My Story

Hello! My name is Mateo. I am 12 years old, and my birthday is on May. I am doing well and my health is good. My favorite color is blue and my future dream is to become a football player, so I like to deal a lot with sports and I spend most of my free time, playing football with my friends, especially, after school. I go to school where I spend the first part of my day. I go to fifth grade I enjoy learning the subjects we take from the teachers and my favorite subject that I like to study best is Albanian language. After school, I meet with my classmates and friends and we spend time playing altogether for a while in the sport school of the field. I return at midday in my house and as soon as I eat lunch, I go out to play again with the friends who live near my house, but not for too long. We are during autumn and the weather is mostly rainy and it is also getting cold. While I am inside the house, I spend time helping my parents and do what they ask me to do for them. I care during the day for my brothers, while they play outside, or when they are studying for school and do their homework. During the evenings, we all as family gather inside the house and spend time fellowshipping and have lots of fun and nice conversations. I enjoy the time that I spend with my brothers and parents. During the weekends, our mother takes me and my brothers for a walk by the lake. During this day, while we walk, we also play in the park of the town and enjoy the nature.

I live in the town of Pogradec. My parents have rented a house in which we live, and the house is in poor conditions. My parents can offer to pay the rent for this type of house, and we are happy and pleased with what we have. My family consists of my mother, father, and my two brothers. The three of us go to the same school, even through in different classes. My father is invalid. He receives a pension, because he is not able to work at all. The pension is very small and for this reason, my father tries to find a job when he can, like chapping wood, carrying wood for the people who hire him to do this job, piling them in their balconies, etc. Working in such low job, he gets paid very little. My mother is also jobless and she is staying in the house for two reasons. First, she needs to care for my father, and second, she brings us to school daily and walks us back from school during the afternoons. My mother is also busy with cleaning, cooking, doing the housekeeping, shopping, paying bills, etc. The financial situation is very bad in our family and we are challenged even for food and clothes. My brothers and I are registered in the program and we benefit from Adopt a Child food packages constantly. We come to the church in Pogradec, every Friday night, and we are happy to learn about the Lord in the Bible classes. Thank you for your spiritual and physical support you are offering to me and my family and God bless you richly.

Translated by Martin Rucolli

LW/Adopt a Child Albania