Almost there!

Chris writes: So we have now completed more than a year together here in Kosova with OM. In total we have been in Kosova for three years. This has been a year where we have seen many ups and downs...we had a hard winter in our first house here and some of you shared in our sadness and loss during those days. Then when we were at our lowest and our money was cut we were offered a house rent free at just the right time. We had a good summer in the lovely house. We have house sat for other people during the year and this has made us appreciate and look forward to our own home so much. We will hopefully be in a position to rent our own home again during the spring of next year. We now both have a basic language though know we need more! Chris has worked in the schools and kids clubs around Kosova with the drug education and has built some good relationships. Lorraine has been developing her ministry and has built some good relationships with the kindergartens and is growing a craft passion and ministry.

We have much to be thankful for as we look back over the year..most of all to God for His goodness, grace and provision...but also to you, our supporters for your prayers and support.

We are looking forward and will be both be in the UK from mid December until end of January...details to follow...but are excited about returning...we believe we have a vision to establish a base here and build on the foundations we have laid over the last year and have many opportunities to share that while in the UK.

We have really appreciated your support and prayers over the last year and look forward to the next year with excitement.....and also trepidation!!

God Bless

Hi all,

I am sure you are all aware now that we will both be in the UK from mid December until the end of January.

During January we will be traveling round the country and wanted to make you aware where we shall be.

# from 3rd til 9th we will be in Reading

# from 9th til 15th we will be in Bournemouth

# from 16th til 18th we will be in Essex/Kent

# from 19th til 25th we will be in Worthing

Thankyou to those who will be hosting us and we look forward to seeing as many of you as possible during our travels and sharing about our hopes and dreams for the next stage of our vision for Kosova........

With many blessings for a wonderful and restful Christmas and New Year to you and yours

much love to you all and thanks for your prayers and support, In Him....

Chris & Lorraine xx

back home!

HIV/Aids awareness......

We have now returned to Kosova after our time in Italy on the training......this is the varied group of people from all over the world who were on the training with us......


HIV/aids is a problem all over the world....our concern is how much of a problem this could be in Kosova in the future so it is important that we are ready and equipped and can educate the children about this now.....we must help them to be educated and to be prepared......we cannot not share what we know....in the words of Wilberforce...'having seen all this you can choose to look the other way but you can never again say "I did not know".

Thankyou for your prayers and support and enabling us to continue in this vital ministry.


On the way home, as we flew into Tiranë, we stopped off in Durrës for a few nights and had a beautiful afternoon on the beach......

HIV/Aids in Italy??

Chris writes...the schools have continued well...almost completed another school...as much as they seemed to want us anyhow and in another village too...been busy but has gone well...

We are now in Italy...hiv/aids impacts the world over so have been on a training course here...has been an intense week and has really stretched me but we leave tomorrow and head for home...for Kosova....am so grateful for the people who made it possible for us to be here and for the people we have met during our time here...God is sooo Good

schools work

Chris writes...finished our first school...was starting to feel a little tired at the end after repeating myself about fifty times..that was the first school and some say the toughest...good to do it but glad it is over. Some of the young people recieved it and were interested and engaged and they were a joy to teach..other seemed bored and were a struggle. The fact is they were all individuals and are vulnerable to drug use/abuse.

Some have already responded by emails/facebook which is great. Some say hi in the street.

But this is just the start. This week have been in Greece helping someone out for a few days but next week we start in another senior school here in Gjakove.

Would appreciate ongoing prayers..there is much to do......blessings

New Term!!

Back to school

Chris writes: well everything is in place now and tomorrow we start a new term and back in the schools. We have spent the summer (and a long hot one it was!) besides working on the language of course(!) preparing our literature, powerpoint, translating the website and now all is ready and we have the green light.
Things are happening here and doors are starting to open.

Appreciate your prayers but please don't stop!!

Be a blessing and be blessed...In Him

Time to rest..!!!

Time out in Krushe e Vogel.

Chris writes: just taking a few days out at the moment. Feels like it has been a long summer, our first full one in Kosova, very hot for us, waiting and preparing for the return of the children (trying to spend the time wisely in language learning!!), lots of literature produced for the schools and the website almost translated. In addition it was the month of Ramazan so have not seen some of my Muslim friends as they have been fasting. Also we have now moved house in preperation for the next family to leave for furlough very soon.

It has been a long hot summer and I am glad that September is here and autumn around the corner....it looks like it could be a busy one!!


.........interesting watching the situation in Libya unfold and the problems caused by the bombings with water shortages and power outages........Kosova of course was where Libya is today, 12 years ago in 1999...but power outages are, after 12 years still a regular part of life here....and now we have no water.....from around 8pm until.....after bedtime!!

Just a part of daily life for the people here in Kosova.......who get on with life largely without complaining or without anyone noticing..........

..............my concern is how much longer will the next generation stand for this......

be a blessing and be blessed!!

Still helping Gjelane

Chris writes: Was back in the pre school in Fushe kosova yesterday.

Seems strange calling it a preschool in this modern age, especially when some of the children are around 12 or 13 years old, but that is pretty much what it is.

Had the opportunity to do one-to-one with some of the children...wow!...easy for me but maybe I will never realise the importance or the significance of what is going on there and the doors and opportunities which were closed before and which will now hopefully be opened.

I still found it hard that some of the children could do maths and write their names but did not know their date of birth.

One of the children was seen in Pristina on the street cleaning car windows...he was asked why he had not been in school...he responded: 'I am not coming to your silly school anymore...I am going to the big school in September!!'

Sad but true...we have all done our part...inputting into these young and precious lives and next week it will be time for them to 'fly the nest' and 'start in the big school'.

All photographers check out: www.neighbourhood29.com


Be blessed and be a blessing xx

Helping Gjelane get to school

School for Gjelane and her friends??

As you approach Pristina, the capital of Kosova, from Peja, you will come to a very busy roundabout and taking the first exit you pass through Fushe Kosova, the 'fields of Kosova'. This is a fairly new road.....an avenue...but rather than being lined with beautiful great oak trees, like the ones in UK, it is lined with superstores. As you pass along the road in a vehicle they become a blur one by one...from beds to bookshelves...from clothes to Christmas trees....from toys to tins of tuna. Almost everyday a new one appears, and yes, many times I have visited some of them myself.

All the more strange then that when you come to the same roundabout, involving great effort.....as it is so busy...to take a left turn, the second exit, a very different road greets you. As you drive along.. gradually the shops start to disappear...and the buildings become more unkempt...'this is clearly the wrong way'...'have we taken a wrong turn'....'maybe we need to turn back.'

But if you persist with your doubts and continue on this road going to where the road seems to end; you will meet a very different community and one which could not be more different than the 'avenue of commercialism'.

For it is here that you will meet some of the forgotten people of Kosova. They are the people of the Roma, the Ashkali and the Egyptian community.

Many of these children are excluded from school because they do not meet the criteria.

At the moment.

Things are changing for these children and the people of this tiny corner of Kosova thanks to the tireless efforts of one lady, (www.elizabethgowing.com) and many others from all over the world working with her, in September these children will be starting at school.



It has been a privilege to be able to call myself one of these 'many others' and to be just a small part of helping Gjelane and her friends get to school in September.