Help ADRA defend the rights of the girls around the world!

ADRA Albania has been working for years in the Roma communities all around Albania. It was time to speak out loud about what happens to young girls at the age of 12. Finally, our voice was heard and here we stand on the gift catalogue of ADRA International to get visibility and raise awareness against early marriages in Albania! 

http://www.adra.org/site/PageNavigator/work/what/Protecting_the_Vulnerable/help_adra_July2013.html

One amazing week with 25 roma children from Fushe Kruja - 24.06-28.06.201

This year ADRA staff decided to move step further and invite the children of the Fushe Kruja Roma community to Tirana. This was a big step for the staff and for the community itself because it was the first time ADRA took the initiative to take 35 Roma children and organize a weekly camp for them.

We planed and organized a jungle camp to prepare Roma children for the coming school year and to motivate them by giving a nice experience together with ADRA staff.

The camp with the jungle theme presented to the children the wide world of animals, and through this issue ADRA staff prepared different kind of stories related to school, healthy life style and hygiene. Each day, the program had a special theme such as: what the jungle is, why we should eat healthy food, hygiene, excursion day in the zoo and park and relationship between friends and in the family. 

Our goal was to combine interesting stories about the jungle with educational issues for the children. So we had every day a special time table. It started with morning gym, after that breakfast and then washing teeth and themselves.  We created for every day special games with the daily theme and organized some role play games to explain the children for example how they have to clean their hands and teeth. Our ADRA health team supported our camp team with these activities. Every day we had school time that means we repeated with the children numbers, letters and songs.

At the beginning of the camp the children were very nervous and full of energy and it was a challenge for our team to follow the organized plan. It was nice to recognize how the children got used and improved with these activities, listening and concentrating more and more each day.

 It was very nice to notice this positive process.  It was amazing to sit down with them and to do every day some creative activities for example producing soap. They enjoyed working with their own imagination. It was special to see how they looked to the animals in the zoo or how they play in the park and in the free time at the ADRA compound.

Not only our special medical man who explained and talk with the kids also our team with 3 community women supported the ADRA team very well. The goal to give to the children a special time and to prepare them for the new starting first school year was our  main goal and even though for a short period of time, 1 week, we realized our goal. Now, September will be a challenge for us all as we have to work hard with the parents and the Roma community in order to take Roma children to school.

 A warm THANK YOU to ADRA Germany that financed the summer camp and to the amazing ADRA Albania staff which worked really hard to give these children a great experience!

Summer camp June 2013

Winter times in Fushe Kruja

Fushe Kruja city is very rainy these days. Spring has brought many weather challenges and who feels it the most are the poor communities who live in cold houses, without any heat, shoes or proper warm clothes. It has been four months of winter now, and the weather conditions are not facilitating the Roma community of Fushe Kruja to get started with their work. Women and men cannot work collecting metal scrub or selling second hand clothes because of the heavy rain; they don’t have shoes or even coats to be protected and they get sick very often. Sometimes they try traveling even in the rain, going from village to village and sleeping in tends, but there have been cases of tends flooding, lack of work and thus lack of incomes to continue the travelling. 

Many Roma families that live in Fushe Kruja community tried starting their work by going to Shkodra to sell second hand clothes ( North Albania)  but they came back saying that Buna river had come out of its riverbed and had destroyed all what they had in their self constructed tends situated near the city. Many Roma families came back to Fushe Kruja sick and angry because of this happening and they were really sad because every year, in Shkodra, where many Roma people work, there are many river flooding. (http://www.adra.al/2010/12/flooding-in-shkodra-people-who-have.html)

Paola, one of Reflect Students, 12 years old, was to Shkodra for two months to help her parents work. She came back at the reflect centre last Monday (29 March 2013) saying that they were caught up by the river water at 4 am in the morning and they got really frightened. All their personal clothes and tend materials were destroyed and they had to come back to Fushe Kruja. “I was frightened when I felt the tend started moving and the water entered from below it. I couldn’t even put my feet on the ground”.

She is happy to be back and to have the opportunity to come to the ADRA centre and continue her learning. She misses school very much but she doesn’t have a choice: her family needs her.

Now Paola and her family are in Fushe Kruja just for a few weeks, waiting the weather to get better and re- start their journey.

Meeting young brides in Fushe Kruja

December in Fushe Kruja is a very cold month for the Roma community. The city is situated right next to a mountain so there are no hills, trees or something else that can stop the cold wind coming from the Adriatic Sea. Even though this area is not particularly characterized by low temperatures, the strong cold wind gives another perception. Roma families start collecting wood and prepare the old stoves for colder days. Many of them are not so lucky to have a stove, thus they get often ill and try to go and visit parents within the community, maybe the ones that own a stove. Some of them can’t find wood so they go searching in the rubbish, everywhere in the city, the important thing is to find something which can get burned. Little boys go searching for hours and sometimes they come home with pieces of plywood which can hold fire just for a couple of hours.

 When you enter within the community, little children, wearing only slippers come running. Their cheeks are read and noses cold, their skin is harsh and their hands are cold. Most of them do not have shoes or coats so they go around in light clothes and slippers. Many of them get ill during winter, but their parents don’t know how to take care of them. Even when they have fever, flu and they are cold, they go out and get even sicker. Parents do not have enough information on how to prevent or tackle fever, flu or any other disease. What happens next is that the child gets really sick, ends up in the hospital and takes a lot of medicines because his condition has deteriorated.

This presentation was necessary because it is important to understand how roma parents still are not conscious about the lack of information regarding health, education, children caring. All these situations have a main cause: Early marriages.

Young girls, 12 years old, get married with young boys who aren't more than 16 years old. These new couples are still children, they don’t live their adolescence, they don’t play enough, don’t go to school, don’t know how to take care for themselves. The ironic fact is that they get married at a very early age and become parents when they are still in their adult childhood. On the other hand their parents don’t know what to teach them because it has been the same for them, and the history repeats itself, perpetuating negative consequences.

Girls become mothers at 13 years old and they are afraid, they don’t know what to do with these new creatures. They tie them up as little dolls, so they are easier to carry up and feed them with what they can. There have been cases when they don’t have breast milk or other kind of food and give babies boiled beans, thinking it is nutritive. These babies grow up not only without vaccination but also without any medical control, and the most important  is that they don’t exist formally . As early marriages are not allowed in Albania by law, young mothers can not register their babies to the public institutions, hospital or health centers.

Ada Mexhiri, Zeqine Gatali and Adela Misha, three young students of Reflect school got married in the last three months. They were all 13 years old and were all frequenting the ADRA community centre in Fushe Kruja. These three young students had just started to read and write, to get involved in activities, to enjoy some free time far from hard work. From now on, they can not come to school anymore; they can’t even go out of their new houses. Now that they are married, they have to stay in their new house, cooking, washing, working more than all family members, just because they are the new brides.

When ADRA staff goes to visit them, they hide because they are shy, they don’t know what to say, they don’t even know to give an explanation about the decision they have made.

After a year working in Fushe Kruja, you understand that this decision is not taken by them; they don’t even think to take such important decisions. Their parents see them as burdens; most of the time, when a young bride comes in the house, the oldest daughter should leave in order to give space to the new arrival. This was the fate of our three students. In their families, a new bride came and, since they live in small rooms where there is not enough space for everyone, they have to go; marriage is the only escape. The same logic works also for the food. When a new member comes home, one of the girls should leave, because these families are very poor and can’t afford to feed everyone.Young girls are the once that sacrifice more than any other member of the community. They are considered as a mouth more to feed so the solution is to force them getting married. Parents put pressure on them, make them feel as burdens, treat them badly so they are forced to leave and to find a new house. 

Albania's 100 Years of Independence!

On 28 November 2012, Albania celebrated 100 years of independence. The country was covered by black and red flags, festive activities and many important events. In each city of the country there were organized many concerts, activities and celebrations in order to give this date the proper significance.

Even in Fushe Kruja city, where our REFLECT project is being implemented, were organized several activities, including a public school activity. Fatmira, our facilitator, had a brilliant idea: create a group of Roma youngsters and prepare a Roma dance for the public school concert. Our students were very excited for this opportunity, not only because they were going to promote their dance and music in front of everyone; but also because it was the first time they were participating in an event made especially for young people their age. It was very enthusiastic see Roma boys and girls gathered to (which is an exceptional case) to prepare the dance for such an important activity. They worked hard for a week; each day after class they gathered at the community center and practiced because they wanted to give the best they could. It was such a miracle to see these boys and girls playing and learning together for a common objective. It was one of those rarely occasions where Roma children feel their age and not forced adults.

As we have already written in our previous blogs, Roma community in Fushe Kruja is a very conservative and patriarchal community. Girls are forced to abandon school in early age because their parents don’t want them to go to school with boys and prefer marrying them in a very early age, even without the girl’s approval.  It was a very positive step seeing parents approving such initiative and allow their daughters to dance and stay in the same classroom with boys their age. The celebrating feeling was influencing everyone and strangely, Roma parents became more tolerant and allowed their daughters to participate to the event and dance in front of everyone. In a normal situation, there would be a big discussion about girls dancing in front of the public; Roma men consider it an unacceptable behavior for grown up girls of 12 years old. Girls at this age are considered as possible brides so they can not go to school, go out alone or participate in public activities. If they do so, they are considered women with doubtful reputation.

The day of the concert, on 27 November 2012, ADRA staff bought some nice shirts and hats with the Albanian flag because the Roma dancing group had asked to wear the Albanian flag for the occasion. They were very excited and couldn't wait to go on the stage and make their performance.

The concert was really well organized; young students from different classes sang and dance various Albanian traditional and modern songs. During the concert, our Roma participants were a little bit discouraged because they saw their peers, the Albanian children, the once who go to school, how free they were, how much they were enjoying the event. Instead of the Roma ones, who don’t go to school and are very marginalized. Being out of school, Roma youngsters are also out of the public life including sportive, artistic and cultural events.

Then their turn came, the Roma group went on stage and as soon as they began dancing, the hole public was standing applauding them. It was a memorable moment. It was one of those moments where there is absolutely no place for cultural and ethnic differences, discrimination and exclusion. People, for some minutes, were in total harmony with each other, sharing a beautiful song and accepting each other like there were no boundaries. Suddenly, some Albanian youngsters went on the stage and start dancing with the Roma group, creating a delightful atmosphere.

ADRA staff was on the same time astonished and proud to have supported such group because they really gave the best by making everyone feel united like never before. After the concert, ADRA staff and the Roma group went to the community center, celebrating such event and immediately planning the next one.

Everyone enjoyed the activity and we hope this will be the first of many others that will come in the future. 

Elsa lost her Job!

The Reflect program in Fushë Kruja is running very well. Women come and find a very nice place were to talk, share their problems and feel welcomed. It is really important that the Roma women themselves have adopted such space and see it as a pause from their daily harsh life. The Reflect circle “Let’s work together” has gathered together more than 80 women in less then 10 months, and this is a very high number considering the nomadic life style this community has.

One of our best students, Elsa Rakipi, 18 years old, mother of 1 year old girl, lost her job this month.

Elsa has been following our classes for a year now and also has been integrated very well among Roma women. She is an Egyptian girl who married a Roma man, so for the Roma women, she is a foreigner who took one of the best men of the Roma community. It hasn’t been easy for Elsa to get along well with the women of such conservative community. For 4 years she has been struggling with discrimination situations learning the language and giving a child to her new family in order to be accepted as a real bride.

Elsa is from the Egyptian community of Fushë Kruja and she has had the chance to go to school for 7 years. She was a very good student and she promised to have a bright future. Her family took her out of school because they needed her to work in a shoe-factory and earn money for the family. It was really hard for Elsa to change her life and start working at such an early age but she was intelligent and even though she was brought to the factory against her wish, she learned as fast as she could and she became a really good shoe’s tailor.

It’s been two years now that Elsa doesn’t work anymore and she really expresses the wish to start working again and go out of the community, out of her routine life of cleaning and taking care of her new family. She had to give up to her job because she got pregnant with 16 years and needed to stay home with the baby. This decision conditioned her life not only because she had a child but also because in the Roma community of Fushë Kruja it is difficult for a young mother to get her life back and return to work.

Elsa has been trying for a year to get back to her job because she thinks it will help her to improve her living conditions. “I can help my husband to built our own house for the family” she says, desperate to have more space for her daughter and to live separated from her parents in law. “My mother in law controls whatever I do and I need to get permission even when I need to go to the market”.

During this year, while following the “let’s work together” circle, Elsa reflected on her opportunities and she decided to try again and start working by taking her child to the kindergarten but things didn’t go as she planned. She started working for only a month and her mother in law considered this was too much for her, that she needed to stay home and take care of her family, “Elsa needs to understand that she is not a girl anymore and she has obligations towards her family. She needs to ask my permission for everything and cannot do what she wants to do, I am the commander of this house and I decide.” Elsa’s mother in law has a very conservative mentality and is the one that feeds the family by selling second hand clothes at the market. She doesn’t permit anybody to decide in the house except her. She is so convinced of her opinion that she even asked one of our ADRAs staff: Don’t you ask your mother in law when you want to go out?

Elsa will continue coming to classes as she thinks this is the only way to get out of the house. It is a chance for her to continue learning and to get more information on how to change her life and mentality by collaborating with her mother in law. The Reflect staff will also continue to talk to, visit and invite Elsa’s mother in law to re-consider her position, as she respects what is being done in the community and she welcomes each of us in her house.