A way of Hope in Albania by Rev. Mark Goudy and Joshua Reeve

 Back in June 2008 Mervyn Kirkpatrick led an ECM summer team to run a very successful camp for people with learning disabilities called Way of Hope (Rruga e Shpreses). Mervyn was motivated by the desperate need for God's love to be shown to people with learning disabilities in Albania, most of whom are forced to stay at home every day due to a complete lack of services.

In October a group of us who had been interested in supporting Mervyn's work travelled to Albania to talk with disabled people, their families and local churches to see how his vision might be taken forward. We were astounded by the response we received as we talked to people. We spoke to families who wept as they told us how touched they had been by the care and attention their children had received from the team. They were extremely hopeful that the work that Mervyn had started would continue and were more than willing to help! Local churches were also excited about the idea of using their buildings and members to run daily services. We spoke with two churches who have agreed to open up their halls and provide volunteers to run learning disability programmes in the future.

What next? In the short term, the next step is to take another summer team to run a 2 week camp for children with learning disabilities. This will be taking place from June 12th - 26th 2010. If you feel that this might be something youʼre interested in please get in touch with us! (ecm.ni@ecmi.org) Longer term we would like to send a professional out to Albania who would work with us to launch a church-run learning disability service on a more permanent basis.

Please pray with us that God would raise up the right person for this challenging role!