Last weekend I was in the Albanian village Pinet. This village is really dear to me, because I have a long history with this place. Since the summer of 2010 I am coming to Pinet. It all started when my church in The Netherlands came up with the initiative to visit Pinet in order to make contact with the people of the village.

And so we came back every year to organize a week filled with fun for the children of the village. But also we used to visit the people in their homes and played football with the young adults. By doing this we had the desire to share the gospel of Jesus.

Although I am living now in Tirana, for me, Pinet symbolizes the real Albania. The people are friendly and the people are hard workers who are active on the lands, producing fruits and olives.

When I first arrived in Pinet in 2010, more than a hundred children were still attending the local elementary school (which you can see in the picture below). Since then, unfortunately, that number has dropped to about twenty. It is sad that everyone wants to leave Albania. The quality of life in the villages is deteriorating rapidly.

Let us hope that Albanians want to come back in the future, so that the livability of villages like Pinet will be restored.

Rrugë të mbarë!