Albanian Report

Report on Visit to Albania

Introduction
Gwen Backwell

Albania, or as the Albanians themselves call it, Shqiperia, the Land of Eagles, has been the latest destination of our intrepid Women to Women for Peace (W2W4P), travellers in search of like-minded women from other countries with whom we can make links of friendship to help build a more peaceful and tolerant world. In September 2006 six of us spent a week there on an “official” visit, and four extended their stay for an additional five days in the mountains (see “Thethi” section in this report).

We came from six different parts of the UK: Jane Norman from Bristol, Angela Sansam from Killinghall near Harrogate, Sally Cunningham from Lisburn in Northern Ireland, Mary Cook from Cwmbran in South Wales, Sue Claydon from March in Cambridgeshire and Gwen Backwell from Liverpool; and because we had never all met together before, we organised an overnight stay in a small hotel near Gatwick airport in order to get to know each other better and to discuss our hopes – and fears – about the trip. It was useful bonding time – and W2W4P funds were well spent.

Why Albania?

We were all aware of the negative image that the word ‘Albania’ has in this country and most of us met with those stereotypes from people we talked to prior to going. They were typified by such questions and remarks as: What do you want to go there for? Isn’t it dangerous? Be careful you don’t get kidnapped etc. etc. We hope this report will strongly challenge these attitudes and will open eyes to the realities of that country, to the energy, resourcefulness, generosity and kindness of its people, and to the great beauty of the land. When you have finished reading we hope you will feel better informed and that it will whet your appetite to know more and even to visit.
W2W4P began as Mothers for Peace way back in 1981 in order to make links of friendship with women across the “iron curtain” in the old Soviet Union, and here in Albania we saw another opportunity to extend those links in a former communist bloc country as we have already done in Ukraine, Romania and the Czech Republic. We wanted also to learn about the realities of ethnic conflict following the war in Kosova and to understand better the complex and explosive relationships between the various ethnic groups and nationalities in the highly complex Balkans region. Some of our group had been to the area on holiday and had become aware of the potential for W2W4P links.

The particular connection, which made the visit possible was a meeting between myself and Zenepa Dibra from Shkoder at an international conference in 2003 to discuss the establishment of a Balkans Peace Park in the mountains where Kosova, Montenegro and Albania meet. The idea of such a park was the brainchild of Professor of Peace Studies, Nigel Young and his wife Antonia who is an anthropologist specialising in northern Albanian society, who live in Yorkshire and who have personal links with some of our members. The idea has been slowly transforming into reality in recent years and has been gathering support at all levels in the countries concerned as well as internationally. Local residents and NGOs are enthusiastically involved, and local and central governments are now active in helping to bring it about, together with the relevant bodies of the United Nations. The Balkans Peace Park may not yet be in existence but the vision is now firmly on the way to being translated into reality. (See www.balkanspeacepark.org) It was to the Albanian section of the Balkans Peace Park in the high Dinaric Alps that four of our members travelled at the end of our visit to Shkoder.

Our Partner Organisations

We were in Shkoder at the invitation of two women’s organisations, The Intellectual Women of Shkoder (GruajaIntelektuale Shkdrane GISH) represented by Zenepe Dibra (by profession a civil engineer) and Human Dimension represented by Donika Selimi (a primary school teacher). They were the main organisers of the visit.

GISH is an NGO promoting women’s education and their civil and economic position in society. It is active in supporting women’s economic independence especially among small traditional craft co-operatives; and we visited three of these. They also liaise with women in other towns and across the nearby border in Montenegro to combat the scourge of young women being trafficked for prostitution, and they provide training to give vulnerable women skills by which to earn a living and education to raise awareness of the dangers. GISH has also in the past set up literacy projects in the local Roma community and supported families involved in the blood feud.

The main thrust of Human Dimension as an organisation is the care of the elderly in a society where few services exist and where the needs are very great. They provide a Centre for the Elderly, which is open daily, and run a home care service staffed by volunteers. Donika has also been very involved in the counselling of families in the blood feud and women caught up in domestic violence and sexual abuse.

During the war in Kosova both organisations helped to organise the care of thousands of refugees who flooded into the city. We were told that a great many families opened their doors to give them shelter even though space is tight at the best of times and many households struggle financially to survive. The two organisations work closely together and are funded from a variety of international sources both governmental and private. Both women work on a voluntary basis for all these causes: their energy and commitment and also their humour were an inspiration.

Shkoder

Shkoder is an ancient city and was the biggest in the Albanian province in Ottoman times. (Tirana was designated the capital and started expanding only after independence.) Its vast citadel, Rozafa castle, which dominates the city from its hilltop, has Illyrian foundations and the area has been continuously occupied since then. It is now a city of 110,000 people. Situated on the southern shores of the largest lake in the Balkans it is skirted by mountains close by, and the coastline is only 30km away. Three rivers run through and one of them, the Drin, is the most important waterway in Albania with three massive hydro-electric power stations higher up its course. The panorama from the castle hill is truly breathtaking in the sweep of plain, mountains, rivers and city that you take in.

The city itself is a chaotic jumble of drab, communist-era high-rise, now added to by strong Mediterranean-coloured modern blocks. In between are some fine examples of 19th century Ottoman houses, bulky, rambling stone buildings with deep over-hanging shingle roofs, most of which are crying out for restoration. If these are allowed to tumble down it will be a huge loss to the city. The main street and several others round it are made up of elegant Venetian style houses, some of which have been restored and look stunning. In the suburbs there are lots of rather crumbling small one-storey houses and some magnificent large modern houses built by the nouveau-riche, usually brightly painted and with gardens and vegetable plots. Infrastructure is shockingly poor; we had to be very aware of missing flagstones, piles of rubble and lethal pot-holes. Rubbish collection is totally inadequate so there are conglomerations of large open rubbish bins on street corners and piles of rubbish on the ground. Litter is everywhere. But in spite of all this, it is easy to imagine how the city could look given large amounts of investment and careful planning. Its resources and situation match any in the Mediterranean. Surely this is a city with a big future as well as an immense past.

Organisations we visited

Light Steps was particularly dynamic, flourishing and inspiring. We arrived on the day they were cooking to entertain the Italian consul, the Italian government being their funding and support body.
Smells wafting into the air were delicious! But this was nothing unusual because this group run a women’s café – a rare phenomenon indeed in a country where café and bar life, evident everywhere on the streets, is totally male dominated. It’s an Internet café too and a drop-in centre and the walls are painted with some lovely female figures. Below are some specific areas their work is geared to.
1. Promoting economic activities by offering a range of training courses including business studies, computers, languages and cooking
2. Offering emotional, legal and practical support to victims of domestic violence, while at the same time working to help sensitise police and health workers to the needs of victims
3. Advising on reproductive health and childcare and giving practical support where needed. They work with health professionals in the local maternity hospital and health centres to raise awareness and promote the needs of pregnant women and act as advocates for them.
4. As in other organisations we visited, there was a lot of talk about the problem of young women being trafficked as sex workers to Western Europe and around the world. Not only do Light Steps provide advice, support and some training for girls in danger of being kidnapped, lured or sold into prostitution, but they also collaborate with the police to raise awareness of the complex issues at play here and to develop strategies when dealing with the women who are caught up in such crime. There is no centre in the city to help rehabilitate women who return, but in fact very few do because of family and society’s rejection.
5. Every weekday Light Steps runs two kindergarten classes divided by age up to 6 years, and also a group for 8-13 year olds. They have some beautifully bright and cheerful rooms for them with the walls covered with the children’s artwork. They are also comfortable and looked reasonably well-equipped. Some children are fee-paying, but there is a quota of free places for children from families suffering from domestic violence, and for those from the local orphanage (there are 3 orphanages in the city, for 3 age groups up to 16). Alketa, the director, gave us an example of how services have deteriorated since communist days when orphans stayed in care until they were 18 and there was then support to find accommodation and work. Now there is no support after the age of 16.
We returned to the centre later on in the week to visit their café and to take some of the children’s toys, art equipment and clothes that we had brought with us.

The Citizens’ Advocacy Centre is housed in an amazing glass office block, hardly finished, which literally sits on top of a neat, elegant, two-storey 19th century house (now a bank) in the heart of the city. I still can’t decide whether the 21st century addition is a stroke of genius or a monstrous carbuncle, but it does illustrate the strikingly uneven development of Shkoder as it struggles to develop a modern economy. The Advocacy Centre itself is also a new development and its staff had only that day moved into their spacious suite of offices. It is anticipated that most of their work will be to advise and support people who are the victims of corruption. It is endemic throughout all of society and has been the single most important factor limiting the country’s recovery from 45 years of extreme communism. I felt that corruption is Albania’s tragedy, and it stands in such marked contrast to the many women we met, and of course many men too, who are so gifted and so determined to improve the structure of society and the life of ordinary people.

Oxfam has its offices above the Interfaith Women’s Centre (see Sue’s report, P15) and here we met the director, Terezina and her deputy, Dritan of the Shkoder regional office who told us about their projects in the northern mountain villages. Here there are co-operatives producing honey, chestnut products, wine and herbs. (There are other projects in the south of the country making olive products.) A huge social benefit that Oxfam brings is the condition it imposes of gender equality and thus the enhancement of the status of women. We were very sad that we didn’t manage to get to one of the projects which would have been useful in reporting back to our local Oxfam contacts. However, whilst talking we did pass round a large jar of deep rich honey and each with our own spoon we soon demolished half the jar!

We had a wide-ranging discussion with Dritan about the economic background in the country. We were told that 55% of the population live in rural areas and work in agriculture, and 35% of the Albanian GDP comes from this source. It is therefore a matter of great concern that only 2.5% of the government budget goes into agriculture though this government is now paying more attention to its great under-funded asset.

We also learned something about Oxfam’s organisation in the field. It moves in to support local initiatives, ensures they are self-sufficient and then makes a phased withdrawal. Thus funding will start to be withdrawn from the Shkoder office next year (2007) and by 2010 will be complete. During that time Dritan and Terezina will seek funds elsewhere to enable them to continue the support of rural economies and hope eventually to establish an independent local NGO as a replacement.

Gwen

Zogai Rug-making Co-operative
Jane Norman

The village of Zogai clings to the rocky shore of Lake Shkoder. We arrive by car in a small square where men play cards, and hens scrabble for scraps. From a stone jetty I can see a woman cleaning a canary yellow fishing boat – men fish, women clean, it’s back-breaking work. The woman straightens up to watch me watching her – I wonder what she’s thinking.
Many steep uneven steps lead to Nebia’s house. The view of the sunlit, blue lake is stunning. It is huge, stretching north into Montenegro, and to the mountains in the distant east. Nebia (the co-op’s leader) is a sturdy woman with black hair and a constant smile – she leads us into the weaving room – four women sit in line at the largest loom, two at the smaller one. They greet us with smiles that range from wide and open, to shy. They work in unison, nimble fingers moving so fast they almost blur – slim, muscular forearms, heads bending together.

In another room there are comfy chairs and a massive cupboard. From it, as if by magic, piles of rugs of all sizes emerge – all natural wool, lots of pink and green, black with mauve flowers, colours and designs from different areas. They weave to order sometimes. After we’ve chosen, we drink juice and eat delicious figs from the tree that shades the terrace before descending the steps to the cars.

Textile co-operative

Tucked in a side street in the middle of Shkoder is a house where fine textiles are produced. The looms are in a garden building, and the women are working in groups as at Zogai. They produce high quality items like tablecloths, scarves, runners, blankets and bags. Our group relished them, buying several.
Women know that as individuals they may be vulnerable and powerless but in co-operatives they have a real source of strength and support for one another. As well as this work. whatever their place on the social ladder, all mature women we met run homes and families as well.

Jewellery

Just round the corner, and again tucked away, is another business run from home. We were ushered into her living room by a lady who organised a silverwork co-operative, and perched on two large settees we gazed at many items of jewellery, filigree rings, ear-rings, bracelets, chains, crucifixes. She sells them by weight using delicate scales – even I am tempted!

Her husband sits quietly by her side, but I could sense she is the leader. There are many enterprising women like this with quiet energy and determination.

Centre for the Elderly

Donika, my host, is the director of this centre in the heart of Shkoder – they have recently completed it though it still lacks running water. Down a narrow lane tall gates are open to reveal a Tardis-like amount of space. The biggest building here is where homeless people with mental and physical disabilities live. It is quite shabby and austere, but the energy around it feels kind.

The Centre for the Elderly is where people come to get financial and medical help, where they can wash, meet others, have a meal, and socialise. It is a single-storey building with a veranda which is lined with small chairs, and has a table with cakes and biscuits. Several elderly ladies wearing pop-sox and hairslides are sitting on the chairs. I notice how small the women are, but their wrinkled faces contain sparkling eyes that seem much younger.
We all sit in a circle smiling at one another. One of the old ladies tells how before she found the centre she had stayed at home for years, often not even bothering to wash – now her life was transformed, and her joy at this was plain for all of us to see. A young man plays the accordion beautifully, and we dance and sing together. It’s been a lovely day.


Centre for Development of Civil Society

Again in the heart of Shkoder, just off the chaotic main street is a small haven of peace. This centre sits in a beautiful walled courtyard garden full of plants and flowers – variegated ivy cascades from a ruined ancient building in the grounds. The office is on the ground floor of a simple two-storied building. We met the assistant manageress, her boss being in Wales on a course!

As the name implies their aim is to encourage a non-militaristic society. She told us that in much of Albania at the present time it was “every man for himself” (or “woman for herself”) – words also spoken by Zenepa. This attitude makes their work difficult.

She also told us of projects she wanted to establish in schools to encourage children to play more, and to be aware of their own joy and life-energy; for education to be about more than the learning of facts. I came away feeling encouraged.
Jane

History and Culture
Angela Sansam

"Historia eshte mesues I mire popuji jane studente te keqis."
("History is a good teacher; but people are bad students" - Albanian proverb quoted by Zenipa)

Albania is a crossroads between the cultures and traditions of the Eastern and Western Mediterranean and several times in its chequered history has been overrun by various powers. Yet its mountainous terrain and relative inaccessibility protected the distinctiveness of the culture, language and traditions. Albanians trace their origins to the Illyrians who emerged here about 13 centuries B.C. Several of the cultural sites we visited are of world importance and deserve to be better known and better presented. They gave us insight into Albania's development.

Rozafa castle is on the edge of modern Shkodra but formerly close to the historical city (demolished for health reasons, mainly its proximity to malarial land). Towering above the confluence of three rivers, Rozafa has stunning views over the surrounding area, Lake Shkodra and towards the sea. Occupied since the Bronze Age, fragments of its walls date from the 3rd century B.C. Vanda (Donika’s daughter, and our very valuable interpreter) told us about the Illyrian Queen, Teuta, who unsuccessfully tried to fend off the Romans. They later dominated the area and built roads down the coast. Most of Rozafa's walls are medieval and Venetian, allowing resistance to the Ottomans for a time. With their occupation in the 15th century, the church became a mosque whose minaret we climbed. The site was used for military purposes till the Turks left in 1913.

Up one of the nearby rivers we visited the 18th century Ottoman bridge at Mesi with its thirteen stone arches, the central one spanning the river. In fading evening light we watched a local lad bringing home his flock of sheep, bells tinkling, a timeless moment. Earlier we had driven up a frightful track to Drisht, a ruinous and rapidly depopulating fortified medieval town on a hilltop. "The first time I ever went to Drisht," said our driver, Mario, "and the last!"

Shkodra has a number of traditional Albanian houses like the ones we saw in Drisht and elsewhere, in varying states of repair. The Historical Museum is housed in a particularly attractive one, set in its own garden dotted with fruit trees and large archaeological items. The Director kindly showed us his office, which is kept as a traditional dining / reception room with balcony for women to observe proceedings. He also gave us a personal tour of the archaeological exhibits on the ground floor in the former livestock / storage area.

Dating from a similar period is the Marubi photographic archive, which holds the first photograph taken in Albania (in 1858) and over 150,000 glass negatives of historical images, featuring people, events and places, mainly taken by the Marubi family. It was a frustrating place to visit for very few photographs are on show or available as postcards. Strikingly, the roads and pavements of Shkodra a hundred years ago appear to have been in an infinitely better state of repair than at present. The poor roads and absence of an efficient waste disposal system are presumably a visible part of the legacy of Communism's 50 years of isolation, lack of development and totalitarian rule, followed by chaos and virtual collapse of government in the 1990s. We were told that some Albanians believe life was better under Communism for it brought benefits like less inequality, an excellent water supply, low cost hydro-electric power, health and public services, good schools and universities with fair and open access, full employment and the nurturing of traditional music and dance. However, everyone we met spoke with horror of the punitive authoritarian regime, food shortages due to inefficient distribution (still a problem in rural areas) and stultifying cultural deprivation. Slowly the country is trying to get on to an even keel.
There are innumerable examples (with varying degrees of aesthetic success to a Western eye) of the flowering of individual architectural creativity, the most memorable being the Bar Dea at Spathar, a restaurant with water gardens and artificial caverns. Individuals and groups are starting projects like rug making at Zogaj, textiles and jewellery in Shkodra, often making use of the skills of women formerly working in State run factories. Marketing is the main problem, though shops like the Kelmendi regional produce one in Shkodra are trying to address this.

Attempts are being made to encourage tourism, making use of the natural beauty of areas like Theth. To get from Shkodra to Theth you have to travel 70 kilometres of rocky track. Bumping along its hairpin bends with precipitous drops, dotted with memorials to accident victims, we felt as daring as Edith Durham or other 19th century travellers who explored this area. In some ways it felt like going back in time, with the limitations of life in Britain many years ago; yet Albania has electricity, mobile phones and all manner of electronic communications, some of which (I'm thinking here of the awful gyrations of nubile young women on the satellite TV) they could well manage without.
Angela

Children
Sue Claydon

Children and Civil Violence

Very near the flat I stayed in is a series of large white columns. I was walking by this sculpture and asked our university student host what it was for. She went on to explain that after elections in 1991 there had been a demonstration and the police opened fire on the peaceful crowd killing five and injuring 82. This was their memorial – ‘Martyrs to Democracy’.
She went on to say that at the time she was four. She and her Mum were walking through the park, just across the street. She heard terrible noises and they ran. She can still hear it.

Then talking with a 17 year-old it came up that in 1997 she and her family had gone to Greece as refugees from the civil war that rocked Shkodra in the wake of the economy collapsing. She said that she and her Dad were washing the car when a mortar rocket just missed them! She had slept under her bed for weeks before they fled. She was 7 at the time.

I later asked the first student about 1997. She was then just 10 and said it was very frightening. She did not leave her house for five months. She spent her days under the kitchen table with cotton wool stuffed in her ears.

Watching these two confident, intelligent young women chatting on the last evening of our visit they do not appear to have had long lasting effects of their childhood experiences. They have been supported by loving understanding families and had the economic wherewith all to cope with the crises - what if circumstances had been different? While their experiences were far from the extreme, it was a clear reminder that whenever violence and war enter a community, children are always their victims.


Education

During our visit we saw a number of learning programmes covering all ages. It is impossible in a short piece to reflect them all, but these examples will give a flavour of the opportunities and restrictions of education in Shkodra.

Children attend kindergarten from 4 and move into formal school at 7 years. After 8 years of primary education, students move on to four years of ‘high school’. In the past there were many ‘professional’ high schools offering specialisms in business, health etc. The only one remaining is for languages. We visited the 28 Nentori (28 November – Albanian Independence day, interestingly many of the schools are named after days), which is the Gjimnazi. This school was founded in 1922 and for many years attracted students from throughout the ‘Albanian lands’ (Macedonia, Kosovo, Montenegro etc. where people are of Albanian descent.) It is a top academic school with a high level of students going on to university. Photos from the early years show large playing fields and extensive grounds. These have now been taken over by the growing city for buildings. The computer suite has been supplied by the Italian Government and includes a generator in the room - the electricity supply can be very ‘iffy’ and plays havoc with computers. The students were working three to a computer. They told me they needed more computers in order to learn and knew that being computer literate was a requirement today.

I then went on to speak with an English class. The level of English among these students is very high. They asked me the usual questions about England, but then went on to ask what I thought of Albania and why the world does not seem interested in their country. They feel they have a culture that should be part of world community, but they feel very isolated. The students in this top school were very tightly packed in a small room. One wonders what conditions are in less prestigious schools? Interestingly, they were using the Cambridge University language series. I was also shown the gym, with a new floor, but no equipment to conduct physical education. The staff are very enthusiastic and the students hardworking.

The other school I visited was one – the only one – for special education. Here, children from 7 to 18 are taught. Their needs covered a range, but would all fall within the ‘educable’ area. The first room was for music and the teacher was keen to show me her piano and the band kit they have had from the Norwegian Government. The school is brightly painted and had lots of additional paintings. Children are taught in small groups and encouraged to read, write and do number. There is an opportunity to learn dressmaking and are hopes to introduce hairdressing. There is no provision of any support once someone reaches 18. The staff are very dedicated and are frustrated that there is nothing after their school and that so many children from the villages have no provision at all.

There are a few opportunities for adult learning. An impressive one is the Inter-faith Women’s Centre. They offer courses in computer technology, English, childcare and business start-up. The Board is made up of representatives of all three communities (Muslim, Roman Catholic and Orthodox) and they tell their communities. A focus of the Centre is that religion is NOT a barrier. The provision is aimed at unemployed and needy women, ranging in age from 15 to 50. They offer free internet access and like so much we saw, they are having to devote much time to securing funding once the start-up grants are finished. At the moment there are four centres like this in Albania. The theory behind the Centre – that women who work and learn together will spread this understanding – was evident, even though the term had not begun.

At the moment, the Centre offers certificates to all learners but there is no follow-up from that. They are planning a project to look at supporting women into further learning and employment. Such services are well developed in parts of Europe and there may be ideas to share with this new project.

The links between learning and employment were sometimes tenuous. We met a number of young women with good post-graduate and other degrees from EU countries who were finding it very difficult to find employment. Projects funded from overseas were benefiting from the talent pool, but you have to wonder why the public services were not using them more.

Tirana

We fitted in a trip to Tirana en route to the airport. It was brief, but we managed to get in a lot. After being dropped by the bus, we walked down a long, wide avenue towards Skanderbeg Square, the old centre of Tirana. It was very badly damaged in 1944 in a battle between the Partisans and retreating Axis forces. It lasted three weeks and many of the old buildings were lost, including a very special mosque.

On the way down, we passed the Gynaecological Hospital, with a wonderful carving above the door. It is a good example of communist public art. In the Square, there are a number of public buildings. The former ‘Palace of Culture’ is now the Opera House. It was built to Soviet designs in the mid 1950’s. It looks a bit seedy, with shops etc. along the ground floor.

We then came to the first main road to cross and I commented on the traffic lights. Gwen pointed out they even had a ‘green man’. We waited for him to come on and then stepped into the street to almost immediately be run over by two motorcycles. Upon further observation, it appears that unlike cars, motorcycles do not have to stop at red lights!

We stopped at the Mosque of Er’hem Bey. This is an 18th century building that survived the destruction of the atheism campaign because it became a museum. It is so beautifully decorated, you can see why. We walked around, as you can see the inside through the large windows and the external decoration is also lovely.

Then across a street again to the statue of Skanderbeg. He is the great Albanian hero, who united the Northern Albanian clans and held out against the Ottomans for an amazing 34 years. We had passed the place of his burial at Lezha, which is now a national shrine.

Behind us were the Zogist ministerial buildings from the 1930’s, which reflect an Italian influence and across the Square was the National Historical Museum. The front of this is dominated by a huge mural which depicts Albanians winning through at various point in history, from the Illyrians thrashing the Romans (temporarily) to the Partisans’ victory against the Nazis. It is a classic of the triumphalist art of the early 1980’s.

After the seemly quiet traffic of Shkodra, all of Tirana seems to be hectic. There were a number of near ‘misses’ coming in on the bus. It was also noticeable that there has been extensive building, especially of housing high-rise blocks. As elsewhere, bright colours are used and there is a real ‘city’ feeling to a place that 200 years ago was a village.
Sue

The Place of Religion in Albania
Mary Cook

Albania lies close to Italy with Catholicism, Greece with Orthodoxy, and the communist bloc with atheism. Just one step further is Turkey and Islam. All these philosophies have impacted on Albania over the centuries, mostly through conquest. Behind, however is a deep sense of what we would call pagan, a strong belief in magic, and in the evil eye in particular. This quote from Clarissa de Waal’s book, “Albania Today” gives a very neat example:
Prena was Roman Catholic, but as well as attending the newly opened church nearby, she often visited the Muslim Dervish Hatixhe, well known for her cures & miracles. Prena & Aishe (close friends & neighbours) were equally eclectic about evil eye cures. Sometimes they chose verse chanting from the Koran while dropping a hot cinder into water; other times they used a cross, oil & water. Albanians were refreshingly fond of pointing out, as they still are, that there is after all only one God. `

A recent survey said that 70% Albanians are Muslim, (20% Orthodox, 10% Catholic) though Albanians themselves might dispute that. During the Ottoman conquest, the country in the main converted to Islam, though many Christians fled to the remote valleys where the invaders could barely reach.

When staying in Shkodra we were greeted at regular intervals by a voice from the minaret. It was Ramadan, but we detected no particular fastidiousness over its observance. Our hosts were Muslim, but as the daughter of our family, who occasionally attends a Roman Catholic church, observed, “Muslim, or Catholic, it doesn’t matter. What is in the heart is what matters not where you worship, or what you are. There is only one God.” This is the message she tells her fellow students at Istanbul University when they ask her what she is.

The communist regime declared Albania to be the first officially atheist state. They outlawed religion, throwing people into prison who observed religious festivals in their homes. Nevertheless, the traditions did not cease to be upheld.

We attended mass at a Roman Catholic church, and it was full – people of all ages. The church was new, as also are the many mosques - many former places of worship were either destroyed or converted into cinemas, or sports halls! New churches are frequently paid for from the USA, as is the training of priests; and the mosques are funded by Saudi Arabia. Thus attempts are being made to radicalise people in a way quite alien to them.

Music, the soul of a nation

I went to Albania hoping I would come across lots of music. We found there a people strong in national pride, very keen to make music and to dance at every opportunity – even in our kitchen to the music on the television!
At the Centre for the Elderly we were all entertained by a young accomplished player of the piano accordion. People sang, and then danced to his lively music. It certainly made for a happy occasion. When at the end of the week we returned for a party, the same young man was there, but also a blind accordionist who delighted this highly cultured group. At the same gathering, a 16 year old girl sang Albanian popular (and pop) songs with finesse and passion. She had recently won a talent competition on the television and certainly has some future! A member of the group running the Centre was a Russian poet whose late Albanian husband was a nationally admired violinist, and composer of classical music. I was very fortunate to be given a tape of his music, which shows the fire in Albanian music, and the finesse he gained studying at the Moscow Conservatory. We visited her flat where I read some of the original score of his violin concerto.

In the Catholic church where we attended mass, the choir of four teenage girls accompanied by two young men on guitars led the hymn singing, just as they might have in a church in Britain. The hymns were a mixture of traditional melodies with what I’d call “Middle Eastern” ornamentation, and tunes known in our churches. Again a wonderful atmosphere was generated.

In Shkodra while we were there, a jazz festival was being held. Sue and I, while walking one evening came across the sound of a wind band. It was playing on the pavement in front of an old café a selection of well known music from Europe and the USA.

All this, and I had not come across one authentic Albanian instrument - that is until we went to Theth. Each evening I had heard the sounds of what I took to be the cifteli coming from the private family room in our farmhouse, thinking it might be someone playing - or could it just be the radio? Then one night, there was a power cut. I went outside and found the eldest son of our hosts’ family playing under the stars a “garland” of sounds improvised from a scrap of melody very much as would happen in Indian classical music. The fretting of this strange instrument varied from our diatonic scale in a way that made it impossible to play any of our music. In fact it was the same scale (flattened 3rd, 6th & 7th) that I had recently come across in a recital of Palestinian music. Fascinating, and wish-fulfilling for me.

Mary

Thethi
Sally Cunningham

The National Park “Thethi” is located in northern Albania in the heart of the Albanian Alps, 70 kilometres from the city of Shkodra. The valley floor is made up of pasture, arable land and broad-leaf forest, with the Thethi river running through it. Four of us extended our visit to Albania by travelling to the valley for five days. Getting to Thethi is not an easy journey as the road from the city is made up for only one third of the way, the other two thirds is a track of loose rocks and small stones. It seemed like the road climbed up and round hairpin bends for ever, until we reached the top and got our first glimpse of the breathtaking view below us.

After crossing the river on a bridge made up of large planks – now I understood the importance of bridge building as explained to us in the Oxfam office some days previous – we saw our home for the next five nights. It was a large white double-fronted house with a corrugated iron roof and a series of outbuildings, sitting in a huge garden which housed a flock of sheep, a dog, and a pony, as well as a vegetable plot. Preke lived there with his wife Lula and five children; his brother Gjerdj and his wife Agë with three of their seven children, and grandmother, who was 90 years old. They grew everything we ate, baked bread and made cheese every day plus meals for all of us. Lula and Agë never stopped working. It appeared that they did all of the manual jobs around the house, from milking all the sheep and the cow, to making haystacks and picking grapes for the wine. All of the cooking was done in a small outbuilding attached to the main house. A fire was lit on the bare floor and a pot was then hooked to a long chain hanging from a roof beam. The house had no running water, but a hosepipe outside continuously ran, fed by a mountain stream, filling a bucket and draining away into the field. It was here that we washed every evening with Agë or Lula bringing us a bucket of warm water. The toilet was a small hut in the garden.

Our first walk on the afternoon we arrived was to show us the new church building which had been completed in May of this year with money given by a man born in the village and now living in the United States. It is a beautiful building but used only monthly when the priest visits: in contrast the school was dilapidated, with broken windows and a large hole on the roof. We were told it was closed because there were no text books for the children. When open, the two teachers walk for three hours in the morning and in the afternoon from a neighbouring valley. We have since learnt that the school has now reopened with 19 pupils; we hope that our visit to the Minister of Education had some influence on this decision.

Every day we walked along beautiful tracks, and it was sad to see rubbish evident even in this remote place. We visited the waterfall, and some of us even swam in the cold icy water! Water is everywhere, and there are many small man-made channels running alongside the pathways. Some days we met local people who, it seemed, were always glad to have a chat. Our guide on the first day was Preke, and on the other days we had his daughter, Sophia, who was 13. Although she was unable to speak English, she certainly could make herself understood and chatted away to us non-stop. During our walks we ate walnuts, and it seemed that Sophia knew every tree in the valley!

On our last afternoon we helped pick the grapes from the vines in the garden. We then had the opportunity to help squeeze them before they were put into a large barrel. Grape juice straight from the vine was shared out and it was delicious.

Our driver arrived on the Thursday morning to take us back to Shkodra. It was an emotional parting. We had all grown fond of the family and the valley where we had spent the last five wonderful days. We admired their fortitude living in such a harsh environment. While the valley is very beautiful it is a hard life for those who live there with little comfort, cut off for almost six months of the year by snow. We all left a bit of ourselves in the valley of Thethi.
Sally

After-thoughts

In a country where religion was suppressed for so long, it was good to see that the revival has not brought with it antagonisms. The most telling sign of this was late one night in the shower, through the open window came the sound of the muezzin calling for evening prayers which was backed up by the ringing of the bells from the Catholic Cathedral.

“Had you heard of Albania before you became involved in this visit?” I think it was Amanda who asked me this. There is a strong feeling that Europe has forgotten about their country. The European flag was frequently to be seen, a telling sign of where Albanians see their future.

Most families have at least one member earning money abroad and sending it back in one form or another. Yes, countries have invested here, and there is much evidence of US aid in most of the projects we visited. Most investors have withdrawn their help already, or plan to do so shortly, though they intend their initiatives to continue but with funding from elsewhere. The problem for further investment seems to be the lack of roads, and infrastructure generally.

We received a warm welcome, and somehow, the language was not a barrier to friendships. We hope we have succeeded in opening some proverbial windows, and look forward greatly to the return visit next summer.

A hard copy of this report can be obtained, contact the Editor

editor@womentowomenforpeace.org.uk