Greetings from England

Greetings to all our friends in Kosova

a few pics from todays worship service at Cornerstone Hythe

13/6 3pm Eddie

Car Wash

This is especially for Berti and Shkelzen who like to keep the cars clean - here is a pciture of Martha was cars when we arrived home

4/6 3pm Eddie

Back Home

And safely back home - Thanks for all those who have followed our blog and have supported us on our trip

A few pictures from England will appear in the next few days for the benefit of Kosovars following our blog
2/6 10pm Eddie

Back in Blighty
After a smooth 165minute flight we arrived back at London Gatwick and out the airport within 35minutes of landing!!!!
2/6 7.30pm Eddie

To the airport

After stopping for a picnic near a river we headed to Pristina airport – a journey of about 90 minutes. They are building a new road and this made it very slow and dusty through the roadworks of about 20miles! We checked in our luggage but after a while heard our names announced asking us to report to the departure gate. It turned out that the security wanted to manually search a suitcase containing cables, clock, pa system, batteries etc. They were very thorough, which is reassuring. It is a good job that I put all these items in one case otherwise they would have had to go through all five!!
2/6 4pm Eddie
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Last day

We spent the early morning packing – and thankfully everything went in the suitcases easily. We gave our hosts some gifts and took some final photos. We sorted the remainder of the stationary we brought here and the Smile workers will distribute this in due course. In the late morning we visited a large house which was about 200 years old.It has been turned into a museum showing tradition clothing and items from the house. The person who lived here must have been very rich as there was a primitive central heating system and the ceilings were carved out of wood.
2/6 12noon Eddie

Final evening meal

We showed our hosts a slide show of our photos before going out with Astrit, Emily, Berti, Hannah, Skelzen and Claudi for a final meal at Le Peshat our favourite restaurant – The steaks are massive! I know that Martha is going to miss Emily so much!
1/6 10pm Eddie

Radoniqi Lake

We gave the head teacher a lift most of the way back to his home and he mentioned they did not have much sports equipment. Jake gave him an impromptu gift of his football (one less thing to pack tomorrow!). We drove to the lake which is the main reservoir for the area and it was very beautiful for a picnic. Unlike UK reservoirs there is no boating of swimming allowed. We saw lots of lizards and bugs as we walked through the trees. We also drove past a big KFOR base (Italian) with its own runway and a house which still has bullet holes in it 11 years on from the war.
1/6 4pm Eddie

Visit to Kralan School

After a short Prayer meeting at Eternity Church we headed towards Pristina for a few miles and then up into a hill village. Their view was stunning and we were warmly welcomed at the village school. During the war there were 80 students and 50 of them lost their fathers. The conflict was particularly great here. The unemployment is very great here. It was a lovely happy school and we spent some time with the Head Teacher before meeting a class of the older pupils. We then went into the grounds of the school and played some volleyball. Some of the teachers joined in and it got very competitive – great fun. Jake and Sam presented the last of the letters and pictures from the Orchard Schools and we also gave the Director a gift of stationary. Smile are planning a summer holiday club at this school this year.
1/6 1pm Eddie

Youth meeting

We shared in our last youth meeting. We have been befriended by some lovely young people and t was a bit sad to think this was our last meeting during our stay. I think Martha, Jake and Sam are going to be missed by them also.
31/5 10pm Eddie

Girls Brigade at Rugove

We went back tonight to the Girls Brigade meeting we went to last Monday. Martha and I organised some games and craft and Martha told them the story of Noah. It was good fun and at the end of the evening it was funny to see all the girls pile into the pastor’s van as he dropped them all off at various places in the village. I love this country.!
It is good to see a room full of girls, many girls are not allowed out as they have to stay at home to do chores, to be available to help with the running of the home.
31/5 7pm Alison

FIlmed Interview

Emily Morina from Smile filmed an interview with us. We spoke of why we had come here, what we had done and what we have learned. WE managed it in one take!
31/5 3pm Eddie