Transportation keeps kids on the path to education; success

Thanks to the school transportation provided by World Vision and the local church of Torovicë commune (located in the Lezha Area Development Programme), 30 children, between the ages of 4 and 6, are able to regularly attend preschool and learn under the loving care of four devoted kindergarten staff, three nuns and one teacher. Without transportation, these children would have had to walk nearly an hour and a half to reach the kindergarten. For children and their parents, this journey was impossible, especially during the winter.

These are children who came from four villages in northeast Albania. The majority of the residents in these villages live in poverty; most of them are migrants, coming from other areas of Albania. As migrants, most have little land to use in order to provide food for their children and have only basic education, which makes impossible to find jobs in the market.

The weather in this part of Albania is particularly harsh. Because the village is located one meter under the sea level,  is flooded most of the time. Only during summer do the waters recede. The high waters often wash away crops, and with them any income they might have brought.  

As there is no kindergarten school nearby, the staff of the local church—three nuns—have offered permanently their own building space, near the church, as a friendly environment for children to get education and to not fall behind in their education because of their family’s economic circumstances. The nuns also take on the responsibility of transporting the children to and from kindergarten.

During the kindergarten time, children eat breakfast, play, learn how to read and write, draw, and get to know and socialize with one another. “We learn new things here, make hand-craft planes, ships, colour, draw, and enjoy each other’s company,” says Stavri, 5, of Torovicë. “I don’t have a brother, so I have found his presence here, among my friends. I am so happy when I am here,” he ends.

All of these children were at risk of losing this educational opportunity when the transportation, which was also being covered by the nuns, became too much of a financial load for them to carry.

Thankfully, World Vision has been able to support in this area, enabling the children to continue to attend classes. “Children love kindergarten, this is the right place to be for them to learn and be children and I do not imagine how it would be like if this possibility of free transport have not been offered to us,” says Liza, 25, a mother of one of the children.

While celebrating the end of the school year, the children danced, read poems and sung songs. Their parents beamed with delight. “I am so enthusiast my child Miri is performing today in front of me,” adds Liza.

During the time children spend in the kindergarten, they have knitted lots of dreams, beautiful dreams in a total innocence. “These are children with lots of passion to learn and become someone in the future,” says Gjelina, the kindergarten teacher.

Miri, Liza’s 5-year-old son, has big dreams. “I love to learn and [will] become a doctor one day,” he says. “I do not want to stay at home and miss beautiful things I learn here,” he adds.  Like the majority of the kindergarten children, Miri comes from a very poor family. His parents do not have a job or enough land to fulfill the needs for their three children. 

His drive to learn has been noticed by his teachers, even at his young age. “Miri is one of the special children we have here,” says Miss. Vera, 38, one of the kindergarten nuns. “The child is very intelligent and tries to not miss even a day. We want to see these children, and Miri, smiling every day and enjoy education and a childhood,” Vera adds.

School transport is but one area of support that World Vision has provided to families living in poverty in this area. Through the economic development programme, 123 families, including Miri’s, have received 7,529 olive trees. A number of residents have already started to benefit from the olive fruits, by producing olive oil. World Vision even negotiated a space at the nearest olive oil factory, in Lezha area, so the residents could deliver the olive fruits and get the oil.

“This is one of the poorest areas we work in,” says Erion Elmazi, World Vision’s Lezha staff. “Our eyes are in these children and people. We aim to help them as much as we can to fulfill as many needs as possible, starting with children’s education and other challenges [children] face,” he says.

For the oldest children—those who are 6—this was their last year in kindergarten; the celebration, on June 1, was their last party with the nuns. Now it is time for them to start the first grade, starting in September.  Fortunately the school they will attend is not as far away as the kindergarten therefore children do not need to use school transportation.

A new journey is on the way. Thanks to the transportation provided to be able to attend kindergarten, these children do not have to worry about not being on the path to a brighter future anymore.  

 -ENDS-