Meet and Greet Shkoder

Once again, I woke up and had the luxury of a hot shower with excellent pressure. I was then off with Wendy to start our busy day. It was Monday, official bring your trainee to work day.

The first thing we did was pick up some tortillas. In understanding that the other trainee, Bill and I had been eating bread, soup, yogurt and assorted salty cheeses for 3 weeks (which I have to say I do really enjoy) and having lived through that diet themselves as trainees last year, the current volunteers decided that we needed to eat Mexican. Bill and I thought this an excellent idea. We were looking forward to getting a home cooked American meal. Fortunately, Wendy had befriended a missionary who many years in Mexico included much time making tortillas with Mexican women. We approached a black gate on a side street, were buzzed in and found a quite modern looking beautiful church inside full of children running around the front yard. We met the directors, got the tortillas and headed out.

We then met up with some of Wendy’s counterparts who took guided us to the Gabi. The Gabi is a huge market where every sort of used and gently worn clothing and accessories from underwear to purses is sold. Time was short as we had many people to meet and offices to see, but I’m glad I shown it as it was tucked away and hard to find: a true local establishment.

Our first stop was the World Vision office. World Vision is an NGO that helps children in the developing world. It came into Albania during the Kosovo crises 9 years ago and stayed because it believed its services were still needed. Though I didn’t get to meet anyone as the Skoder staff was in Tirana at a meeting, it was beneficial for me to visit the office of an American NGO in Albania particularly a Christian charity to understand its promotional and accountability materials. I saw flip charts with notes, brochures, maps and fundraising mission statements. While World Vision’s materials constantly denote that its mission is derived from a religious ideology- the need to serve those less fortunate- the materials also stress that it does not proselytize and seeks to help children in a non religious way.

The next stop was the Bashkia where I met Rob’s counterparts. I saw where he works and witnessed an incredible hub of activity. Since everyone was busy and actively engaged in his or her work, we only stayed long enough to be introduced to his counterparts.

Next, the four of us went to Aarhus. This is a phenomenal international environmental NGO based on three pillars of environmental action. As I understood them, they were:
Access to Information: Supplying free access to the internet and informing citizens of pertinent issues relating to the environment.
Public Participation: Encouraging citizens to participate in the environmental dialogue through public hearings and other modes of communication between the government and stakeholders.
Access to Justice: Providing citizens with legal consultation and linking citizens to their local government so that they can change the trajectory of environmental projects.
The NGO was founded in Denmark about 10 years ago and is now affiliated with the UN under UNECE and the OSCE. Aarhus has offices in Shkoder, Tirane and a new office in Vlore, a large port city in the south. Officially, it’s involvement in Albania is referred to as a presence. The Shkoder office has 2 university interns in addition to the 2 full time employees. We met with the interns, who explained the projects they were working on to us.

After Aarhus, we visited OSCE, the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe. Again, it was great. This quasi-governmental agency oversees and monitors many of the democratic processes in former Eastern European communist bloc countries such as Albania in issues of voting, transition of power and demonstrations. The overseer of the office is always international and the employers are from all over the EU. Right now, the director is a tall Austrian- Valter.

Following the meetings, Wendy helped me scope out a place to get a leg wax. I’ve been dying to get one since we got to Albania and now the weather is turning warmer realize I desperate need it if hose is not in my future. We found a very nice spa like establishment off the boulevard on the way back to her house. I went in and after much discussion as to when they open and mentally sketching the trip back to Elbasan booked a wax for 8:45 the next morning, the earliest I could within their available work hours.

We returned Wendy’s and Will’s to prepare dinner. The 6 of us (4 volunteers and 2 trainees) made Mexican and ate a hearty meal. I enjoyed the meal and started to get mentally ready to leave Shkoder, the hot showers and for the long journey back. Shales is great, but I think in my heart I’m a city girl.