recycle, passing our front door!

Tranquil and content.....one of my favourite pics!

Vision project Mother Teresa hospital

Donation of laser and slit lamp to treat diabetic retinopathy which can cause blindness within 5 years if left untreated

Dr Mehr came from U.S. to train staff how to use it. They know the theory but lacked  the equipment.

These are the some of the residents who received training and the expectation is that they will train others and so vision care for people in Albania will greatly improve

'Gezuar'! (Cheers)

On his last night the docs took Dr Mehr, his Dad and us out to dinner, to say thank you 

Dr Mehr was interviewed on Albanian TV by Flamur Topi who is the brother of the President of Albania

We shared some Albanian culture with our guests such as crepes, and a traditonal way to serve lamb.

And he brought some English crackers for us from the U.S.!

Journey to the centre of Albania

If you look closely you can see a line going across the mountain just above the cloud? This is the road to the town of Elbasan. In parts, there is no barrier on the side of road! Ola has never seen the spectacular views due to eyes wide shut!!

These children belong to one big family, 15 in all aged 4-17yrs old. All are orphans, some biological and some for social reasons.

There was great excitement when 2 new washing machines a fridge and hoover arrived!

Warm blankets for everyone, footballs for the boys, and beads for the girls.                                          Are those for us?

Of course they are!

As you can see this home is well-run and the children are delightful and well cared for.Included in this pic are the director,social worker, teacher and driver.

Trip to Frankfurt

In March all the humanitarian couples serving in Eastern Europe went to Frankfurt for training.

Ola had a fall five days before we left badly injuring her ankle and ended up with a cast and crutches!

We stayed at the Frankfurt temple which is in a lovely village called Friedrichsdorf. Dave got good exercise pushing me along the cobbled streets, and we had a great conference with all the others.

Little people in abandoned baby unit in Tirana

These tiny clothes all in very good condition were found in the office basement

Dave doing the ironing but not watching John Wayne

Lovely knitting from a lady in Frankfurt

Dave is enrolled as an official cuddler for the abandoned baby unit

Ola is not asleep, she is singing to Jason.

Somebody loves me.

Visit to the tailor

 Albanians are very blunt as this tailor was when Dave walked in off the street and asked for a pair of trousers, lucky it was in Albanian!

Three days later, as promised, trousers were made, perfectly!

Mother Teresa hospital, paediatric haematology ward.

Medical staff in Albania are well-trained but lack many resources that we take for granted,. Often have to make do with old equipment and work in difficult circumstances.

This is Valerio. He is 12 yrs old and has leukaemia, He has spent most of the last 5 months in hospital receiving chemo. His grandmother stays with him and does all the laundry in the room. She cooks as well on a little stove.  The family are very poor but you can see the great spirit this child has. 

A couple of fridges and a clothes dryer for the ward has helped to clear the rooms of the clutter of food and laundry

New equipment is gratefully received. This is the smallest blood pressure cuff I have ever seen!

 New books and puzzles help to occupy these children during the long stays in hospital

Trip to Greece

In Febuary we went to Athens to investigate the possibility of the Church doing humanitarian work there. We stayed near the Acropolis so we were in a central location. 

As we walked around we saw many interesting sights. There was excavation going on all over Athens. 

Architecture popping up out of bushes added to the uniqueness of Athens!

            Sorry we don't speak Greek, we've got Albanian name tags on and we're from England!!

Can I just have your shoes then please?

We walked  a very long way to the highest point in Athens

 Not as fortunate as motor-hound here!!

These people are queuing up to receive food. There are about 500 people here. We didn't take any more pics as it was distressing enough for them to be in these circumstances. Father V. told us that there are 73 food shelters like this run by the Greek Orthodox Church, they also have 16 elderly care homes, 2 baby homes and 2 homes for disabled people. We also contacted  other organisations such as Caritas who deal mainly with refugees. Funds to provide humanitarian aid have now been allocated to Greece and it is anticipated that a full time humanitatian couple will be sent there in the near future.

Before we left Elder Willis tried out for the local jazz band