My Story

Hello! My name is Esmeralda Velillari. I am a 5 year old girl and my birthday is on June 19th.  I am doing well and enjoy good health. My favorite color is black and my future dream is to be a teacher. I like to play with dolls usually and when I am inside my home I like to comb their hair and dress them nice and clean. I attend the preschool kindergarten from morning till midday. Our teacher takes good care of us. I spend time to play with the toys and dolls we have in the kindergarten and have already learned to read and write as well as many poems by heart and songs with moves. During the afternoons, I stay inside my home and can’t get outside to play because winters are very cold here where I live. Even though, at rare times, my cousins who live close to my house and I gather for a short while to play. Our games are simple like hide and seek, running races, etc. Because of the Pandemic, I can’t yet frequent the programe of Dunica and can’t go to the house that we meet. I receive constantly and every month a food package that contains sugar, oil, rice, flour and other washing detergents. I am very happy that I am receiving help from the Adopt a Child programme and can’t wait to start going again to the Bible classes

My family and I live in Dunica. My village is located in Upper Mokra. The infrastructure is totally missing and the road of our village is in really bad conditions, filled with mud and with many holes that get filled with water during the fall. My father’s name is Adriatik and my mother’s name is Dhurata. I have a 13 years old brother whose name is Klavio as well as a sister. Klavio is also in the programme and he is going to the Bible studies at the place we meet. The children above 13 are allowed to participate.  Same as all the households who live in Dunica, my parents own land and deal with raising animals. This way, they are considered as self employed from the government. My parents plant crops and vegetables as well as alfalfa and oat which is food provision for the animals. My parents have made sure that by autumn, we have enough flour provided because my mother bakes the bread at home. We also have got beans and anions as well as some other vegetables like tomatoes, cabbages and peppers preserved in jars to consume during the winter. Around our land we have got also fruit trees and my mother has made jam or composts from apples, pears, grapes, nuts, etc. My parents care for a cow and we benefit milk and other sub products to consume daily. My father sells its calf and we earn a bit more of income to be used for other needs in the family. My father has also got a horse and he is collecting wood in the mountain recently. The price of the wood is high and we can’t offer to buy the wood we need to burn during the winter.  The land is less productive and whatever we gain from the animals is less profitable therefore the government is also giving to my family a small amount considered as assistance. This assistance is given to the poor families and all of us who live in Dunica being poor receive it. Same as all the people who live in Dunica my family and I live in poverty and we are thankful to the Adopt a Child sponsorship programme for the help and support to us. God bless you!

Translated by Martin Rucolli

Adopt a child Albania