Yesterday was the big international holiday bazaar at the Sheraton Hotel in Tirana! This event is a highlight for me for a variety of reasons. Traditionally it has been the primary avenue for selling the crafts made by the village ladies. But since arriving in Albania, I've learned that it is the primary fundraiser for OSAAB, the Organization for Support of Albania's Abandoned Babies. And OSAAB, I learned, has a very personal connection to our family.
OSAAB was started in the 1990s by an American woman, Claudia, who found herself in Albania because of her husband's work. In her spare time, she decided to see where she might find herself a place to volunteer. That place turned out to be the ward for abandoned babies in Tirana's maternity hospital. Appalled by the conditions and long list of needs for these little ones mostly forgotten by the world, with the help of her expat friends she started raising money for diapers, formula, then mattresses and cribs, and eventually an entire renovation of the ward. She worked with the social worker who worked with the birth mothers relinquishing their children to develop systems for gathering information and filing papers to ensure the babies didn't languish in a no-man's land of waiting to be placed in loving families. She brought in people to train the nurses in techniques like infant massage to facilitate proper neural development. She bought swings and mobiles and brought in teams of volunteers to hold babies. One of those babies was our Ellie. Thanks to Claudia's efforts, Ellie spent her first 7 weeks of life sleeping on a comfortable mattress instead of on a thin blanket on a plywood board in a metal crib with peeling paint (I've seen the 'before photos'). Thanks to Claudia, we have polaroid photos of Ellie as an infant and a photo of her birth mother -- a special, special gift. So, for obvious reasons, we look forward to every opportunity to support this cause when we can. A portion of our table fee to display at the Christmas bazaar went to OSAAB. OSAAB volunteers also ran face-painting and cookie decorating stations for kids, which Ellie and Reni enjoyed.
But if Nathan and I had to prepare and run our table by ourselves, we could have been quite overwhelmed! We have been blessed to have the Bensons in Albania this past week to help us prepare and run our booth! Lynne helped start the crafting project with our ladies in the village and got us into this Bazaar several years ago so this wasn't her first rodeo. This past week she has tagged merchandise and separated orders. And on Sunday morning she and Len got up super early and got in line for us to get a good table location.
Here she is setting up the table...
Len and Nathan assemble our display rack (which Nathan created by modifying shoe rack from our local "dollar store".
We put a dent in our inventory, but still have some for sale! I updated the website if my friends in America want to place an order before Mom returns to the States at the end of the week! (Click here) (and maybe I might throw in a fun surprise as a little 'thank you!')
In addition to the scarves, I sold some canvas prints of some of my favorite scenes around Albania (for $20-50, depending upon the size). The proceeds from the canvas sales will be used to buy sports equipment for the ministry center (because we go through balls like crazy!)
Looks like someone took my camera! We were happy when Vera came by and helped us for a little bit during the big rush.
It was a great time to reconnect with lots of friends from Tirana that we don't see as much anymore and get in the Christmas spirit! We were also encouraged with sales and the opportunity to share with others about our community in the village and the wonderful, hardworking folks who live here.
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