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

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).