Irish Friends of Albania is a registered charity which aims to provide medical and humanitarian support to the people of Albania. Albania was the last country in Eastern Europe to emerge from Communist dictatorship. Our links with Albania began in 2002 when Irish volunteers visited Mother Theresa Hospital in Tirana, Albania. This visit resulted in the transport from Albania to Ireland of Alba, a f
our year old Albanian girl suffering from severe burns. She was treated for four months in Galway and made a fine recovery. In 2005, after a short visit to meet Professor Gjergji Belba in Mother Theresa Hospital, Tirana, we began to send full surgical teams to work together with the local hospital staff there. We have sent 6 medical teams, specialised in plastic and maxillo-facial surgery. Over 60 Irish surgeons, anaesthetists, doctors, nurses, bio-engineers and CSSD specialists have volunteered for these teams. We have been warmly welcomed by our Albanian colleagues and together we have achieved
- Over 250 operations for patients in need, most of whom are children
- 4 truckloads of essential equipment and hospital supplies
- On the job training and academic training for our Albanian colleagues
- A tele-medicine link between Ireland and Albania
We are grateful to all our volunteers and supporters. These include:
- Irish Aid for its support of our 3 year programme of collaboration with Mother Theresa Hospital, Albania.
- All our volunteer medical staff for their time, expertise and enthusiasm
- All our fundraising volunteers and the public of Galway and Ireland for their financial and material support
- Irish hospitals and medical companies for donations of equipment and supplies
- Priority Freight transport company for safe and subsidised deliveries to Albania
- The business community of Galway and Ireland for supporting our fundraising drives, in particular our Annual Charity Ball
In addition to our medical work we also provide friendship and support to the children in the Children’s Home in Tirana, Albania. Irish Friend of Albania offers friendship and support to the children and staff of the main Children’s Home in Tirana, Albania: the Zyber Halluli home has 45 children aged 4 to 16. The children are well cared for and go to school but the staff of the home has very limited resources. The children benefit enormously from the friendship and support that our volunteers can give them when they visit them in Tirana. We have assisted the home with computers, art classes, English classes, swimming lessons and tours to cultural and historic places of Albania. It is our priority to assist the older children to further their prospects in life by finding the education, training and guidance that they need at that crucial time in their lives when they prepare to leave the home. We also plan to carry out badly needed improvements on the building itself, to improve its plumbing, its water supply and its grounds so that the children can enjoy a better living area. Irish Friends of Albania have also visited the Children’s Home in Shkodra in the north of Albania, and conditions there are more difficult for the children there. We plan to assist this home directly with improvements once the first works in Tirana are completed. We always need volunteers to offer friendship and support to the children and to carry out improvement works on their home, so please contact us if you are interested in this work. We hope you enjoy your visit to our website and we would be delighted to hear from you.
