Hope for Albania's Hopeless
Meet Julio, a young member of Albania’s impoverished minority Gypsy (Roma) community. Our first introduction to Julio came in 1995, when he was just three years old. However, Julio’s physical appearance in those early days was that of a toddler. Julio’s family lived in an isolated Albanian village, and his mother suffered from a neurological disorder, leaving her incapacitated and unable to assist her family with its daily needs. In accordance with Albanian culture, Julio’s five-year-old sister assumed the matriarchal duties of caring for the family which, at that time, included Julio’s two older brothers and father. Cold and starving, without outside assistance, the family surely would not have survived the winter.
Soon thereafter, Julio’s mother died, and his father immediately remarried a woman who would become an abusive stepmother to the children. A few years ago, in hopes of bettering their fortunes, Julio’s father sold their village home for a small amount of money and moved the family into the city where he had high hopes of finding better employment. Unfortunately what followed was unemployment and alcoholism – not only for Julio’s father, but his eldest brother as well.
To make Julio’s misery complete, the teenager now suffers from a degenerative muscular disease. Julio can no longer walk, and is confined to a wheelchair in a disability-unfriendly country.
But we cannot give up on the Julio’s of this world. Today, Julio attends the Amaro Tan School for the poor and disabled, run by GBA’s Albanian partner, Nehemia, and funded each month in part by GBA donors.
Since he can’t walk, Julio is picked up each morning at his home by the Amaro Tan van. And at school, unlike most buildings throughout Albania, Julio is able to freely move about in his wheelchair. Two of Julio’s sisters attend school with him, where they are also provided with food, showers, and lots of love by teachers who care about them.
A social team regularly visits Julio and his family at home, where it provides physical therapy for Julio and some much needed assistance for the rest of the family as well. Julio’s siblings are taken for walks, they enjoy new clothes, food, and much-needed firewood to survive Albania’s cold winter temperatures.
 With Julio’s chronic illness, we don’t know whether or not this story will have a happy ending. But what we do know is that Julio’s life is much happier today than it was just a few years ago. When you look at Julio’s countenance now, you’ll often see a smile and friendly face. He has become a grateful and happy young man, despite the challenging circumstances of his life.
Not everyone whom GBA and Nehemia help in Albania is in such a hopeless situation, but poverty and ignorance exact a heavy toll from Albania’s poorest of the poor throughout Albania’s villages and Gypsy community.
We do what we can to help: not only with immediate humanitarian assistance, but also by providing long-term educational training and programs that will build capacity even among Albania’s hopeless.
In addition to Amaro Tan, GBA works with and funds both an elementary and high school – both state-of-the-art facilities for Albania. Also, the first private university in the history of Albania is in the final planning stages.
Your support of GBA’s efforts this month helps us not only extend a hand of empowerment to the most destitute, but a hand of compassion as well. It is because we love the poor that we empower. And we empower because the poor ask us to love them forever. You can also make a secure one-time gift or set up a periodic payment of your choice from either your checking account or credit card.
Doug Mann
President, GBA |
