I've seen a lot, but nobody sees me.

The courses in Lezha and Gjadër are slowly coming to an end. We have now completed four out of five course days at both locations. For the young people in Lezha, this means that we are finished with HTML, CSS and JavaScript and that they will take their final exam for the course tomorrow Friday. If they pass, they will all receive a certificate and their grades will count towards their computer science grades at school. For the children in Gjadër there was a bit of a change today as Olivia and Michelle were back in Gjadër and they all took their first playful steps in programming together. They will deepen their Excel skills tomorrow on their last day of the course.

Besides the courses, we also make interesting acquaintances now and then. For example, we met Pedro. He is a somewhat older waiter at the Lalanu restaurant, who is actually a trained bartender. We started talking because he speaks perfect German. He told us a lot, including that he speaks six languages fluently. He has lived in several places across Europe but ultimately returned to Albania. He says he likes it here. Through his experiences, he has a very clear idea of what tourism could look like. He believes there is still room for improvement in Albania. Most of the people who come here are expatriated Albanians visiting their families. The country's official tourism statistics are heavily embellished, and what you see on TV doesn't match his experience. You see many beautiful pictures, but people like him aren’t visible there. 'I’ve seen a lot, but no one sees me.'

During this hospital visit, I met a young woman (in her second year of high school) who was also visiting someone with her parents. She was very interested in the iSTEP program and listened attentively as I shared our story.

Now the moment has come to sincerely thank all the participants for their absolutely amazing dedication. I also want to thank the entire iSTEP team and everyone who has donated to iSTEP. This support allowed us to procure the course equipment (laptop and accessories, memory sticks, cables, power distributors, transport boxes, etc.). It is through this support that such a relief effort is even possible.

So, Pink Floyd is slowly fading out on the TV... and as with all my relief efforts, I can say: yes, I am tired, but very happy, and once again, it was worth it. I am proud of all of you. Warm regards, Adrian