The Librazhd task force comes together
On Saturday, April 5, 2025, part of the Elbasan task force departs, while Hanni and Esther, the leaders of the sewing course, are scheduled to transfer to the small town of Librazhd. Adrian and Eri, one of the local helpers from Librazhd, make a detour back to Tirana to pick up Marc and Olivia from the airport. The two arrived on an early flight, so the group meets up at their new location almost on time for lunch.
07.04.2025
On Sunday morning, the sun invites us to go for a walk. The mountainous countryside around Librazhd in the east brings cool winds and rapid weather changes, so we seize the opportunity. We follow the Shkumbin River and discover the fire station on the way. While photographing the old fire trucks, we strike up a conversation with a firefighter. He explains that they cover a radius of over 40 km² with the two aging vehicles. It's worth mentioning that the 80-year-old vintage vehicle, which is still actively used here, would probably only be taken out of the garage for fire department celebrations in Switzerland. When there is a fire high up in the mountains, the crew sometimes has to go out on foot because there are either no roads or they are not passable by truck.
Der Monatslohn für Feuerwehrleute liegt hier gerade mal bei 500 Euro, was selbst im vergleich zu anderen albanischen Staatsangestellten relativ wenig ist. Der Feuerwehrmann erklärt, dass das Augenmerk der Regierung nicht unbedingt auf den Feuerwehren des Landes liege. Daher mangele es grossflächig an Ausrüstung aber auch an Ausbildung.
Just behind the fire station is the abandoned railway station from the communist era. The disused rail network is now overgrown with vegetation – trains have not run here for a long time. The weathered station building is also slowly being reclaimed by nature. The former train depot is already falling into disrepair and resembles the backdrop of a post-apocalyptic film. After the end of the dictatorship in 1991 and with the opening up of the country, cars became widespread in Albania and became a status symbol. Demand for train travel declined dramatically, traffic shifted to the roads, and investment in the rail network came to a standstill until almost all railway lines were eventually closed.
On Monday morning, the hilltops greet us with a white cap of snow. During the night, temperatures fell below zero, so it is correspondingly icy in the unheated classrooms. A radiant heater can be installed in the room for the IT courses. Unfortunately, the electric heating in the front area is no longer working. So some of the helpers miss their gloves while preparing for the sewing course. But despite cold fingers, even a sewing machine that was slightly damaged during transport can be repaired.
In the afternoon, it's finally time: the course starts in Librazhd. At two o'clock sharp, around ten children arrive for the introductory programming session with Scratch. Their ages range from 7 to 14, so there is quite a wide age gap. But even the youngest children are able to create their first little computer game with the help of video tutorials.
The Scratch lesson is followed by an introduction to web development for children and young people who are already at a slightly more advanced level. The lesson follows a self-study course for HTML. The participants are not yet familiar with the self-directed learning approach of the course, but after a little encouragement, the first ones are already busy solving the practical exercises.
At the same time, the sewing class is taking place in the room next door. Four participants are learning how to sew a straight seam amid the busy clatter of sewing machines. At the end of the first day of the course, they can already celebrate their successes: the participants proudly take their self-sewn pencil cases home with them.
