Love brings back what sorrow took away
The story focuses on the life of a 15-year-old girl from Sheqeras village, Albania, who has born with an eye problem that makes her struggle every day. Xhensina had lost hope of ever having a normal future, not because a solution to her condition doesn’t exist, but instead because her family cannot pay for it. But, thanks to World Vision’s staff, who encouraged her to keep hoping. Today, Xhensina knows that she can be healed.
World Vision and her classmates are advocating on her behalf to raise funds for Xhensina’s surgery. This July, Xhenisa will have a surgery and finally be able to see fully.
Who am I?
“My name is Xhensina. I am 15 years old. I live in Sheqeras village, in Korça city, Albania. I was born with an eye problem. I am unable to define the shapes of the objects and people. Since I was born, I have only been able to see in black and white. Black and white are the colours of the home where I live in with my parents, black and white are the colours of nature that surround. Even rainbows are black and white. I have been told that it is colourful, just as my dreams. The fact is, I cannot see it . Just thinking about this, causes me a deep, huge sorrow.”
“Ever since I was a little girl, I have gone to many different clinics here in Albania. Every one of the doctors who have seen me give me the same response: ‘We cannot handle your case. We cannot give you a solution.’ Each time I walked out of a hospital, my hope of being cured was smaller and smaller.”
“My family is the beautiful part of my life. I live with my parents and my siblings, Kledis, 21 and Ornela, 22. My father, Ismail, is a construction worker and my mother, Nafije, is a housewife who takes care of me and to my brother and sister with so much passion and love. We are like the most families here in the village, poor. But, we have love and respect for each other.”
“My day starts like anyone else’s but ’ it takes me [more] time to prepare for school, and I [must] walk slowly so I don’t slip on the streets if I see what is in front of me. But, I am happy anyway that I have the opportunity to go to school, learn new things and spend time with my friends.”
“I love school. It takes my pain away as I lose hours and my thoughts in reading and doing homework, instead of thinking about my problems. Learning takes me more time than it takes to Kledis or to my sister, Ornela, but I love my books and I don’t surrender until I have read them well and done each homework correctly.”
Meeting with World Vision Sponsorship staff
“My routine of life and the power not to surrender started to grow within me when I meet Xhensila and Stela from World Vision, here in Korça city. They made me believe that yes, my sight problem is curable. All I need to do is to believe.
Xhensila has talked with me a lot about feeling equal with other children and [told me] that I am a child with many talents to show to the world. The sponsorship staff helped by accompanying me to the National “Mother Teresa” Hospital in Tirana and facilitating the relationship between my family and the doctors. [They also] helped me enrol in the social assistance (a specific fund allocated by the Government for individuals with special needs) and encouraged me and my family to never lose hope and to never give up. [The World Visions staff] changed my world.”
“My world was dark and now it is filling with light. There is light in my eyes and my soul. I started to think, ‘what can I do to make my life more diverse?’
“When I went to Tirana for the check up I was so nervous. I felt fear, hope, dreams on the way to the hospital. But, my desire to be healed was much bigger than my fear.”
“During the final check-up, it was decided that I have eye surgery in the hospital because they do not have the right apparatuses and my body cannot withstand general anaesthesia. But, I know that my surgery can be done in other hospitals, that do have the necessary elements.”
[Although my eyes have not changed], I fear no more. I am a girl full of dreams. I will not let my dreams get closed in a box for my entire life. I want to succeed in the future and do something good,” she says.
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Xhensina’s case is being followed by World Vision in the area of Korça. The ADP staff and her classmates are raising awareness and funds on behalf of Xhensina in order for her to have the money necessary to go to a hospital that can perform the surgery she needs.
“We are organizing a campaign in Korça to raise enough funds to help this magnificent girl overcome her problem and [allow her to] see the lights and the colours just as we all do,” says Xhensila Mekshi, World Vision’s Korça ADP staff, who is directly involved with Xhensina’s case. We are close to the solution. This July, we will send Xhensina to the hospital and help her to fully see,” adds Xhensila.
Xhenisna’s parents had lost their hopes for a solution and felt guilty when they saw their daughter struggling each day and not having the power to help her. “We never thought this surgery could be done in Albania and my husband thought we would never see her healed because we have no money for such huge [medical] costs. We did not know that some hospitals here can handle our case,” says the mother. “Thanks to World Vision staff who have came here and explained to us that, it is possible. Now we see a window and are very grateful for what the organization is doing to raise funds. Our daughter has been reborn, indeed,” she explains.
Xhensina is a courageous girl who now sees hope and opportunities everywhere. She feels blessed to have a friend, her sponsor, who contributes to Xhensina’s well-being and other children’s lives, from Hong Kong. She wrote to her sponsor describing her participation in the Sponsorship Project: writing APR and Christmas Cards; distributing didactic aids and hygiene kits for children; watching theatre shows like “Oliver Twist” and “Puppet Shows” as well as participating in excursions organised by her teacher in her role as coordinator of the Student Government.
Lately, she and her close friends: Esmeralda, Markelian and Sokol wrote a letter to World Vision staff highlighting four projects to improve the conditions of their school: support children with different abilities; raise awareness regarding violence; fund raising activities, and campaigns for the orphans. “Now, my friend and I want to realize a dream,” says Xhensina ,in her letter. “Seeing the problems of our school, we draw a project for the needs that our schools has, realizing a dream for all the children of our school”. The letter continues to unpack the needs in the form of a request to support Xhensina’s school and children’s dreams for a brighter future.
World Vision staff submitted her letter, requests and projects and will support the school and children needs through the interventions from Education and Child Protection Projects have been applied since April.
Recently, Xhensina conducted her own an activity with children, including those with disabilities, to send the message to the every one that all children are equal and they should be treated the same way.
“I like to organize and be part of kind of activities because I am myself a child with a disability. This does not prevent me from doing the things I love and making my dreams come true. On the contrary, the disability problem I have has given me more power to go forward and to never lose the hope for who I dream of to be one day.”
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