Catching up

A patient mule parked along the street

View to left from KidzClub

View to right from KidzClub

View across the street from KidzClub

Leaving Rome, I looked down at a patchwork of verdant farms in the countryside surrounding Fiumicino Airport.  It was a visual treat.  After about 24 hours “on the road,” it was impossible to stay awake for the rest of the 1½ hours over the Adriatic, but an awakening as we approached Tirana, I was saddened to see thick air pollution hovering over the entire landscape from the sea to Tirana… worse than I remember seeing here before.  It seems like to me that air pollution in Tirana hits a peak in the summer… but there had been recent rains and I was surprised to see the smog’s extent.  I pondered what I have been told… the most efficient way to clean the air and environment is to enable countries to prosper… when people can focus on something other than their daily survival, then they desire a cleaner environment.  It grieved me to see so much smog, a reminder of the smog in LA when I was a child.  I prayed for the Albanian economy… improved employment, a vigorous work ethic, a just and stable government.  Peace, stability and justice are all so important for economic development... should we pray these very same things for all the countries of the world, including the US?  I think I should remember to do so more often than I do.

The moment I stepped off the plane, however, I felt at home.  We off-loaded from the plane onto a small tram, were taken a short distance, off-loaded from the tram to immigration, baggage claim and customs.  Albanian people are so hospitable, helpful, and generous with visitors.  I immediately felt at home. 

It was so good to see Alban and Daniel... they were so patient to wait as I worked with customs about my luggage.  On the ride into Tirana, I reveled at familiar sites, personal landmarks (like the building with a log cabin on its roof), palm trees still holding on along the Rruga Durresit.  Once again, Skanderbeg Square is being torn up… I think this is the third time it has been undergoing an overhaul since my first trip.  Finally I arrived at the Qendra Stefan and my home for the next two weeks.  Alban and Amarildo struggled to take all my luggage to the second floor, I bid them good-bye and cleaned up, ate dinner, and fell into bed.

For the third time, I think, Skanderbeg square is being torn up.  Skanderbeg is the national hero who was the first to unite the city-states of Albania - it happened during the conquest of this area by the
Ottomans.  His statue is in the “center” of the city and is surrounded by the Opera, the Museu, and Et’ham  Bey (an historic mosque which survived Enver Hoxha).  The square started out as a traffic circle with the statue in the middle, then there was a plan to put a cistern under the square to handle flooding, this plan was modified to scrap the cistern and put a large grassy area surrounding the statue and diverting traffic around the periphery, and now it is being turned into a large pedestrian mall.  There is, however, nothing to aid the traffic which courses through the center of town at all hours and is now tied up even more!  The route around this new construction changes by the day, and sometimes by the hour.  So, we were tied up in traffic to get around Skanderbeg Square and on to Qendra Stefan. 

As usual, this trip has been so different from my previous trips.  Also as usual, many of the plans penciled in initially, have changed.  Happily, I have spent much of my time with Krystal at the KidzClub, located on a relatively major street in Babrru, a poorer village on the outskirts of Tirana.  You can see what is to the left and right in the two photos above, and the graffiti across from the front gate.  (Please forgive my inability to manipulate these photos into a more interesting montage, but I have been working for well over 2 and 1/2 hours and am ready to throw my computer out the window!  In addition, this is the second time I have written this post, the previous one is frozen.) 

Today we had a health screening - thus, the flags

While at KidzClub, we have had the opportunity to work with English Club, KidzClubs held for various neighborhoods, a health screening for local women and so on.  We’ve done crafts, supervised play, worked on sewing/quilting, enjoyed the company of good friends, and have generally been humbled by the hard work and witness of those on the mission field.

OK, it's 11 pm, and I am frustrated with this blog post.  I will try to post something tomorrow, but right now, I'm going to catch some zzzz's.  Sorry I have not been more successful with this work; perhaps it is my fried brain trying to figure out again how this works, or perhaps it is truly more difficult than it has been in the past.

So, naten e mir (good night)!!!  Mirupafshim!