By James Leithart | Communication Director
“If you were not here, I would not be alive. Who else would support me? I had a son, but he died less than a year ago at 48. I am afraid to wear the black mourning clothes. I keep him in my heart. I keep looking down the street for you thinking, ‘When are you coming?’ Thank you a thousand times!”
These are the words of Zenepe, an older Albanian Roma woman living alone in a flimsy tent on the outskirts of the southern Albanian city of Gjirokastër. She has no running water. No electricity. No bed.
Winters bring a brutal, damp cold; summers, blistering heat. Partially paralyzed, she has no family support and receives no government assistance.
Yet every week she looks down the street with hope, because of you.
Your support allows our team to faithfully show up for people like Zenepe. With food, hygiene items, and compassion. She tells us tearfully, “No one thinks about me… no one except you.” Her words stay with us.
For Zenepe, these visits mean more than practical help. They are a reminder that she has not been forgotten.
Because of you, elderly women and men like Zenepe receive regular care, food, and human connection. Children with special needs in Pogradec receive life-changing vocational and speech therapies. Marginalized Albanian mothers and caregivers find safety, friendship, and dignity. Our soup kitchens remain open to the hungry and lonely.
You make all this possible.
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