On the mind...

I've lost track of how long we've been here. I had been counting the weeks, but sometime after 'eight' I think one tends to lose track.

I've come to realize they were not exaggerating at our pre-field training about how tiring it is to adjust to life in a new culture.  I feel like small things tire me out more than they used to, things definitely take longer to do than they used to, and we probably engage in more problem solving  for every day tasks than we ever used to.

Then there is the ever-present stress of walking by sick and dying animals each day (our neighborhood is full of street dogs, curled up on stoops, with oozing sores), seeing the same child day-after-day standing in the smelly dumpster scouring the trash (while he should be at school), the gypsy baby sleeping on a sheet of cardboard on a chilly sidewalk at night while his parent begs, and being approached by beggars on a regular basis with needs, legitimate or not (we've learned not to sit outside or by coffee shop windows while we study).  Last week in one 30-minute walk I passed by three bi-lateral amputee men -- two begging, one on the sidewalk too busy to beg, devouring a bunch of bananas.

Yes.  It's a lot to weigh on the mind.  Therefore I shouldn't be surprised that we are all looking forward to a break soon. This year Albania's Independence Day and Liberation Day line up exactly with Thanksgiving and "black Friday".  We may just go away (not far) for a few days.  We'll see!

On a brighter note, here are our two fierce little Native Americans (they were studying the discovery of America and subsequent settling by pioneers):

And two happy kids with some love from America!

Last week with Ryan and their personalized loaves of homemade bread he helped them make. 

(They studied bread in almost all of their subjects, including Bible - love My Father's World integration of themes through all subjects)

Last Friday in Vlash I asked our friends above to teach us a few of the steps for some Albanian folk dances we'll need to know by March for Women's Day.  I'm a hopeless cause.  I think I'll appoint myself photographer instead!  Think anyone will notice?

Finally, we are gearing up for a couple of holiday bazaars in Tirana next month. For the last several years Planters has tried to assist some of the women in Vlash by helping them create various crafts to be sold here and on a limited basis, abroad.  Most of them cannot get permission from their husbands to find employment in Tirana, but even if they could, jobs in shops are difficult to come by for any woman over the age of twenty-five (can anyone say age discrimination?). In the past, the funds they have earned through their handicrafts have helped them earn extra money for things like heating oil, medicine, and for one, her first indoor kitchen sink!

We have had a couple of challenges that we wanted to tackle this year before the first bazaar. The first has been to include more women in this project (easier said than done in a community where we are newcomers just learning the interpersonal dynamics that exist).  Another has been stepping into this role with a 'system' already in place, a system that we think has a lot of room for improvement. Our desire is to convey some education in how the free market system works and improve the current compensation system to reward  risk, creative thinking, and hard work so they do not become dependent upon us as a safety net.

After hours of scouring Etsy and Pinterest, we found some earrings that we can recreate entirely with locally available inputs. A big shout-out goes to missionary friend Krystal who directed us to the "Hobby Lobby" of Tirana (see my Instagram above) where we jewelry wire, glass beads, and earring hooks.  We found it with only minimal wandering!

We (well, mainly Anna -- the knot is quite tricky to master) made the samples below:

Celtic knot earrings in gold, transparent and peacock glass beads.

The appeal of this product is that we are paying a couple of women a 'per string' fee to string the beads, setting a limit on how many they can create so we are not overrun with unsold product.  This is a task they can do in their own homes (so no one's husband can complain that his wife is associating with someone of lower reputation while working at the ministry center).  And this is a product where we have some control over the final appearance (previous attempts at jewelry making have been hit or miss in terms of marketability).  Eventually we'd like to turn over the entire process to some of the women, but this is where we are going to start.  We're assuming a bit of the risk this year to see how these sell.  We'll keep you posted!  

Finally, after being here for this amount of time (however long it's been), we feel like we've gotten a good survey of the status of the existing ministries and what we can contribute to them.  There are some things we want to tweak in how we contribute, so as you pray for us, you can keep that in mind, primarily our Friday night fellowships and bringing more 'meat' to the figurative table.  Thank you!