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'.

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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.

Lorraine writes- I love Mondays...never thought I'd ever say that, but its my day for the market. I love walking down to the local seller and seeing what fruit and veg he has for that day. He is always busy so I try to go early and miss the rush.....all the fruit in the picture I got for 6 euro's, amazing, how cheap it is to eat here in Kosova.