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...............

Albanian Alps.....Where eagles dare!!!

Last week we received a request to help a man who lives in a village called Thethi which is in the middle of the Albanian Alps near the border of Montenegro.. He had a bad wound on his foot from a burn 3 months ago! The young elders discovered him when they visited this village the week before on their P-day(day off). They had travelled there on a furgon which is a type of minivan which is used as a taxi. and can get you just about anywhere in Albania on any sort of terrain, due to the reckless abandon of the driver!!

We were told the road wasn't very good. We set off in a large Chevrolet for the 3 hour drive up and over the mountains.

The scenery was spectacular but the road was terrible, full of rocks and boulders and very narrow in places with VERY tight switchbacks!! It was bone-shaking and gut-wrenching. Dave had a hard job keeping the car away from the edge.

We arrived in the totally charming village of Thethi. It is set in the valley with the moutains rising up all round and the tranquillity hits you as soon as you get out of the car. This is the village church, unchanged for centuries.

People live here for Spring and Summer and work their land and look after their animals and are self-sufficient. They leave before the Winter sets in to go and stay in the town as they would be cut-off with snow. Its a simple and healthy life.

The smell of the meadow stays with you long after you've left. The little boxes here are beehives. We saw fields full of corn, and the river had the clearest blue water. We didn't have time to explore very much but there are waterfalls, caves, and other natural beauties

The man with the injury and his wife were glad to see us. This child who is a neighbour is fanning the flies away with leaves.

Amazingly, there did not appear to be a raging infection in the foot and new skin had grown! I advised about keeping it as clean as possible with daily soaking with saline and putting Betadine on which is the only antiseptic I've seen in Albania so far.We were able to leave him some painkillers as he said it was  painful at night. 

Our young translators wrote down the instructions in Albanian.

Apparently there is a community nurse but she came 2 weeks ago and didn't look at the foot; and buying any sort of medicine would be impossible for these people. The Ibuprofen we gave her has travelled all the way from Tesco in England!!

Dinner consisted of a thin lamb roasted on a spit and fresh goats cheese with salad and bread, along with the watermelon we had travelled up the mountain with us.

Have some stuffing Elder, from the lamb's stomach! He had already eaten some tongue, and the rest of the head and brains were offered to everyone.....just couldn't!!!

We loved our trip to Thethi in spite of the difficult and dangerous journey.  We accompished what we set out to do which was an errand of mercy. It was an adventure, but Dave said he would'nt drive there ever again!!

We appreciate the help that these two young men and others here in Albania give us with translation. It's amazing to think that the young missionaries who go out to every country in the world, receive only 3 months preparation in the training centre before they go to the country in which they will serve, and can speak the language fluently and so can teach people in their own tongue.

Community Service on Vlore beach

The members of the Church in Vlore wanted to do a service project in their community.They decided to clean up a part of one of the beaches. They approached us for help with providing equipment.

This is the first 500 metres of the North beach before the project. Litter-dropping is a big problem in Albania. It happens all over the place, including the beach. Albania is a developing country, and the potential for tourism could really be developed with a few changes.

We provided rakes, shovels, wheelbarrows etc.

Everyone worked very hard. Two TV stations took shots and the mayor came for a short while and helped, and wore one of the Mormon Helping Hands yellow vests.

Mission Complete!!

Now this beach can be enjoyed by everyone.

Including us. The sea was like a warm bath, really beautiful especially for tired feet! It's shallow for a long way out.

These little fishing boats were just bobbing about in the sea

Albanian children love having their picture taken.

This beach project took place on June 2nd. We went down to Vlore a couple of weeks later and walked the beach. There was a big machine ploughing up the sand along the rest of the beach, which is quite long, starting from the edge of where our project finished!!