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1. Establish lending libraries in all ten schools of the Shkrel District.
Beyond the small library in the school in Boga that Steve and Terri Cook have been providing books to, there are no library books in any of the schools in the Shkrel District. Steve first took books to Boga in the winter of 2001. In the fall of 2002, when Steve and Terri returned to Boga, the first thing the school director, Ardian Ulaj, did was to pull his records of checked-out books from the shelf and exclaim, "Nobody from this school ever read books for pleasure before you brought these books here. Now look, there are pages and pages of check-outs." In the US we take lending libraries for granted. But in Albania the very idea of "loaning" a book to someone and trusting them to bring it back, is a concept that is new since Communism collapsed. It works.
Our library books come from two distinct sources. There are some books in Albania for kids, although the selection lacks breadth, and the quality of the books and especially the graphics are far below the quality found in the U.S. We buy what is available. The second source of books is in the U.S. We buy children's books, give them out to volunteers to transcribe into Word documents; send this transcribed text to volunteers in the U.S. or to Albanian college students to translate into Albanian, type the translation onto labels, and stick the labels into the books, sending the books to Albania.
Volunteer to transcribe or translate books.
2. Basic school supplies.
Albania is the poorest country in Europe. The schools are frequently just building shells, simply partitioned into classrooms with cheap chalkboards on one wall and very basic, decrepit desks. The children on the other hand are very bright and eager to learn.
By providing such basics as better chalk boards and chalk; art supplies including paper, colored pencils and crayons, scissors, etc.; microscopes, and other science equipment we can make a big difference in the children's education. There is also a shortage of good textbooks and we can help alleviate that shortage.
3. Scholarships to high school in Shkodër or Koplik.
There are no secondary schools in the villages. Costs to stay in Shkodër to attend high school are about $500/year, and many village families can't afford even this. AAI is particularly interested in seeing girls go on to high school.
4. English Teachers.
In Boga an English teacher was hired by AAI in the fall of 2002. The interest and demand for English classes continues, with 20 students in the beginning class and 15 in the intermediate class, and 10 in the advanced class. In 2004 with a generous donation, we hired Aleks Vulaj to teach English classes in Vrithe. After two years these classes are also going well. AAI's goal is to hire an English teacher in each village of the Shkrel District.
©2003 Albanian Alps Institute