It all started with a daily walk.
Our neighbor and colleague, Shpresa, walks around the neighborhood for regular exercise. On one of those walks she met a friendly young woman and her mother working in the fields.
They came to look forward to the daily meetings, gradually moving beyond the pleasantries and sharing more about their lives, including spiritual matters. Shpresa told me about her new friends and her desire to get to know them more. We were both encouraged by their hungry hearts.
Then Shpresa told me that the mother was diagnosed with breast cancer and had to stop working while she received treatments. Adding to the financial stress was the fact that the farm which employed them had been unable to pay their salaries for nearly one year.
About a month ago we paid them a visit in their home in a neighboring village to deliver some food. It quickly became evident that a few bags of food were not going to go far -- there were 27 people (three generations) living in one home!
On Monday Shpresa visited a warehouse in Tirana and was able to fill the Planters van with as much as she could take for the family. On her way back to the village she called us up to see if we wanted to come and photograph all the goodies she was going to deliver. Of course we said, "Yes!"
Our friend -- can you tell by her smile why we enjoy visiting her so much?
The kids were all just back from school and helped with the unloading!
This is my little buddy below. She is studying English in school and is always eager to practice with me (very unusual for someone her age -- most kids I know are way too shy to try to engage with an English-speaking adult!).
After we finished up, we were invited inside for a cold glass of dhalle (think buttermilk). I had to get a pic of baby Romela in her baby cradle, a special gift from her maternal grandmother in the north.
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