This week we drove to Vlore which is 3 hours south of Tirana. It was nice to leave the city and see a bit more of Albania. We had pre-arranged visits set up to visit the hospital and the orphanage there.
The intensive care unit has 11 beds and one vital signs monitor for all!
This is a machine to clear people's airway, you can see why they would like a new one!
They perform surgery here without the benefit of proper ceiling theatre lights; they walked us in to an operating room where there was a patient on the table having surgery....Dave was brave and didn't faint! We hope to help this hospital with new equipment.
Next we went to the orphanage.....this was the greeting we received! The children just wanted to be picked up and played with.....which is what we did.
Fortunately this transpired to be a well-run orphanage funded by the government. The children are happy and well looked after, well-fed and clothed. It is a bright cheery place with good staff.
Some of them transfer here from the abandoned baby unit in Tirana when they are approx 8 months old; others are left here by mothers who cannot look after them. They live here till they are 7.
The little girl to Dave's left called him GJYSHI pronounced jooshie,,,,,it means Grandad.
This visit was a happy experience for us but we know that it probably won't always be the case.
