Children learn to accept diversity

Led by World Vision and partner organisations Partnerë për Fëmijët and MEDPAK, forty children, between the ages of eight and 15, from Elbasan area, twenty of them with a form of disability participated in a five-day summer camp. Through playing, drawing and singing in groups, children learned to accept each other despite physical or mental differences. Children were accompanied by parents, teachers, and social workers, who also learned child friendly and inclusive methodology on working with all the children and in the mean time helping them feel equal. Seventy-four more children with disabilities from Dibra district, between the ages of six and 15, participated in sports activities and book discussion sections, where children talked about book characters by watching book figures.

[Children learning and enjoying theri parents in the summer camps activities.Photo by Klevisa Breshani/World Vision]

The activities were organised on the framework of a two-year European Union grant project titled “Strengthening the capacity of civil society to protect the rights of children with disabilities in Albania", funded by the European Union and implemented by World Vision in partnership with Albanian non-governmental organisations (NGOs) Partnerë për Fëmijët and MEDPAK.  

"Today I learned that we are equal," said Fationa, 13, one of the children with physical disability who participated at the summer camps of Elbasan area.

"I learned that if we work and plan together we can do good things, just as we did when we sang the song about the bus together," said Marius another child with sight problems.

[Children learning to accept each other despite physical or mental differences.Photo by Klevisa Breshani/World Vision]

Kudret, 40, a father of a child with Downs Syndrome, Albi, 10, shared what he also learned and his desire to know more about how to help his child. Kadri and his wife have been part of the grant’s training sections in Elbasan, where, as he said, there he learned more about his child’s rights and how to better take care of him.

 “I learned that we have to be more careful with our children and better understand them. I also learned that we, as parents, have to work as a group and join our forces to seek out for our children’s rights and provide the best for them, but we still need help how to do this,” he said.

Orjeta, one of the social workers trained by World Vision and Partner organisations shared, “In school we have children with disabilities and [it] is good that we are learning such practices here at the camp in order to [include] children with disabilities in school activities,” she said.

[Singing together as one. Photo by Klevisa Breshani/World Vision]

Through the grant programme teachers, social workers and psychologists have increased their knowledge on how to work with children with disabilities and how to better help them progress at school and socialise with other kids. 

Moreover, through different training sessions, parents who have children with a disability have been able to come together and learn from each other’s experiences. This has enabled them to share their child’s situation, their struggles and their many questions about how to be able to provide better development opportunities for their children. In addition to supporting their increased knowledge, the programme also equips parents with the ability of advocating for their children’s ongoing needs and legal rights. Parents can now address the proper institutions in Albania through parent associations, which are formed as a part of the project.

[Children of Dibra talked about book characters by watching book figures. Photo by World Vision's Dibra area staff]

-Ends-

And for some more joyful moments from the summer activities here is a condensed selection of children's paintings:

[Fationa's painting]

[Here is another from Emilian]

[A painting from little Patrisia, 6,]