General Impression
Overall Rating: / 10
They were very warm and very interested in learning new things about foreign cultures. Indeed, the community as a whole accepted me and treated me with an amazing hospitality. Albania is a very different place to other countries in Europe I have visited and there is no denying that living here for a protracted period is a challenge. But the fascinating culture and the friendliness of the people make this all worth while. I wholeheartedly recommend this placement to anyone who is contemplating it.I stayed at a Romani Centre in Tirana, Albania from 8 January to 4 February 2011 and had a wonderful time. The centre provides a range of vital services for the Roma community in the area. These include: a kindergarten for children aged 4-6, the creation of first bilingual Rroma-Albanian dictionary, the founding of local musical groups, and various collaborations with groups such as the London-based Minorities Rights Group and the foundation OSFA Soros Tirana. The group seeks to integrate the Roma more cohesively within Albanian society, as well as to combat problems such as drug abuse,human traffiking and illiteracy.
The main support staff — Pellumb and Aresma Fortuna, Verbana Nano and Anita Kararaj—were all extremely helpful. I had frequent opportunities to enjoy Aresma’s delicious cooking and Verbana and Anita made sure I was given some interesting projects to do, such as establishing a facebook page for the centre and helping to organizing a funding bid for a Roma Women project.
The teaching staff were also both friendly and supportive. They gave me a great deal of freedom to devise my own games to help teach the children essentials such as the numbers one to ten and basic English words. Like any children aged between 4 and 6, the Roma children I encountered were an anarchic bunch. But they were very warm and very interested in learning new things about foreign cultures. Indeed, the community as a whole accepted me and treated me with an amazing hospitality.
I also had a great deal of freedom to explore Tirana in the afternoon and wider Albania at the weekend. One weekend I visited the extraordinary castle and ethnographic museum at Beirat. Another time I went to the south of the country, taking in the medieval city of Gjirokastra, the beach destination of Saranda and the ancient city of Butrint.
In particular, Altin helped me out considerably. He picked me up from the airport and dropped me back there at the end of my placement. He also showed me around the town and helped me get my bearings. Most importantly, when I had an accident and lost my glasses he was exemplary in towing me to and fro to the opticians, and making sure that I was alright.
If I had one criticism of the operation here, it is that it perhaps needs to find a more straightforward way that volunteers can telephone their families. I did not bring my mobile phone and it was very difficult to get in touch with my loved ones. However, that is a minor quibble and, at all times, the people here went out of their way to assist me.
Albania is a very different place to other countries in Europe I have visited and there is no denying that living here for a protracted period is a challenge. But the fascinating culture and the friendliness of the people make this all worth while. I wholeheartedly recommend this placement to anyone who is contemplating it.