My Story

Hello! My name is Gabriel Bakollari.  I am a 3 years old boy and my birthday is on December 17th.  I am doing well and enjoy good health. My favorite color is white and my future dream is to be a doctor. I attend the kindergarten from morning till midday and there besides learning new poems by heart or songs, we spend a spare time to play with the toys the kindergarten has got. Our teachers are very good to us and they take good care for us during all the time we are frequenting the kindergarten. When I return home from the kindergarten, after lunch, I get together to play with my friends and cousins who live near my home. We play with a ball as well as other simple games as hide and seek, etc. During the evenings, I like to watch cartoons on TV for a while. My family and I live in the village of Verdova, very close to Pogradec. My father’s name is Zaim and my mother’s name is Drita. My mother had a divorce before she married to my father and I have a brother and three sisters as well as two stepbrothers and a stepsister. They are all registered in the program of Adopt a Child. My stepfather is jobless and he does all sorts of jobs offered to him in daily bases like unloading a truck, carrying wood up to the people’s homes that live in apartments, doing hard construction jobs, etc. He doesn’t work daily and earns too less.  Having no job, we as family are considered very poor and the government is giving to us a social assistance. This is a very small amount and helpful only to cover the immediate needs or the bills.  My mother is doing the housekeeping, cooking, cleaning and the shopping. We are one of the poorest families in the village of Verdova and lack food and many basic needs remain unfulfilled.  Pogradec is located in the southeast of the Republic of Albania, is the main town of the district of Pogradec and is part of the Korca region. The city has an area of ​​13 square km and lies on the shores of Lake Ohrid. Pogradec lies 700 meters above sea level in a valley, which is surrounded by mountains to the west and low hills to the south and east. Pogradec in the past has been an important industrial center in Albania. To be mentioned at that time were the industry of chrome, iron, nickel, coal, fishing, wood processing and beverages. Today the citizens of Pogradec try to be self-employed or employed by the municipality. A considerable part of the population of Pogradec has chosen to emigrate abroad due to unemployment in the country. The difficult economic situation is felt in the city as well as in the villages. Pogradec has Muslim, Orthodox, Bektashi populations. Since 1994, after Albania was opened in our city, the first evangelical missionaries arrived and today we have a considerable percentage due to the fruitful services that have been in the city and in the villages. There are also recently some new sects such as Jehovah's Witnesses and Mormons, these are a very small percentage of this population. The Living Water center in Pogradec was established in 1995. From this center are encouraged food programs associated with evangelistic and social work and churches are planted in the area of ​​Mokra. Many people have heard the Gospel and have known Christ as God and Savior. We have the privilege of having a new Church near this center. The Living Water Church in Pogradec has its service every Sunday at 10:00. Through this new church the Living Water Service aims to evangelize and raise disciples in the city and in the villages around it.

Translated by Martin Rucolli

Adopt a Child Albania