My Story

Hello! My name is Dionis Karaj. I am a 9 years old boy and my birthday is on January 23^rd. I am doing well and enjoy good health. My favorite color is red. My future dream is to study and be a doctor. I attend the third grade at school and enjoy learning. My favorite subject at school is Math. Because of the Pandemic distancing rules, we are taking the lessons at school is two shifts and our class has been divided in smaller groups. Many people are taking the vaccines already and the number of the infected persons is getting lower daily. Right after we get done with learning, I like to stay just a bit longer at the school so that I can play football with my friends. I return from school at midday and as soon as I get home, I like to meet again with my friends and play for a while close to my home. We gather in front of our homes and play running or with a ball. The weather has been quite well at present and we can stay longer and enjoy our playing time. I like to have walks especially during the evenings. We as family join to walk altogether. Walks in the evenings are traditional in our town. During the late evening hours, I like to study the school books and do the homework. At other times, when I don’t get out to play, I study right after I get home from school. I help my mother when she is doing the shopping. She and I carry the shopping bags together with her.

My family and I live in Elbasan. My father’s name is Bledjan and my mother’s name is Vjollca. I have a sister. Her name is Flavia and she is 13 years old. My father sells in a shop and is hired. He receives a monthly pay doing this job, but this kind of job is one of the less paid. Even that he is receiving less, we are happy that he has this job and is bringing constantly an income for us to buy food and a few other items. My mother is busy at home, doing the cleaning, cooking and all else that needs to be done. She also does the shopping and goes to pay the bills for electricity and water. My family and I live with low income and we are all very thankful to the programme of Adopt a Child for the care we receive at the church of Elbasan. I come to church together with my mother and enjoy learning from the Word of God and receive food packages. In our church we have prayer meetings, Bible classes for children as well as Bible studies for the men and ladies that come to our centre.

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