I'm back, but my body isn't sure yet...

The Grand Mosque

It's been almost a week since my last day in Albania.  Last Tuesday, I got up at 6 am Albania time (9 pm Monday on the West Coast), and finally pulled my "wheelie" through the front door 29 hours later.  A long day!  My trip was pretty much without a hitch, except the last leg.  You see, spring along the West Coast is accompanied by "June gloom"...  FOG!  Santa Maria Airport was closed and my flight was canceled.  Thank goodness that United Airlines opted to send us in a van so we didn't have to find a room for the night and then make the one hour flight the next morning.

I'm fascinated by all the wires!

The day before I left, Monday, dawned sunny and warm in Tirana... no fog there and no rain, thank goodness!  After spending some time planning, making final disbursements and beginning "final packing," I headed downstairs for breakfast and a meeting with Frank and Ornela from the prison minisitry.

Evening produce market

Recall that during our first week, we met with three social workers employed by a prison ministry in Albania.  Apparently, the only women's prisons in Albania are in Tirana; there are two.  First is the permanent "camp" where sentences are served (housing 80 or so women), and the other is "pre-detention" where women are housed before and during their trials (about 40 women).  Personal resources and hygienic supplies are sometimes inadequate in both prisons, so much of the ministry's budget is spent meeting those needs.  Recall, though, that sewing machines have been placed by this ministry in both prisons, and that a seamstress visits each prison twice weekly.  So, how might we be able to help? 

The Opera House - after the Big Dig

National Museum after the Big Dig!

Well, it seems that recently they have decided to look for an ongoing project, one that would allow  churched women to meet with the prisoners once a month or so.  We discussed our ministry and what we have been doing.  There was general agreement that using the "quilting bee" format to make quilting blocks which could then be made into a quilt, pillow or wall hanging would fit their plan just fine... they were ready to start next month... Whoa!  We need to partner with a church.  And, we need supplies.  And, we need to know how many women would participate, whether we would start with the pillow first, and so on.  So, we spent some time addressing these issues, and decided that we will target start date as next fall.

Huma and Hebibe, Donna watching

At work!

Next, on to the International Protestant Assembly... to help them finish the pillows begun Friday.  Huma was there, and raring to go.  We finished the back for her first pillow, then she started on the second and proceeded on her own.  Hebibe, who was the first to finish the table runner last spring, meticulously finished her first pillow, and started on her second.  Vitoria, though, who was focused on the goal, needed very little help from me as she completed both pillows and showed everyone the table runner from the last year. 

Hebibe with her pillow

Vitoria, with pillows and table runner

While everyone completed their pillows, I met with Barry, their pastor, and his new women's pastor, Lisa, who hails from Delaware.  Although not a quilter, she seems ready to work on an ongoing sewing group... (or perhaps two - to target those who cannot come during the day), and using the machines to help with church planting in the villages (remember Donna?  She is planting a church, and Huma is one of its prominent members).  And, guess what!  They are willing to consider a women's outreach, perhaps beginning in the fall, to minister to women in jail!  Is that God, or what?  So, we will keep in touch with Lisa, while they'll try to get various quilting fabrics (someone is coming from Ohio soon), and we'll see what we can do to make this happen!  Unbelievable!

These black-clad women are all too common

On to visit Dori - we have had so little time.  But, that requires a 45 minute trek down the river to Tirana Re (New Tirana).  Then a visit with Migena in the only smoke-free coffee bar I've visited so far in Albania.  We needed to clear up a few things for the widows, and to strategize.  We have managed to find her a sewing machine, and the resources to buy a second.  That way, both of the widows we met can travel together into town from Bathore and take lessons from the seamstress Migena has lined up.  Then a trek back to Stephen Center to meet Rudina so she can take me to the women's group from a church plant nearby.

Women at Melodye's kitchen tabl

Well, it's Monday night, and supplies are pretty slim - I've dispensed virtually everything I brought with me.  The stuff I had for them is in the packer that I just found out is still on the tarmac in San Francisco, so I shared with them the purse that Kathie brought, and told them they had a lot of faith... we were making a pillow but they didn't know what it would look like.  And, what's more, we had no machine.  So, we hand sewed the fabrics together and got them started on the block - the instructions are going off to Melodye as soon as I finish here.

Skanderbeg - in the cdenter of the Big Dig

A long and busy day... but such an encouraging one.  It sure seemed like God had left the best 'til last... leaving me with a strong desire to just stay here and get this done.  Well, next time... God willing.  And, perhaps next time we can get a picture of Skanderbeg without a crane behind him!

Mirupafshen!