Travel with me to Albania

Where is Albania you ask? Officially known as The Republic of Albania, the nation is located in South Eastern Europe. The country sits across the Adriatic Sea from the heel of Italy with Greece as its south and southeastern neighbor. Albania is about the size of the state of Maryland with a population of 3.1 million people. Its per capita income is approximately $2,580 and more than a quarter of the population lives below the poverty level, making Albania one of the poorest countries in Europe. Often family members will work in neighboring Greece and send money home to provide for their families.

In 1967 the communist government created the world's first officially atheistic country when it outlawed all religions. It was ruled by the most repressive and isolated regime in Europe until 1991, when it became the last country to emerge from the communist regime. Since then the nation has struggled through years of political instability and ecomonic collapse. An outbreak of civil disorder erupted in 1997, followed by an influx of 460,000 Kosovar refugees in 1998. This increased the burden on the already deteriorating political, ecomonic, and social infrastructures. Today Albanians enjoy full religous freedom. and while the government is an "emerging democracy" maintaining infrastructure is extremely difficult, especially in rural areas.

Alongside Ministries International hosts the Crossroads Christian Camp in Erseke in southern Albania. The children and youth are introduced to Jesus Christ and loved on by Christians in a one-week camp enviroment that includes crafts, games, bible lessons, and a ropes course (don't we all love camp!). I feel very priviledged to be part of bringing Christ into the lives of these young people.

Excerpts borrowed from World Vision http://www.worldvision.org/

Friday, July 16, 2010

Last Day at Camp

Today is bittersweet as it's my last day at camp which means I have to say good-bye to all my new friends from all over the globe. The camp staff is a group of absolutely wonderful young adults who love the Lord and love what they are doing. Some are local residents while others are from various countries like Kosovo, Finland, England, and America. Most have made a commitment to be part of the camp for the entire summer but others are here for shorter durations. All the staff speak English which has allowed me to converse and to get to know them. They've all been so welcoming and I'm in total admiration of their spirit, energy, and commitment.

This week, especially the last couple of days, has been quite hot in the mid-80s but due to the humidity it's felt more like mid-nineties. Sweat just pours down our backs and if you sit for too long you find yourself standing up with wet pants! Mark Stoscher told me that this is the hottest it gets here - lucky us. The favorite job this week has been working at the pool - can you guess why?

Tomorrow I will make the journey north to Tirana but how I'm getting there is still a bit up in the air. I may ride a bus full of campers or I might end up taking a small shuttle bus for the five to six hour drive. Arrangements and schedules are very fluid here in Albania so I'll go with the flow confident that something will be worked out in the morning. Once I get to Tirana I'll spend the night in the home of a missionary family who are friends of the Stoschers and whose two teenagers have been volunteering at camp for the past two weeks. It's up early on Sunday morning to catch my 6:00 a.m. flight from Tirana to Munich, then lay over in Munich for nine hours, and then fly 12.5 hours to San Francisco. Home Sweet Home awaits!

1 comment:

  1. Safe travels! We are praying for you! Our hearts stopped today when we heard about a bus accident in Albania, but gosh, we are just paranoid. Nevertheless, our prayers are with the bus accident families as well.

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