Just another blood feud killing?

Today I lost a friend, Dritan Prroj. He was shot at midday in one of the busiest areas in Shkoder. I was going to say he was shot doing nothing...but that would not be true. He was shot whilst preaching a belief from the bible of peace, love, tolerance and forgiveness and actively involved in helping the poor - he had been extremely busy helping families that suffered during the flooding in Shkoder earlier this year.
The reason he was shot was due to a “blood feud”.
His uncle had killed someone some years ago.
He had taken no part in the killing, nor had he been in agreement with it.

I wonder how Albania can seek to have visas to travel freely through Europe when they do little or nothing to stop these blood killings. Why would other countries want such people to come and visit or live in their land? ( I know not all Albanians have this mentality( thankfully) , but at the same time, the government do little to stop these killings) Surely NOW is the time for the government, in fact all political parties, to join together and to take action and make a new law taking sever action on any blood killings.
Far too many families are living indoors in fear of their lives.

This is the first time, as far as I am aware that a religious leader has been shot in a blood feud.
Dritan was the Pastor of an evangelical church in Shkoder.

Tonight my prayers are for his wife and children and his family. They will be much like me, still in shock and unable to comprehend WHY this happened.

The only good that come out of this ( as far as I can think) is that if Dritan’s death was remembered as the last killing in all blood feuds.
Unfortunately I think it will not be so.

I just hope the media and the social groups now put pressure on the government to ACT and get much tougher against the blood feuds.

Baby Ema

A couple of friends at my church have a 9 month baby daughter named Ema.

Ema was ill when she was 4 months with a high temperature.
She was diagnosed with an infection just above her kidney and was operated on Tirana.
They thought she had fully recovered, only to be told later on that the doctors had found a malignant tumour and she would need chemotherapy.

Ema then went to Germany for an operation, and the parents hoped that Ema would have the tumour removed.

However, she still requires 6-9 months chemotherapy and at the moment, she is there for the treatment with her dad. Her mum is working in Shkoder and will go whenever she gets some free days off work.

They have set up a small blog to let us know what is happening.
Please pray for Ema's full healing...

http://emaevogel.blogspot.com/


...and if possible, visit the blog and give Ema's dad a little bit of encouragement. I am sure he will appreciate it.

Back in Albania

Sorry for the lack of posts for the past few weeks. We have just got back to Shkoder from the UK. We were over visiting my parents.
Unfortunately as I mentioned before, the internet access was poor, so I just got impatient waiting for the pages to load...so that put me right off posting.

Hopefully now I can get back to normal again!

The time we had in Scotland was great, although the weather was mixed. They always say that you can get the four seasons in one day in Scotland! But then, we were not in Scotland for the weather!

It's good to be back in Albania, but already I have noticed that the boys are missing my parents back garden , and the nearby play areas where they have been practicing their football skills!

When we were in Scotland I managed to take 2 of the boys to see Aberdeen v Manchester United, so they were happy to see the current European Champions.

Manchester United won 2-0 with goals from Carrick and Rooney. Unfortunately Ronaldo was not there....they had been looking forward to seeing him!

Scotland

Sorry, but at the moment I am in Scotland with "limited" internet access, so posting will be infrequent for a short time.

Tirana

I was back in Tirana again this week , a couple of times getting the car fixed - £1000 of repairs :-(

Anyway, as there was no point in sitting around the garage, I walked around Tirana. It is far less stressful walking than driving!!
Still, Tirana is far too busy and noisy for me....so I decided to walk through the lanes and backstreets rather than the main roads.

What a change!

There were a number of times I couldn't hear ANY traffic, and I was alone in a quiet, peaceful street with few high rise apartments to be seen. the birds were singing and I felt like it was the old Tirana that I saw on my very first visit almost 15 years ago.

That inspired me to go back to the apartment I visited on my first full day in Tirana.
As it was on a main road, I had to walk on the busy street...but I was looking for any kind of shop or sign that reminded me of my first visit....but so much has changed.
Then I saw this....


What a breath of fresh air!
That must have been there for many years, and I must have passed it on a number of occasions, and have never ever noticed it.

And so i went in...


I could only think that this library has not changed since the time of communism. Although I hope that this man has not been sitting there for the last 20 years! ;-)

I took a look around the books, but I would have loved to get inside their archives which were kept in another room.


Right on the main street, a glimpse of old Albania.
That made me so happy!
It was a place of peace and tranquility in the midst of chaos...and although I have passed it many times, I had never ever noticed it!

I wonder how many other "treasures" I am missing as I rush through the streets trying to get my work done and not stopping to enjoy the beautiful moments and places that life brings us!

Hear, Read , Taste.

Listening to Bob Dylan - The Rundown Rehearsal Tapes Disc 2 - Just Like a Woman

Just added to the sidebar 3 links that i hope to update from time to time.

They will include music, short stories/poems/articles , and food that I like.

These are not meant to be particularly linked to Albania, although the food may well be.

 

Anyway, I am starting with:

HEAR - "To Love somebody" ( BeeGees cover) by Ray Lamontagne

READ - The Pedestrian by Ray Bradbury.( I did this as my short story for my Higher English MANY years ago. I still love this story!)

TASTE - Patlixhana te skuqur ( as long as there is plenty garlic with that then it is a meal fit for a king!)

 

Hope you take time to listen, read and taste!

( Click on the pictures to go to the sites)

Computer problems - again!

Sorry, but I have not been posting recently due to computer problems.

A blue screen appeared on the computer telling me I had a hard disk error. In fact it appears that the problem was the motherboard with its connection to the graphics card. It appears to be sorted now, after a week, but they had to re-format the computer. Not only is it working slower now, but I had to re-configure my internet connection and I fear I have not done it properly.
First of all it did not let me open ANY blogspot.com addresses and now it does not open the majority of my web pages, and the connection speed is SLOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOW.

I will take it back tomorrow to try and sort the connection problem.

Sorry, but I hope to get back posting this week ....sometime.

Our Family

For all of you with children...this is the picture that maybe best describes our family.

One out of Four is not bad!

Just got my permission to stay in Albania renewed.

Foreigners have to have permission to stay in the country up to 3 months, thereafter they must leave the country or else have permission to stay granted from the government.

I have just had mine renewed again till 2009.

I have permission to stay in the country that says...

Vendlindje: Aberdeen, England (should be Aberdeen, Scotland)

Kombesia: Irish (should be Scottish)

Shtetsia: English (should be British)

Ngjyra e syve: Brown (should be blue)

Quick Update

Half time

Barcelona 1 - Celtic 0

It is men against boys!

Barcelona scored after only 2 minutes and the wee man turns to me and says "Yeeeeees....ishalla fitojme 3-0"

"Time for bed Aron!"

Edit:
Final Score 1-0 Barcelona. As convincing a 1-0 win as you could get. And would you believe it, that I just noticed I have been wearing my Barcelona T-shirt today!! :-( I love watching Barcelona (except against us!)...and I hope they go on to win the Champions League!

Parenting is Fun!

Tonight is the Barcelona-Celtic Champions League game in Spain.
Celtic trail 2-3.
Celtic are my favourite team and i am hoping ("against all hope")that they will do something remarkable and qualify. My head tells me that they have no chance and that they will do well to escape a 4-0 defeat.

Now comes the problem...
I have 3 boys. In fact I am from a family of 3 boys, so I know what it is like to grow up in a home full of boys. My eldest son, Aron is almost 9 years old and is now starting to like watching football and his 2 favourite teams are A.C. Milan (because Ronaldo plays for them) and Barcelona (because Ronaldinho plays for them). So tonight he will be supporting Barcelona! I will be supporting Celtic.(of course!)

No doubt, if Barcelona get a couple of early goals then poor Aron will be going to his bed early!

Now, which team will he support when Scotland eventually have to play Albania?!

Happy New Year!

Already for New Year!

Just been out buying the meat, and bread ( I usually forget and end up queuing for about an hour in the cold).

Why New Year is so important I have not quite figured out...
maybe because religion was banned in 1967 and emphasis was placed on New year rather than Bajram or Christmas.That would explain why santa is the "Old man of New Year".
However, I think a major reason is the fact that at New Year people had time off work, and there were more things that people could buy. E.g. oranges may be on sale, but no-one knew when they would see them again. This resulted in "panic buying", which to a smaller degree still exists today.
People buy far more than they can eat, far too much bread, and you would think the shops were shut for 2 weeks and not 2 days.

Anyway, I love the idea that New Year is a time for all the family to get together. The family unit is still so strong in Albania. That is something I hope continues.

Wishing you all a happy and safe New year!
Për shumë vjet, dhe Gezuar Vitin e Ri.

Merry Christmas

Christmas is generally a non-event in Albania, and the main emphasis is on New Year. Probably the banning of religion in 1967 had something to do with that.
Christmas trees are called "New Year trees" and Santa Claus is called the "old man of New Year". For a good number of people Christmas is just another working day.

Anyway, today I have to attend a funeral, so much of my time will be spent there...so not too much time with the family.

Have a great Christmas, and thanks for reading the blog - especially those that have taken time to post.

Here is a bit of Christmas fun from the family....

Don't send a lame Holiday eCard. Try JibJab Sendables!

From Aberdeen to Albania

It is almost 14 years since I made my first visit to Albania.

Flying in around 10p.m. to a country in darkness (or that’s the way it seemed) there appeared very little sign of life except for the odd house light around the airport.

It is a long story as to how I ended up in Albania. Imagine a Scotsman, from Aberdeen going to a little country like Albania and falling in love with the people and the place.

I find it amazing!

But the question I ask myself now is this…
Is it really THAT amazing?

I ask myself this, as I have found that I am not the only person from Scotland to come to Albania, nor am I the first person from Aberdeen to fall in love with Albania.

When I was young I attended Aberdeen Grammar School, the very same school that Lord Byron once attended.(Photo of statue of Lord Byron at Aberdeen Grammar School)

Lord Byron himself went to Albania spending around 2 years in Albania, Turkey and Greece. When in Italy he wrote “Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage”…
“Land of Albania! Where Iskander rose,
Theme of the young, and beacon of the wise,
And he his namesake, whose oft-baffled foes
Shrunk from his deeds of chivalrous emprize;
Land of Albania! let me bend mine eyes
Oh thee, thou rugged Nurse of savage men!
The Cross descends, thy Minarets arise,
And the pale Crescent sparkles in the glen,
Through many a cypress-grove within each city’s ken.”

My very first job was not in fact in Aberdeen, but in Elgin, a town around 60 miles north of Aberdeen. This was the birth place of Margaret Hasluck who grew up there and later attended Aberdeen University. Apparently, (and I only discovered this recently) there is a display at Aberdeen University of some items from Albania in tribute to Margaret Hasluck!

She lived for around 14 years in Albania. She wrote “Our woman in Tirana:The Life of Margaret Hasluck, scholar and spy” and also the excellent book on the “Kanun” called “The Unwritten Law”. I hope to post something of this book later on. Due to intelligence work she did during the First World War, Margaret Hasluck was forced to leave Albania in 1939.

So I ask myself…is it really all that surprising that someone from Aberdeen should go to Albania?

Will I ever understand the Albanians?

Edith Durham starts her book “Albania and the Albanians” with the great quote…

“Englishmans,” said the tame Albanian, “silly mans! No understand my people. My people all one week like this,” here he waved his arms round violently. “Next week go back to work. All quiet. Englishmans no understand that.”

I really like that description.
I encourage myself by thinking that it is just as well I am Scottish!

But it still makes me wonder if I will ever really understand the Albanians.
Yes, I have learnt the language (to a degree, together with grammatical errors!)
Yes, I have adapted greatly to the culture.
But, as someone so wisely advised me many years ago…
“No matter how long you live there, you will always be a foreigner…”
Unfortunately, he was right!
There are times I think with my Scottish head, and fail to understand Albania and the Albanians.

I will give you an example…

There is only so much that I CAN understand. I could write post after post of life under communism and stories I have heard. I could describe it for you. I know all about it…but that is the heart of the problem…I know …but I don’t REALLY KNOW (experientially).

I showed one of my friends pictures of Shkoder in April 1991.
He asked where I got them. He told me he was there at the park. His eyes glazed over and he said, “all the old feelings are coming back”. I felt I was standing on holy ground. I did not understand. I longed to go there…but didn’t dare. It felt too personal, too painful. I changed the subject.

Without experience I cannot know. Without knowledge I cannot understand.

It appears the Scottish are also “silly mans”!

Scotland v Italy

Was at a youth group, then a hospital visit, so missed the first half.

Not surprised to see us 1-0 down. I firmly believed we would not win.

But, then....as always we started the comeback.
1-1 and I started to believe that we could win.
...and we almost did. James McFadden missing an open goal.

Then just to make matters worse...my wife asks with 5 mins. left to go out in the pouring rain to buy wine and cheese for the Lasagne tomorrow.

In the end, Italy scored to extinguish any last hope of qualification.

The Bravehearts are brokenhearted!

Still I am laughing at a comment my mother-in-law made after watching only 5 minutes of the game with me...
"Për Zotin, ata Skoceze s'dinë më luajt, veç japin të bardhet topin!"

She knows nothing about football...yet she was so right!