“I feel I’m really worth something!”
2009.12.09
Lirije Gjana at the new center for children with disabilities in Albania was so inspired by the course provided by Share Music in Kukës that she plans to organize a similar workshop herself. The center’s partner will be ALB-AID, an organization that promotes the rights of mine victims in Albania.
Representatives both of ALB-AID and of the Social Center for Persons in Need were in Piteå in late November for a week-long course as part of the Mundesi project. There, they added to what they had learned from the first workshop this year, so as to be able to embark on work of a similar kind in Kukës in due course.
“The workshop organized by Share Music was very important to us,” Gjana says. “Children with disabilities are entitled to live ordinary lives, and they must become more visible in the community.”
Kukës, in north-eastern Albania, is the poorest region in the country, and children with disabilities are the most marginalized group of all. Often, these children are hidden by their families and are unable to attend regular school.
To make people with disabilities more visible and to help them become more integrated in society, an initial workshop as part of the Mundesi project was organized in Kukës. Children and adults, both with and without disabilities, worked with music and improvised drama. The next step in the project is for the work to result in a performance for the general public in Kukës. “I feel I’m really worth something,” wrote one of participants after the workshop.
Ten of the adult participants came from the ALB-AID organization. Izet Ademi, the organization head, says that Albania’s many mine victims also have difficulty becoming integrated in society, both socially and economically.
“The Share Music course was a new experience for us, and everyone felt the activities were fantastic,” Ademi says. “People phone me up every day and ask when Share Music can come back.”
Following the course in Piteå, ALB-AID and the Social Center are planning to organize activities of their own in Kukës. Sophia Alexandersson at Share Music is happy to see the skills that the participants acquired being put to further use.
“We’re also hoping that our work together can continue and that we’ll soon be able to return for a new workshop,” she says. “A long-term goal is for people with disabilities to be able to take part in cultural life and in the community at large on the same terms."