Thursday, 25 March

Yesterday was a "drippy" day, today it is sunny and warm.  Tomorrow and following it is supposed to rain, again.  So, today will be a treat for us here.

Katie is en route as I write this... her flight delayed in San Francisco which means she will miss her connection and will probably be traveling for about 30 hours.  I know she will welcome a warm shower and a flat bed on which to lay down when she gets here.  So, you could pray for her extended trip - her stamina and so on.  I can't wait for her to be here... I have been, somehow, quite lonely.

OK, so I arrived last Thursday... well, Friday morning.  Friday I met with the Berhamis - it is so good to catch up with such good friends - and some other friends.  Saturday, at 7 am, I hopped into Elona's car, with Vasca (her sister) and her children (Garbriel and Sara) and we traveled to Shkoder to see what is happening there.

Recall that Elona is the widow of Tani Prroj, a pastor in Shkoder caught up in a blood feud.  His murderer is in prison now, a 16 year old at the time.  She now pastors his church, and provides food aid and jobs for isolated wives of men who are targets of blood feud as well as some widowed victims.  The church she pastors is located at the same place as it was when Tani was alive... steps away from where he was murdered... a beautiful walking avenue, lined with refurbished buildings originally built over the centuries.  You can see the walking avenue perpendicular to the alley leading to the door of the church.

I think Elona told me that Shkoder hosts both the largest Catholic church and largest mosque in the Balkans - don't hold me to it, I was really tired.   You can see them both from the balcony of their church... look closely and you can see the mineret.  The Catholic church is to the left, and an Orthodox church is to the right - the domed roof - another view on the right.

We visited a woman whose husband was killed in a blood feud some years ago - I don't have my notes right with me.  All the men in his family are dead.  Her own brother was incarcerated for what we would call self-defense in the US - he was targeted by a woman with a Kalashnikov, and he shot back.  It almost started another feud.  I will give you more details after I see Elona again.  She works constructing rosaries for a Muslim owned company which sells them in Italy... interesting bed-fellows.  For each rosary, she is paid 9 lek... about 7 or 8 US cents right now.  She earns a couple of dollars a day.  She cares for a daughter and son and, because her brother is in jail and his wife is always drunk, she also cares for her nephew.  We delivered food aid for 3 months while we were there.

We also visited another family whose men are targeted right now.  Elona and Vasca tell me that people in Shkoder are hot-headed and often solve disputes with guns or knives, either of which can begin a new blood feud... a scuffle, a weapon for self-defense, and the whole clan is at risk! 

We had a lovely lunch on the shores of Lake Shkoder, then Vasca and I attended a youth meeting (up to 35 years old), at which there were two new girls who apparently haven't yet accepted God's gift for them.  I spoke - kind of sleep-walked - about the meaning of a blood sacrifice.  And, Elona and Vasca put me on a van back to Tirana.

The doors of the van closed and I closed my eyes.  The next thing, I was in Tirana, picking up a bus to "home."

I will have to continue this evening.  While I have been sitting here to blog in the restaurant of Stefan Center, I have greeted more than a half-dozen people, taken several phone calls, restored my Firefox session, and I am now quite late for Bathore.

Pafshim!