2010 New Changes
January is the time when many westerners make plans or 'resolutions' - things they want to do or achieve in the year ahead. It usually involves changing an area of life that they are not happy with. In January many people start the year with the resolution, 'This year I will lose weight' or 'This year I will get fit'. After over 6 years of living in Albania I've realised that most western resolutions are quite selfish and written from a position of relative wealth and luxury.
For Albanians in the North of the country their new year has forced them to make big unwanted and unwelcome changes in their lives. For over 10 days Northern Albania has been subject to heavy rainfall which along with snow melt from the surrounding mountains and neighboring countries has caused extensive flooding. Hundreds of families have had to evacuate their homes as the flood waters have risen. The scenes on the news show people using boats to get their precious possessions out of their homes to save them from the flood waters.
As I write this more heavy rains are still forecast in the North and the government have declared a state of emergency. The dams from the Northern Hydro Electric plants are near to bursting- KESH the national Electricity company are being accused of gross incompetence and mis management and rumors of them keeping the water levels too high to sell electricity abroad - are filling the news reports.
Albania is a poor country and hard pressed to cope with disasters like this but under the circumstances the emergency services are doing a wonderful job.
Churches in Tirana have been praying for Angels to hold together the dam walls against the rising water- watching the images on the news its easy to see how the dams could crack and break and what devastation that would cause.
So amidst all the January changes and plans for 2010 spare a though and prayer for those in the North of Albania whose lives have already changed due to this national, natural disaster
Graham
Kisha Drita e Botës | Graham McBain - Pastor'Light of the world' Baptist Church. Shkozë, Tirana
cel: +355(0) 69 40 44 262 | skype: dritaebotes
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Posted by Kisha Drita e Botes
