Cheese, Chillies, and Chewable Coffee

The title of this ‘post’ refers to Philip’s breakfast menu in Kosovo, last month, where he spent a week with the new team that has begun to live and minister among one of the poorest and most marginalised ethnic-minority groups there. We promised to tell you more after his visit.

Physical conditions are very poor, exasperated by a staggering 70% or 80% unemployment. The children have access to a form of primary and secondary education but few go on to university. Contributing to this situation is the low income of these children’s parents, the poor job prospects, and the increasing gulf between the ethnic communities in Kosovo. 

There are no extra-curricular activities provided for the children, either in the place where our team is living or in the nine surrounding villages. Our plan is to open a Centre to offer educational activities to pre-school children, designed to enhance and develop their learning skills, and to provide a community play area for families.

Pray that we will find a suitable rented building to house the Centre in time to host some introductory activities in August. Pray too for Jas, Layla, Dmitri and Daria as they press on with language study and continue to establish a range of friendships.

At home in France, Rosemary has successfully completed a month-long intensive ‘Teaching English as a Foreign Language’ course.  Next weekend, we look forward to attending the Commissioning Service of an Albania-bound teacher. Then Lydia will visit us for a week to tell us about her first labour-ward experiences in Edinburgh.

Thanks for reading the blog.

Philip & Rosemary.