COHE removes trash in poor Albanian village
To improve the quality of life in a poor Albanian village,
Convoy of Hope Europe led a cleanup operation, including
the removal of 25 loads of garbage.
By Dan Kersten
Seventeen impoverished families in Grumbullimi, Albania, were blessed this year by a Convoy of Hope Europe team that launched a massive cleanup effort on their block.
Assemblies of God missionaries report most of these families are now serving Jesus.
There is no public garbage service available in this part of Grumbullimi. As a result, the streets are covered with trash and solid waste — hip deep in some places. The economic situation of the local residents is extremely dire. The trash just keeps piling up. In addition, there are no adequate toilet facilities. The resulting sanitary conditions are atrocious.
Convoy of Hope Europe targeted one block in especially desperate need for a compassion outreach. COHE dump trucks carried away 25 loads of garbage and the team installed new toilet facilities.
Now that the trash has been removed and proper toilet facilities installed, the quality of life is markedly improved. Dozens of people are able to see the ground in many places for the first time in years.
“You could see in their eyes how extremely happy they were,” says missionary associate Nolan Tarantino. “The impact we left . . . was the begin-ning of a new journey for these families in Grumbullimi.”
The COHE team blanketed the 17 families they targeted with prayer also, believing for a spiritual breakthrough. Following the COHE cleanup operation, residents reported feeling a spiritual presence in their homes one evening.
One of the community leaders described it this way: “We did not see anything with our physical eyes but we knew that it was Jesus. He was there, looking over us, caring for us, weeping for our suffering and poverty. We knew that you [COHE] came to help us as ambassadors for Him.”
Each of the 17 families made commitments to the Lord. Assemblies of God missionary Kurt Plagenhoef exhorted the families to honor the revelation of Jesus they experienced by obeying, worshipping and following Christ.
“All of them said they now believe in Jesus and will follow Him,” Plagenhoef reports. “We’ll do more follow-up with them.”
Learn more about Convoy of Hope, including its European team, at www.convoyofhope.org.