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It has been almost a month since the strongest earthquake in decades shook Albania. Homes and businesses were wrecked; fifty-one people lost their lives, two thousand were injured, and four thousand lost their homes. The biggest quake hit at about 4 am, with the epicenter near the coastal city of Durrës. There were tremors for days afterwards—a reported 1,300 aftershocks, even as rescuers searched for people in the rubble. Read more about Nehemiah Gateway Albania's work to help the survivors....

The Nehemiah Gateway Albania Social and Medical Improvement team was back in the mountain villages near Mokra recently, bringing aid to villagers.

The latest issue of Compact is out!

A deadly 6.4 magnitude earthquake hit Albania in the middle of the night November 26. The quake was centered near the coastal city of Durrës, and has been followed by many hours of aftershocks.

New issue of Compact, check it out!

A profile of NG USA in this week's Estes Park Trail Gazette, courtesy of the Estes Park Nonprofit Resource Center. Estes Park, home of NG-USA, is home to several thousand elk (pictured).

Last Monday, September 16, was the first day of school in Gjirokastër. Thanks to NG USA donors, twenty Roma children were able to register for school with help from Nehemiah Gateway staff. They arrived bright and early with all the rest of the Gjirokastër school children, with new backpacks on their backs, filled with school supplies they need to participate in class. Five of the children are first graders and are attending school for the first time. All the families are receiving food aid, helping them to enjoy nutritious meals at home.

This June, a group of NG coworkers, as well as five volunteers from the US, got the chance to visit the new NG soup kitchen in Gjirokastër. They got to help with lunch and join activities with a group of twenty at-risk Roma children.

First-time visitors to the Nehemiah Gateway campus at Buçimas may be surprised by the well-labeled and signed, paved segments of street between the buildings that house NG operations. Why would a mostly pedestrian area surrounded by walls need a roundabout, lane dividers, crosswalks, traffic signs, and even traffic lights, all slightly smaller than in real life?

Roy and Beverlee Atwood, NG University’s Vice Rector and Head of the University’s Exam Office, respectively, returned to the USA in mid-May to seek medical treatment for the two herniated discs in Roy’s back. “Regrettably, finding medical relief for my back pain required us to return to our US home and to leave our NG University posts, the students and colleagues we love, our dear Albanian Christian brothers and sisters, and the beautiful Pogradec community. We already miss them all,” Roy said.

For the next two weeks, you can sponsor a duck to support the first group of Estes Park volunteers traveling to Albania to help out at Nehemiah Gateway’s summer camp for at-risk children.

This June, one lucky 9th grader at the Nehemia School will be awarded the inaugural Dr. Jorgji Jajcari Academic Excellence Scholarship. The $1000 scholarship will support 10th grade tuition at the Nehemia School, reducing the financial burden of tuition so that the recipient can focus on his or her studies. Selection is based upon academic achievement, with consideration given to extracurriculars. The scholarship is the creation of two Nehemia School graduates, cousins Lazaron Gusho and Lori Çobani....

“Mathematics is the subject I love most!” Elisa, 7th grade. “I know it will help me in my future.” Kristi, 9th grade. “I love going to the Albanian and English Language courses.” Xhystina, 8th grade. “Now I have more confidence in myself.” Kristi, 9th grade.

For a select group of young people, January is an exciting and suspenseful time. Last fall, aspiring students to the Nehemiah Gateway University class of 2022, nominated by a handful of carefully vetted partner humanitarian organizations in Africa and Latin America, turned in their applications for admission...

Over the last two weeks, the humanitarian team at Nehemiah Gateway distributed over 150 food parcels to families in need in the Pogradec area, braving wintry roads to bring food, clothing, medicine, and shoes to Albanians living in poverty. We visited many people society has left behind, including the very old, disabled people, and minorities such as the Roma. Your generous support has made it possible for these 150 households to enjoy a respite from hunger and want, and for that, they, and we, thank you.

Ambra and Jorida graduated from the Amaro Tan School in Pogradec in June. Although you would not guess it by looking at them, both girls come from desperately poor families. By successfully completing ninth grade, they have already attained a higher level of education than most girls from their Balkan Egyptian and Albanian communities. But they aren’t done yet. Ambra and Jorida were awarded full scholarships to the private, college preparatory Nehemia High School in Pogradec, and started tenth grade there this fall.

The theme of Amaro Tan’s 2018 summer camp was “I have rights.” This may seem like an unusual theme for a summer camp, but for the children of Amaro Tan, it is a vitally important one.

Nehemiah Gateway Albania’s Social and Medical Improvement team held their annual two-week summer camp for children with disabilities and special needs on July 2-13. The camp took place at the Nehemiah Gateway campus at Buçimas, which is enclosed for safety and has green spaces and play equipment for all ages. The 25 children who participated enjoyed outdoor play and open-air activities together every day. Thanks to generous donors like you, this camp was offered completely free of charge.

On a warm, sunny day in early June, I joined Nehemiah Gateway social workers on their twice-yearly visit to the mountain villages in the Mokra region near Pogradec, Albania. The villages seem to be close by on a map, but it takes several hours and excellent driving skills to reach these remote places. Arnold Geiger, founder of Nehemiah Gateway, first visited these villages in the 1990s, after the fall of communism. Since then, the organization has been visiting twice a year, bringing parcels of food and donated clothes and shoes to the poorest people in a very poor region. According to Albania’s 2011 census, about 46,5 % of Albanians still live in villages like these—a number that continues to shrink, as it does in many parts of the world.

In the late 1980s, Arnold Geiger started helping convoys of humanitarian relief to many countries, for example Russia, Romania and Turkey. A 1991 trip to Albania, then newly emerging from 50 years of totalitarian government, profoundly moved him.