Mountain zone

                   President Ford has split the mission into 2 groups, mountain zone and coast zone.

                             We are in the mountain zone and here we are at the end of May.

                                  Can you spot mission president? (clue:boys will be boys!)

                     Here we are in August. A few have gone home after serving honourable missions.
                             There are 2 new couples who work in Macedonia and Kosova.

Preparing for Wheelchair project

Wheelchair distribution is one of the major initiatives that the church humanitarian program is involved with. We have spent a good deal of the summer preparing for a big project in November when 300 wheelchairs will be imported into Albania. The need is huge.The government doesn't provide chairs as a matter of course.... Even if you have an accident, or a stroke,you have to find your own chair somehow. You can buy one, but the cost is prohoibitive for most.
Here are a few pictures of people who have chairs although in some cases the chair is ill-fitting.....

  An organisation took us to visit wheelchair-users in their homes. This man has no speech due to a stroke and Dave can't speak Albanian but they still communicated.

This is the sunniest little boy ever, he has brothers and sisters, they live in very poor circumstances.

            This young man is 18, he has been to school for a few years and knows some English.
The used chair, which someone gave him is far too big, so he doesn't use it because it hurts his legs and back. They can't afford another one. He just stays at home.

At their home, Dave drank dhale for the first time, it's very traditional in Albania, it's like  buttermilk!
Here, he's raising his glass to the provider of the milk from which the lady churned the drink.........

                                            ......................thanks cow!!

                         And we were given a few eggs from their chickens to bring home.
                                 Kindness and generosity come naturally to these people.

These  long term wheelchair users had gathered at the next house to greet us when we arrived. They alll had different stories to tell regarding their paraplegia. Also about the difficulties of life as a wheelchair-user, but they were thankful to have a chair.

                                                 The ladies at the house were delightful.

Everything that can be grown to eat was growing there....grapes, apples, pomegranets, lemons, pears, as well as chickens and corn etc. They just picked these grapes off the vine, and a little girl picked me a little posy of assorted flowers. Another big extended family.

 And they had made the beautiful lace tablecloth.

The Customs experience

We knew the large consignment of used clothes and cuddly toys had arrived in Tirana. All we had to do was go to customs and pick it up!!!

                           This is the final stage of the goods being released out of customs.....it took 9 visits, much paperwork, and a lot of sweat before the officials were satisfied to let us have our shipment.

But it was worth it to receive three large boxes of men's clothes and soft toys which had been donated by Dave's previous colleagues (now called Agrii)

This is a shelter for homeless men which is run by the Sister's of Charity which is Mother Teresa's order. They do a great service and would never ask for any help, but were very gratful to receive some of the clothing that came from England.

                             Don't the toys look excited to be going to their new home in Vlore?

                                       The children at the orphanage weren't quite sure at first......

                                                 ......till Elder Willis started to play too

                                                 This little one was just too sick to play.

Summer in Albania

As soon as June arrived the temperatures started to rise. It gradually became unbearable for us poor British and Irish folk, till August came and it was ridiculous at 40-42 degrees......even the Albanians shut up shop, office, stall, market and went to the beach.

 At first, the day would start off okay, then we had to rest indoors from the sun or faint!! This lady is an opera singer and conducts the music at church.

Evenings were the best time when it was cooler. Everyone, young and old, would come outdoors and sit and talks. We could see how strong the tradition of extended families was. This child is with her grandmother (in the white headscarf)! She is practising her english and I my Albanian!



                         We have grown very fond of the 'regulars' we meet in the evenings.

                                  These ladies are all married to the men in the picture above.
                            As you can see they dress up for the occasion of their evening out.

                             Alexandria and Polcrun (centre) have been married for 68 yrs. 

The other couples are similar. We printed some of the pictures we took to give them which they loved.

 We met these gorgeous children in Albanian dress in Vlore which is in the south...the occasion was the opening of a new road tunnel and the prime minister was coming. It just happenned to be right beside where we were staying!

 

They danced for hours while waiting for the PM, fortunately,it was evening and right beside the sea.

                                                               Love this one...............

 

 

These cyclists were also waiting having cycled 500kms from Kosova to present a plaque to the PM.

Back in Tirana...as always,you never know what/who you're going to meet as you walk along the street! Dave decides to try the figs, but they have to be weighed accurately......

                                            City scenes, sea scene and a now country one.

                           We were forced to go to the seaside due to the high temperatures!!!
This is Dave deciding if he will go in the water, having not been in at all yet since we arrived, or maybe just grab a roasted corn cob from that little stall instead.

In the end he decided  to test the deep-sea diver watch he got when he retired from work to see if it really worked in deep water!!

                                                                     It works!!!

         .....and the water's not that deep but now that he's in there he didn't want to get out!

                                                                Young love xxxx

                                                 This is one of our favourite beaches.
            We only got there twice in the summer, although its less than an hour away from Tirana.

                                                                           Oh well.........

                                                                    Back to work...............