Albanian Stories - Post 1: Anna

Two weeks ago, wedged between the end of my teaching year and the start of my summer support raising in the UK, I spent three days in Albania. Despite feeling pretty knackered and having a killer of a cold to remind me of this fact, I knew it would be a real privilege to meet some of TWR's Albanian listeners and hear their stories first-hand. I want to share some of these stories with you over the coming weeks as they are too valuable to keep to myself. I hope they give you an insight into why radio is an incredibly powerful tool, which continues to bring people to faith today. It is the true stories like these, which first got me excited about the work of TWR. So here we go...

I met some incredibly faithful and inspiring women on this trip and I'm looking forward to telling you a bit of their stories. Yet the woman I would like to begin with is the woman I was unable to meet this trip. I'm going to call her Anna, which may not be a typically Albanian name. Anna's in her twenties, she's married and shares her home with the in-laws. Anna listens to TWR's radio programmes at home and particularly enjoys the Albanian edition of the programme Women of Hope. If I remember correctly, Anna came to faith through the radio. There was virtually no other opportunity for her to hear anything about the Christian faith. 

So here's the bit that makes me sit up and think: Anna's not allowed to leave the house. I don't think this is exclusively because of the fact that she's a Christian but her husband and in-laws certainly don't embrace this. And that's why radio programmes are so important. I've often heard of women in other parts of the world listening to TWR broadcasts in secret. Yet this is also the case not so far from home in a nation aspiring to join the EU. 

The lives women lead in Albania vary dramatically and it is not my intention to apply Anna's story to the general situation of women in this country. What it shows however is that words of hope, love and encouragement reach people through radio when no other means is available. I believe that Anna is encouraged and strengthened by what she hears, that God uses these means to speak to her. Why else should she continue to be a faithful listener?