My Story

Hello! My name is Ina Menkshi. I am 13 years old and my birthday is on January 18^th. I am doing well and in good health. My favorite color is green and my future dream is to study in school and become a musician. I like to sing and dance and in the future, I dream to have concerts and performances. I have started to like to become an artist, but on the other side, I also like to become police. I like to be a strong lady and protect the people who might get involved in hard situations as fights or threats. I go to ninth grade of school and enjoy learning. My favorite subject is music and arts and I also like the physical education lesson hours, where we learn about different sports. The school in our village is closed and for this reason we are transported to the next village to take the lessons there. I have many friends from my classmates and when we meet, we enjoy our time of engaging in conversations. We are during winter at present and the days are very short. As soon as school is finished, I go inside the house. Sitting in our living room where it is warm, I like to listen to music and study. I need to study harder because we have closing exams and afterwards, I wish to join the high school for three more years. I offer to help my mother during the day and so I do most of the cleaning and wash the dishes. I also do some cooking. I live in a village that belongs to the community of Pogradec. The town is far and we travel not very often to go there, unless we have a need like to receive services from the community offices, go to the hospital for visits, etc. Our house is in good conditions. I have six members in my family including my grandparents who live with us. I have an older brother. He has left the program since he finished his school and at present, is helping our family working in our fields. My father and mother deal with agriculture. We own land in the village and they plant for consumption in our family as well as what is needed as stock food for our animals. During this year they have planted corn and use it to feed the cow. My parents care for our cow and we benefit milk and dairy for consumption. Every year, my father sells the calves and raises income in our family. My grandparents are retired and both they receive small pension. Whatever they need and cannot cover through their pension, is provided from my parents. They are a great help for my parents during the day and feed our cow but they are getting elderly as the time goes on and are doing less and less. The vegetables are canned already and we are eating them during winter. We are living with very low income and are challenged in many ways and I am thankful to the program of Adopt a Child for the help in food as well as for the spiritual care. I visit the program after school twice every week and I am happy to join in different activities organized for us. Thank you from my heart for your kind help and generosity. God bless you!

Translated by Martin Rucolli

LW/Adopt a Child Albania