Anna Goes to Albania!

I'm going to Albania! THE BASICS September 2013 - April 2014 - teach children with special needs - work with at-risk teenaged orphans - teach cooking classes - document the culture through photo/video THE DETAILS Along with my best friend, I'm going to help a family with their transition to living as full time missionaries/humanitarian workers with World Gospel Mission, first in the capital city of Tirana and then in the mountain villages. While the parents go through intensive language training for the first several months, we will homeschool their eight-year-old daughter and three-year-old son, both of whom are adopted from Albania. Because of the children's special needs, they are unable to enter the country's school system. Additionally, we will partner with the family in their local orphanage ministry. In a culture where family connections are essential to succeed at all in life, orphans are largely neglected. When they age out of the orphanage system, they are kicked out on their own, without resources to help them, and so are at risk for being trafficked. We will partner with the local Christian community to connect these orphans with individuals and families, bringing them that support structure they would otherwise lack. To further engage the communities in the mountain villages, I will teach cooking classes. Because of the oppressive communist regime that controlled the country until 1990, the culture is still emerging from a long period of fear and isolation. For women in the mountain villages, something as basic as pancakes is actually a fantastic, exotic dish. Using the resources they have readily available, I'll lead classes to enable mothers to bring some culinary color to their families' tables. GET CONNECTED You can stay updated on my adventures and see some of my previous documentary work at http://applestomangoes.wordpress.com