Hopeless & Forgotten

Hopeless: By Gerta Hagen, December 2009

Albania

Street children in Albania are hidden, unseen, ignored. The majority of Albanian society either despises them or doesn’t know that they exist. They are the invisible begging, windshield-washing, can-collecting kids that no one knows about. They often fall prey to recruitment into illicit activities and organized trafficking, both inside the country and abroad.

Romeo* is only one of these street children. He is fifteen years old, even though his frail frame makes him look much younger. He is a little shy, but a very sharp child full of life and dreams.

“There [were] five of us that [slept] in this one room. I had just fallen asleep. You know, I didn’t have any money and so I went out and collected cans,”
Romeo recalled, keeping his eyes downcast as he fiddled with his warm soup - the only meal he was having for the day. “I had a bag full of them right next to my bed. But I guess I got too wet and chilled so I was feeling sick. My friend, he comes in late because he was working in a parking garage. As soon as he stepped in the door, I heard the police screaming right after him.

“The police walked right in the room and started yelling and kicking us and telling us to get down. So I told him that I was sick and I couldn’t go out in the rain because I had a fever. He yelled some more and got us all down with very little clothing on. Then he lined us up in the rain and was asking many questions.

“The police do that every time something bad happens in Blloku**. However, I don’t blame them; they have to do their job too, so whenever they don’t find the ‘real’ guy who did the bad things they harass us. I was telling him, ‘But sir we only collect cans or beg. We have not done anything bad.’ Then someone called him on the radio and then he let us go, after he got us all wet.”

Romeo’s mother fled from the Albanian capital, Tirana, to Greece after being brutally beaten by her husband. Romeo’s father remarried and his stepmother no longer wanted her husband’s children to live with her. Both brothers, then aged 13 and 12 respectively, were forced to leave their home.

“I haven’t gone to school since,” said Romeo, quick to add, “But I didn’t leave because I was a bad student, I had really good grades. I love Math but didn’t do very well in English.”

After Romeo was thrown out onto the street, he tried to flee to Greece, to beg and do other odd jobs.

“We went through the mountains, a group of seven boys; we walked several kilometers a day,” he said. “When we went to Greece I would beg, but then this one time I got so hungry, I hadn’t eaten for two days, so I went and handed myself to the police. They gave me food and sent me back to Tirana.”

Life for children on the street is hard. Their undernourished bodies are frequently exposed to the natural elements. Their human dignity is often destroyed by the heels of passers-by who don’t think twice before hitting or cursing them. Their dreams are crushed by their lack of choices and opportunities.

“But I don’t beg anymore,” said Romeo. “I feel ashamed of myself when I do and even when I collect cans. Sometimes people hit you and curse at you on the street.

“My biggest wish is that my friends and I no longer work on the street. I want to learn computer, play football and learn how to be a plumber. When I have my own family, I am going to make my children go to school. What kind of person doesn’t let children go to school?!” demands Romeo, with a big smile that hints of hope in his dark eyes.

* This story is the true account of a street-working child in Tirana. The name of the child has been changed to protect his identity.

** Blloku is one of the most fashionable neighborhoods in Tirana.

REFLECTION:
We might not know what it’s like to live on the street, but this week we will seek to experience the hopelessness of Romeo’s situation through the lens of being forgotten.

SUGGESTIONS FOR THIS WEEK’S EXPERIENCE:
• Deactivate your Facebook and other social media accounts for the week. Don’t worry; this is not the same as deleting your Facebook account. You can reactivate your account and everything will remain the same. For more information, visit Facebook’s Help Center: https://www.facebook.com/help/?page=842
• Each day this week, go to a different friend’s room and remove everything that is related to you. Keep a pile of the objects in a prominent space in your room and return the objects after the week is over.

If none of the suggested experiences work for you, we encourage you to adjust them or come up with your own. Choose something to commit to while remembering that we are giving up some “hope” for this week by doing something to feel forgotten.

--Written by Jeff Shieh and Derek Tang