Thursday, July 17, 2014

Ejona Korcari, Week 4, Tirana Albania


This is the 4th week I have been in Albania. During this time we have met a lot of people in our neighborhood and work, so it is not only the three of us just talking with each other. We have been working mainly in translations and at the same time have been attending the BBT (Black Belt Team) meetings. This is the team leaded by the Harvard grad students and we are part of it. There we have been talking about the steps of how to turn the Island of Sazan, which belongs to Albania to a very frequented touristic hot spot. At the same time we have done some research over the area and legislation of Albania to see if this place and the Karaburun Peninsula have the potential and the capacity to welcome thousands of tourists every year. The government is trying to find a way to build huge resorts in those two places that currently no one is living there. It is really interesting to do research over the potential those places have. We have to find out if there is water, power, infrastructure, or land issues on those areas. At the same time those two places have a really virgin, untouched nature, so the government and different institutions have to face the question if they are willing to destroy the nature in order to build this resorts. The other option is to develop historic and eco-tourism in those two places, so we will have to wait and see what they will decide. At the same time, this week we got to meet for the first time the Minister of Urban Development and Tourism. She was really nice, sweet and outspoken. She loved our new ideas and the view we had over Albanian tourism and how to improve it. She also told us that she was happy we chose to intern in Albania and she would be happy to see more Albanians to come back and give their contribution to help the country move forward by giving a new perspective in the government's policies.

I am sitting next to the Minister of Urban Development and Tourism, on her left

On Thursday/Friday we went to the city of Lac. There, there is a church called Kisha e Lacit, or the Church of St. Anthony of Padua and it is one of the holiest places in Albania. The church it is in a very high mountain and we had to go all the way to the top. We had to go through maybe thousands of stairs. On the way there, there were certain stops where we had to do rituals. A lot of people believe that miracles happen in this place. They say that people came here feeling a lot of pain, paralyzed, hurt etc. and after staying there overnight during this saint day, when they woke up the next morning they were feeling perfectly fine and all healed. The legend says that people were trying to build the church on the other mountain, in the opposite side of the current church, but at night the wind would destroy the building and the rocks would disappear. After a while people found that the rocks moved to the current location of the church, so they built it there. Since then the church stays strong on the top of the mountain. We spent the night at the very top, had a picnic in there, slept for a few hours, and after midnight woke up to light some candels, finished the rituals and headed down the mountain. It was an amazing experience.
Here we had to touch the rocks and put parts of our body inside them. This way the parts of the body that touched the holy rocks would not hurt in the future.

The church is in the top of the Mountain. We had to go through stairs up there. We stayed overnight where the white cross is located. It was fresh air, warm night and you could see hundreds of stars :)




2 comments:

  1. Ejona,

    I love reading about the work you are doing. I would like to hear your stance on the island debate? Build resorts or more eco-friendly options? Do you and the other interns have some "pull"? How cool that you sat in a meeting with the Ministry of Tourism. I'm glad that your interactions were positive.

    I just love old tales about why things are the way they are today. Very interesting about the churches. Just to know that you stayed the night where that cross is... it's astounding.

    Looking forward to your next post!

    Best,
    Tammy

    ReplyDelete
  2. As far as he Island debate goes we are just brainstorming about what can be done there. After the ideas are presented to the Minister and the board of her advisors she will decide which is the most likable one to happen, and then she should direct people who are working in this project to make a proposal to this agency called Alma. Also there are several other Ministries who have to agree with whatever the future of the island will be. It is a complicated situation and laws and institutions in Albania sometimes overlap so everyone needs to be careful about what they suggest, considering the circumstances.

    Personally I think it would be great if the island was preserved and was a protected area . There is a lot of very important plants in the waters around the island, which are important for the environment. Also the island used to be a military base, a "city" only for soldiers. It was not allowed for normal people to go there during communist area and even to visit some parts of the islands today, you will need permission. Now all that you can find there are the ruins of the buildings, but those say a lot about Albania during communist era. This can be turned into a museum. I think that the island can still be used as a tourism destination without turning it into a resort. It actually can be a really attractive place if history and nature are incorporated together and tourist go there on a tour. Hope something works out.

    ReplyDelete