Life is hard.
Especially in Albania.
Many things that we (myself included) take for granted are long, complicated processes here. Nothing comes easy. There are no guarantees.
Water. In the Kenet, you can't just turn on the faucet and be guaranteed water. First of all, you're not even guaranteed that water will run to your house everyday and if it does run to your house there is a lot of work that goes into actually getting it in your house. In the summer, the shortage of water is magnified as the city sends it to the resort areas before they will send it anywhere else, leaving many people without water for days on end. Water- something needed for survival and an essential part of life is not guaranteed here.
Heat. Well, I guess heat is guaranteed in the summer but not in the winter. You can't flick a switch, turn a knob or push a button to heat your house. Houses are heated by wood burning stoves which require constant attention. You can't guarantee that the fire won't go out, or that you won't run out of fuel for the fire. You also can't guarantee that your whole house will be heated. Usually, it's just one room.
Employment. There are a lot of people who are unemployed here; there just aren't jobs available. It may be out of desperation, but those with ambition will create their own jobs. They will open a store, or buy a cart and sell stuff on the streets. Even those who have jobs often times still struggle day after day just to put food on their table. "Lucky" men can find seasonal work in Greece and Italy but this splits families apart as men are gone for (at least) 6 months at a time. Though they often do, there is no guarantee that they will come back.
Medical Care. The whole medical system here is very corrupt. There is no guarantee that by going to the doctor you will get the care you deserve. You can't be guaranteed that you will get the proper diagnosis or that the proper medicine will be prescribed, even if you do slide money under the table to bribe the doctors.
Hope. At the most, there is very little hope. A majority of the people just don't have it. They don't know Jesus. They go about their lives, living day to day. It's a rare occasion to look into someones eyes and see any sparkle or glimmer of hope.
Like Albania, there aren't a lot of guarantees in Christian life either. We aren't guaranteed tomorrow. We aren't guaranteed a happy, easy life. We aren't guaranteed worldly riches. But there is one thing we are guaranteed. We are guaranteed eternal life- that gives hope and that makes all the difference.
It breaks my heart to be living in a country where life is so hard - watching day after day how hard people work just to survive. It also breaks my heart that no matter how hard I try to acculturate, I will never struggle as much as they do simply for the fact that I am American. But most of all, it breaks my heart that they don't have hope in the one who gives abundant hope: Jesus Christ.
