the town that time forgot

I'm going to let the photos do the talking for today's post (with post script added by me in the captions)...

Reni did not want to wake up this morning.  In fact, he fell asleep on the floor at 11AM and slept for 2.5 solid hours.  He was a joyful child the rest of the day without nary a cry until bedtime.  And yes, that is a fat lip.  Within a couple hours of arriving, he tripped and his mouth broke the fall, poor guy.  It looks much better this evening!

Gigi treated us to hot breakfast (though Ellie opted for cereal -- her favorite).  Just what we needed before taking a drive up into the mountains...

There is a village on the other side of Mt Dajti that holds a special place in my Dad's heart, and we were anxious for Nathan to have the chance to visit for the first time. We didn't know if weather would permit as last week snow covered the road, however halfway up, we encountered a minibus coming down who told us it was drive-able. Here we are at the highest point in the trip.  The wind was blowing about 50 mph.  It was COLD!

As you can see, the road was a mess, though thankfully they were muddy, not icey.  Nevertheless, we would have been in a bind had we met an oncoming car or bus.  Most of the road does not enjoy the benefit of guardrails (there are some perilous curves) and after a certain point there are no pull over places to let anyone pass.  More than once did we have to back up and try again to get through some of the worst patches (like that above).

Once we got through the worst parts, we were making our way back down again and the snow disappeared and we got our first glimpses of Darshen.

The yellow building is the village school.  In its heyday, it accomodated around 300 students.  Now there are fewer than 20.  A lack of water and harsh living conditions have depleted this centuries-old community down to 27 families.  Each year my parents return, there are fewer and fewer people.

As you can see, the windows on this side of the building are all broken out.  They have three teachers that use three classrooms and 1 office on the 2nd floor.

It was a pleasure to return to this home (I visited last in November 2009).  Klodi (left) and Megena (right) along with their mother and brother will be moving to Tirana come spring.  They've sold all their lifestock except for one donkey (we joked that we might need him to get back to Tirana ourselves!)

I met Keterina 2 years ago as well.  She is next door neighbors to the sisters above (no doubt she will sorely miss them).  We had an interesting discussion with Keterina about killing chickens.  If Ellie had grown up here, it sounds like she'd be doing this on a regular basis (just like I was mowing the grass or painting the outbuildings) by the time she was in her mid-teens!

Mom returns from taking out the sheep... LIFE here is constant work, just to survive.

Keterina and her mom...

Here we are visiting Vali.  She and her husband are super industrious, raising sheep, bees, ducks, chickens, cows and pigs.  If the world's economic systems all collapsed tomorrow, she'd be completely fine (and probably not even know).  Did I mention that the village was without power due to the high winds in the mountain?  Yet, Mandi had uninterrupted cell service.  Such a contrast.

Mandi demonstrates the knife sharpener

boiling water for washing dishes and corncobs for feeding the lifestock.

Sampling some homegrown honey...

Firearms grace each coat rack like umbrellas. Blackbirds are on the menu.

The building where we have Bible club

visiting the school.  Dad poses a question to the teacher during Grammar class.

Planters has tried to help the school over the years.  The woodstoves in the classrooms, the map, some of the desks and chairs, computers (for days when they have power!) and an overhead projector have been some of the contributions.  When asked today what they could really use, the teacher above requested a printer so they could make and distribute copies of their own tests.

Mathematics class

All of the village school children, age 10 and under.

During the previous evening the wind had blown out the center window pain making for a chilly corridor.

My dad asked the students what they would do for school once they completed 9th grade (the highest level offered in Darshen).  The students can either walk to the closest high school (in a village on the center green mountain, just below the snow -- a 2 hour walk one way, requiring them to bring a change of pants for walking through a river --  or pay $3 a day to catch a ride on a microbus to another distant school -- or go live with relatives).  A few of the boys will do this, but more than likely, the girls will not.

During the cold months, school lets out at noon.

Dad insisted on capturing video here so mom could sense the intensity of the wind.
We are laughing below because we can't believe Dad talked us into going out in it.  Again.

We came home to a lunch of Mom's homemade chili.  It was perfect after our morning of hiking, mud, snow, cold, and wind.  And I fell asleep on the couch warming by the woodstove.  Later Nathan would go to Vlash with Dad for the men's Bible study.  Those photos will have to be posted later.

Thanks for checking in!