Since the first case of COVID-19 was reported in Albania, the government has taken very strict measures to contain the disease and protect people. This situation caught us all unprepared; but for Roma communities, more than anyone, this lockdown is like the end of the world.
Albania in the 1970s, caught under the boot of Enver Hoxha and his sharply Stalinist ideas of government, was not a friendly place for those who did not match the mold of mainstream society.
The northwestern side of Albania has experienced 31 earthquakes in the last month, many around a 4.5 magnitude and one as large as 6.4.
Latif is a leader in the Roma, or gypsy, community. He has served God for more than 15 years in his village, and his home has become a community center and church where people from the village gather. Everyone knows his door is open anytime, and God has done incredible work to heal many of his hometown’s troubles.
There was just one little problem: the church had children services with skits and stories from their Bible, and her darling granddaughter loved it.
What was a poor Muslim grandmother to do?
She’d endure anything for her sweet mbesë, even these Christians.
The Roma community in Europe is often classified as the most economically depressed.
Mynevere Saliu, more often called Vera by friends and family, was born into a Muslim Roma family in the city Peqin.
I live in Rruga-Ura, a suburb of Albania’s capital, where most residents are Roma with a Muslim background.
This is one of the poorest neighborhoods in Tirana, and it was difficult growing up here. People got into fights practically every day, and alcohol was almost everywhere
In 1953, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. preached a sermon where he stated, “…the methods of communism are diametrically opposed to Christianity.”
