A Week in Albania

The highlights of our week have been giving service at the Vlore Orphanage and giving away three wheel chairs. On Thursday the two sets of elders and the sisters accompanied us to the Vlore Orphanage to spend a couple of hours playing with the children. Right now they only have 16 children all under 6 yrs. When they are old enough to go to school they send them to a different orphanage. The little one in the orange shirt stole my heart.

Friday was an interesting day. We were stopped by the police on our way to Tirana. We had no idea why and the officer couldn't speak English. So one of the only Albania phrases we know is "We don't understand!" That must have worked since he waved us on our way. We picked up wheel chairs at the mission home basement and drove to the city of Elbasan. The drive was interesting, scary and beautiful over a very winding mountain road with lots of hair pin curves. The views were stunning but with very few barriers on the sharp curves and drop offs of hundreds of feet it was white knuckle drive.

In Elbasan we gave away three wheel chairs to needy recipients. One was to a very feeble 80 year old woman who is looked after by a daughter-in-law and two granddaughters. We presented it to her in her humble home. It is rewarding to know she can now have more enjoyment in her life in her senior years. One of the others was presented to a man who could no longer work because of the loss of part of one leg. The Church Humanitarian Services provides good wheel chairs with rugged wheels for the rough conditions on the streets and sidewalk here.

Our days are busy so we must be making some progress. We look forward to getting settled in our apartment in Tirana and finally have our things out of suitcases. That should happen in another week.