My Story

Hello! My name is Rajan Rapi. I am a 3 years old boy and my birthday is on August 13^th.  I am doing well and enjoy good health. My favorite color is green. I have will reach the age to frequent the kindergarten for the first time on September this year. I will enjoy attending the kindergarten and getting to know new friends and have fun playing there. At present I stay inside my home and like to watch cartoons on the TV. I also like to color the drawings that my brother does for me. My mother stays home so that she can care for me during the day. I like to play with the few toys that my parents have bought for me. I like to ride my car toys around our living room and also like to create puzzles and build with cubes. When my mother needs to go somewhere to see a friend, she takes me with her. We also get out together when she goes to buy staff from the groceries store. I always ask her to buy candies for me.

My family and I live in Elbasan, My father’s name is Hazis and my mother’s name is Suela. I have a 5 years old brother whose name is Kevin. He is frequenting the kindergarten and will start the first grade on September. Kevin is also registered in the programme and we go there together with our father. My father is working in our garden. We have a small portion of land and he plants in it vegetables for us. We have got a few fruit trees. Olive trees are common in my town and we have got a few of those. My father and mother collect the olives and we have oil provided and can also sell a few litters to others and make a bit more of profit. Dealing with agriculture, my father doesn’t supply all our living basic needs and at other times he tries to work elsewhere as hired, in construction or doing other jobs. My mother does the housekeeping, the cleaning, cooking and many other things. My father earns too less and my mother is jobless therefore 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 father 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