Free Download A Sacred Task: Qiriazi and the Albanian National Awakening, 2nd Edition
by John Quanrud
English | 2015 | ISBN: 0993424813 | 226 Pages | ePUB | 1.74 MB
When NATO launched its air offensive against Serbia in the spring of 1999, a great tide of Kosovar refugees began flooding into Albania, one of Europe’s poorest nations. To their dismay they arrived to find that no one was ready for them. As their numbers continued to swell by the thousands, Albania’s fragile infrastructure collapsed, leaving government and international humanitarian agency alike struggling to cope with a rapidly escalating crisis.
Suddenly, help appeared from an unexpected quarter. Through its network of over 120 churches across the country, the Vëllazëria Ungjillore e Shqipërisë or VUSH [Albania's Evangelical Alliance], with support from the Albanian Encouragement Project or AEP, quickly mobilised hundreds of volunteers to organise and run transit centres in every major town and city. Refugees were met, fed, registered and farmed out to families or camps in towns and surrounding areas. According to VUSH statistics, in the first two weeks of the crisis the evangelicals, who totalled less than half of a percent of the population, dealt with nearly 80 percent of the new arrivals. Throughout the months of the ordeal they continued to offer help and assistance wherever needed. It was a Herculean task which gained the churches the respect and gratitude of government officials from Shkodra to Gjirocaster.
Many today are unaware of the existence of a protestant community in Albania. Fewer still know the true story behind the distinguished Albanian national figure, Gjerasim Qiriazi. This book aims to redress the balance.