Treasures of the Dump
Susannah and Linda Bregu are in the midst of teaching three Albanian
Roma Gypsy children to read and write. These children are the poorest
of the poor and they live in a small Roma Gypsy community on the
top of Tirana’s city dump. Neither Susannah nor Linda is a
qualified teacher. Neither Linda nor the three students speak a
word of English, and Susannah is the lead teacher. Linda is a single
Albania woman who lives with and cares for her aging mother whose
health is sometimes frail. She and her mother are faithful in their
attendance at church and in our small group. Linda’s mother
is on a pension and Linda does manicures and pedicures as possible
for occasional income. I want to share with you how this ministry
is developing.
Five weeks ago the three children started “school” with
Susannah and Linda. Classes are held in the home of our pastor,
Von and Sue Golder. A white board and markers were purchased, along
with some notebooks and pencils. Besa Shapllo, Director of Mission
Possible in Albania provided Bible content primers in Albanian for
teaching the children to read. Our next Dear Friends letter will
describe a gift of school supplies given these children by the Sunday
school children of the New Hackensack Reformed Church in New York
The students are Asija (age 13), Ridi (age 11) and Pavlina (age
9). Ridi is Pavlina’s brother.
At 2:30 PM each Monday, Susannah and Linda leave for the Golders
with their supplies. Then they go to the small Gypsy community where
the children live. They interact with the parents and whoever from
the community wants to join in the conversation. There is usually
some lobbying by parents who want Susannah and Linda to accept other
students. The children come home from a full day of “working
the streets” of the city begging for the family income. On
the way to class there is a short stop to buy an Albanian “fast-food”
meal for the children, who have not eaten that day. About 4 PM they
arrive back at the Golders and class begins. On the first day of
school, Asija was wearing a new skirt and sweater which were gifts
to her from Carol Horler, a missionary from England. In school,
there is prayer, some lesson about Jesus and some conversation with
the children about that lesson. Then there is a lesson from the
Bible content primer. The children receive homework assignments
and about 6 PM the children are taken home.
On Fridays, Susannah and Linda go again to the Gypsy community to
see if the children understand and are doing their homework. To
date the Friday visit has been very encouraging as the children
are doing well and the parents also want to talk with Susannah and
Linda. Understanding is developing and relationships are being built.
Susannah wanted to see if she could build her relationship with
the Gypsy community, so she asked Eda, her language teacher, if
she would go with her to the community each Tuesday, during their
scheduled language lesson. The idea was that Eda could insure better
communication, and help prevent cultural and language misunderstandings.
Eda is a believer who loves ministering to children. In the past
she ministered to some Roma children and had been praying that the
Lord would again give her such an opportunity.
Susannah mentors a young female student at the Center for Christian
Leadership. Her name is Edarjola. Edarjola wants to minister to
children. She was excited about what Susannah is doing and asked
if she could somehow participate. The last two weeks Edarjola has
joined Susannah and Eda at the Gypsy community. They walk to a place
near the center of the community and between fifteen to twenty-five
children run to them full of excitement. They sing. They tell stories
of Jesus. And they enjoy and bless the children. A number of parents
stand close by and watch and listen. They are beginning to recognize
Susannah, Linda, Eda and Edarjola. They appreciate the interest
in their children. Perhaps they reflect on this Jesus who is presented
to their children.
Out of this context, Susannah asked the parents of the three students
if their children could come to church on Saturday evenings (our
regular weekly worship, because the building we rent for worship
is in full use on Sundays). At first the parents said that the children
could come to church but on that first Saturday only Asija came.
Ridi and Pavlina had never been to church but they were ashamed
to come because they said that they had no clothes that they could
wear to church. “Presentable clothes” for these children
were not an expectation of Susannah or our church. Obtaining clothes
involved a quick trip to the Cham (A market with clothes at greatly
reduced prices). Susannah came out with three outfits, one for each
student. She has much experience at knowing what size to buy for
almost any child simply from a glance in the child’s direction.
The outfits were delivered to the homes and they fit perfectly.
Tony, a young Albanian leader in our church volunteered to walk
to the community on Saturday and escort the children first to our
church office where they could bathe and dress for church. Then
he walked with them to church and after, he walked them home (about
two miles each way). The second week, Asija returned but Ridi and
Pavlina were not allowed to come to church. Their younger brother
was sent in their place wearing some of Ridi’s new clothes.
The third week when Susannah walked into church, they came running,
washed, combed, freshly clothed, with smiles wider than their sparkling
faces, “Susannah” they squealed and there was a “group
hug” on the spot.
Susannah reflects that she doesn’t have words which adequately
describe how her heart and spirit soared and were washed in the
warmth and pleasure and joy of our Savior at the present touch of
this ministry of His on the lives of these three children for whom
He died. She says that other than being exquisitely blessed, she
was reminded of the title of a book that our children loved her
to read to them when they were young. It was called, Treasures of
the Snow by Patricia St. John. At the risk of being misunderstood,
she said that these children are really treasures of the dump.
Thank you for your Partnership in ministry to Asija, Ridi and Pavlina.
Please know that we have begun to better understand the nature of
our support situation. The giving of our Partners was probably not
as far below commitments as we had understood, though at this point
it still appears substantial (instead of being down 32k, it was
probably down 20k). Plus, there were a number of non-partner (i.e.
unexpected) gifts from family and friends that helped the church
to continue supporting us on the field in 2005.
The primary financial concern for 2006 is the need for the dollars
committed to Partnering with us in mission for this year. To keep
missionaries on the field, the RCA needs their support to be based
on the firm commitments of mission Partners.
In Christ who died and is alive forevermore,
Jack and Susannah Dabney
Your missionaries for Christ in Albania
Prayer requests:
Thanksgiving for our Partners and for special gifts given to our
support
That God bless our Partners
Thanksgiving for God’s blessing on our ministry in Albania
That God bless our summer of contacting Partners
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