My Story

Hello! My name is Artmir Kushi. I am a 5 years old boy and my birthday is on October 5^th. I am doing well and enjoy good health. My favorite color is green. I like to draw loans and color them in green. I also enjoy going out to play in the park that we have in our town. During the spring and summer my parents bring me to these parks so that I can play riding cars that run with batteries. My future dream is to be a driver and drive a big car. I attend the preschool kindergarten from morning till midday. Our teacher is teaching to us to read and write and after the lessons we all play with the toys we have got there. Because of the pandemic, we are respecting the distancing and keep masks when we are taking our lessons in class. We are happy that during this month the cases have been reduced and many people are being vaccinated. During the afternoons I like to get together with my friends and play outside. We play close to our home so that when we play our parents can see us. My favorite game is hide and seek. During the evenings I like to sit and watch cartoons on the TV for a short while.

My family and I live in Elbasan, My father’s name is Artan and my mother’s name is Miranda. I don’t yet have any brothers or sisters. My father is working when he gets hired and he does very hard and ordinary jobs. At times my father gets hired to unload trucks working together with other men and at other times he gets hired to work in construction, doing the most hard and the lowest jobs to earn for the living. He gains too less to support our living needs. My mother is working in a factory as tailor. They make clothes and articles that get exported abroad. She is getting paid very less too and this is one of the less paid jobs that the ladies do but they have to do it for the living. When she returns home she does also the housekeeping, the cleaning, cooking and many other things besides taking care of me. We are considered as poor and living with low income and I am very thankful that I can receive help and care from Adopt a Child. My mother frequents the church while I attend the children’s Bible classes. Elbasan is an important industrial centre. This big town is the centre of production of steel for construction. Elbasan has also a factory that produces cement, another one producing ferrochrome, oxygen, and a factory producing mobiles for homes out of wood. Many factories that produce alcoholic drinks opened during the time of King Zog and they continued their activities during the communism time. The town of Elbasan gained a lot of importance from the time that the Chinese built the big manufacture of the iron and nickel minerals to get refined in order to gain strong steel for construction. Around it many other sub factories were built and as a result of these factories the air contains pollution and it is not healthy. Many people who live there suffer from the air being polluted and this is a constant issue they deal with even today. Elbasan as a town has about 65% of the whole businesses but the majority of these businesses have only hired one person and the unemployment is very high. The majority of the people in the town work in black being hired from these businesses and earn for the living. In this town the most important businesses that are running are the ones dealing with marketing, transportation and others such as hotels and restaurants or bars. Only 20% of the population deals with agriculture. The people who live in the town work in the industrial factories that are running but they earn too less for the living and unable to provide all that is needed to keep their families provided. The salaries are way too low.

The schedule of our weekly meetings at our new church and Adopt a Child program in Elbasan is as follows:  On Sundays, church service and children’s Sunday school at 10:30 AM. On Mondays, the youth meeting at 6:00 PM and on Wednesdays, 6:00 PM prayer meetings and Bible study meeting. Since the program started to take place, we are asking the parents to come along with the children and be present. The children have received their first package of food and are constantly frequenting our church meetings being this way feed physically and spiritually with the Word of God.

Translated by Martin Rucolli

Adopt a Child Albania