Project Teen Challenge rehab home, Albania

Renovation in progress

Blrina & Gesi Hysenaj

In the past years, we have written several blog posts about the work of Orges (Gesi) & Blerina Hysenaj among the homeless and addicted in Albania. Gesi is director of Teen Challenge Albania.

He visits methadone clinics, has started several coffee houses where addicts are welcome for a conversation, coffee and a touch of God's love.

Gesi gives Bible studies and courses and has been seriously searching for a building or house that can be turned into a men's rehab center.

And yes, the time has finally come! Recently, Teen Challenge has signed a 5 year lease contract for a house and Gesi started working with a number of volunteers to renovate the property.

Beautiful location for a TC center

👉 The renovation of an old and broken down house is a beautiful parallel with broken human lives that are slowly being restored by God.

In the pictures you can see how hard they are working to make this house ready for use. Your donations (large and small) are welcome at this start-up stage to renovate the house and to buy furniture and such.

The Teen Challenge home will be the first Christian residential center for people with drug and alcohol addictions in Albania!

Serious renovation work

We find it incredibly exciting that in the coming months a men's rehab center will be opened, finally! An answered prayer.

It will be nice!!

Funds are urgently needed for the renovation, but also for beds, furniture, lighting, heating ... well, you name it.

If you have a heart for Albania and want to help bring hope to the hopeless you can send a gift to IBAN: NL91RABO0118582275 BIC: RABONL2U St. Traveling Light in Papendrecht and make sure to mention ALBANIA.

👉When in the USA you can make your tax-deductible gift payable to EEO Inc. Make sure to mention: TC ALBANIA.

We will keep you informed about the progress!

Project support PLUS

At work with the wood splitter

In one of are previous blog posts we wrote about the many projects that we have supported in recent months. But at Traveling Light we do so much more than just fundraising!

Let's go back to the end of August ... For the sixth time we went to Italy for a work week in therapeutic community Comunita Brezzano. Chopping, sawing and stacking firewood for the cold winter months. It is not only a nice job, but also very useful. The evenings were pleasant on the grape-covered terrace of Casa Shalom, where we discussed our theme for the week: 'the voice of the Shepherd'.

Morning devotion at TC Kazakhstan

In September we visited Teen Challenge in Almaty, Kazakhstan. We will tell more about that later because a number of projects, that we may be able to support, emerged from that visit.

We stayed in the juvenile home. We visited the men's rehab center where Jan shared a word for the morning devotion and after that we visited the women's home where currently 20 women and 20 children are staying. We had time to pray and prophesy over each woman that was present that afternoon. It was such a sweet atmosphere of the Father's love. On Sunday we spoke together in a church and we had some time to see the beautiful nature around Almaty.

Israel night at Twinkeltje

In September we organized another Mission night in Twinkeltje, this time with guests from the USA; Jeroen & Robin Honingh. Each year they volunteer in Israel for three months and they have lots of stories to tell. We were able to encourage each other!

The Israel evening in Twinkeltje was also a success. We had a nice display of products from Israel  and many  people came to shop and to have fellowship around the table, filled with delicious snacks.

Visit to Lisbon during the Training Week

From October 10-17, board member Cora Donk (owner and director of coffee house/secondhand shop Twinkeltje) participated in a Rehab Training at Europe Teen Challenge in Fanhoes, Portugal. During this training all the ins and outs of faith-based drugs and alcohol rehabilitation were discussed. Participants came from various European countries, so the week-long training was also a great networking opportunity for her.

And as if that is not enough 😁

• The Alpha prison courses started again in September. Cora and Krijn are involved in this.
• Saturday November 2nd, we are hosting a WORSHIP night in the basement of Atelier Café De Schor, Bosch 6 in Papendrecht. Coffee and tea are available from 19:30,  prayers will start at 20:00 hrs.

GIFTS (large and small) go directly to the projects and are always welcome at St. Traveling Light in Papendrecht, IBAN: NL91RABO0118582275 BIC: RABONL2U.

Project daycare for the elderly, Moldova

Carmen has a heart for the elderly

It happens quite often that people stumble upon the work and ministry of Traveling Light through a Google search. This summer we received an email from Carmen Ullersma. She is from the Netherlands, but has been living and working in Ukraine and Moldova for years.

Whether we were interested in supporting the realization of a daycare for the elderly in Moldova ...

Fortunately, Carmen was in the Netherlands recently, because her parents were celebrating their 50th anniversary. So, we made an appointment to meet and have coffee.

Carmen comes from a family where missionary travels are the heart of daily life; she was raised with a love for nations and peoples. "I am committed to express in a living and tangible way the commandments that Jesus called the greatest: 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, with all your mind and all your strength, and "love your neighbor as yourself'," says Carmen.

This will be the daycare center

Carmen has a nursing degree and studied Theology at the Free University in Amsterdam. In the summer of 2009 she attended the Harvest School of Iris Ministries in Pemba, Mozambique. She has been working in Moldova since October 2013.

There, she came in contact with a retired nurse, Liuba, who has been doing volunteer work for years in the village of Costești and finances this from her own small pension. The idea of ​​starting a daycare for the elderly was born. "During my work in the villages among the poorest people I discovered that there is a shortage of care for the elderly. In Moldova, life is not easy for the elderly who live in the villages."

In the villages around Costești (a village in the Rîșcani district) the elderly do not have running water at home. That means that they also have no shower, toilet or washing machine. The day center will offer the opportunity to shower, wash clothes in a washing machine and meals will also be provided. "We want to bring the elderly and children from Costești into contact with each other and do creative activities a few times a week in the day center."

Multi functional room

Carmen has good contacts with the local authorities and the mayor who also has a heart for this project. The project is supported by the locals as well. Liuba takes care of children in the local library after school and offers all kinds of creative activities there. When the day center is finished they want to combine this!

Carmen is always looking for people who want to support the project. Fortunately, there are a number of churches in the Netherlands who stand behind her work. However, she was still looking for a sponsor for the purchase and installation of the heating system 😁

A youth group from a local church in the Netherlands came this summer

It will probably be a large pellet stove that heats a boiler to which radiators are connected. Everything will be purchased and installed locally. It is estimated that such a system costs more than 6,000 euro, including installation (you also understand why most people have no heating!).

We have promised that we will do our best to come up with a significant part of that sum so that the center can be opened up before winter. By the way, it is the intention to pick up the elderly people who live in remote areas with a van or minibus (sponsors are still needed for this).

If you have a heart for the elderly, please send your gift to St. Traveling Light in Papendrecht, IBAN: NL91RABO0118582275 BIC: RABONL2U and make sure to mention: DAYCARE MOLDOVA.

Project news

New addition (kitchen area) men's rehab

We have supported many projects in recent months, so here are a few updates, in order to show you where your donations were put to work 😁

The proceeds from our shop Twinkeltje over the month of September were 1,000 euro's and we donated that to Teen Challenge Ukraine as an addition to the kitchen extension project in Berdychiv, (we went there for a visit early July).

A lot of work has been done there on the new kitchen, an extension to the existing house, as you can see in the photo. This gift will hopefully help to finish the project as much as possible before winter sets in.

Visit to women's home in Slienava

We have also been able to transfer a donation of 4,000 euro to Teen Challenge Lithuania for the completion of the women's home in Slienava. With those funds they can continue with the construction work on the inside: floors, walls, rooms, electricity, plumbing etc. (we were there for a visit end of July).

It is still a huge job, but we are confident that it will all work out before the winter, and that more funds will come in at Teen Challenge Lithuania through various channels.

Traveling Light was one of the first organizations to send a gift (10,000 euro!) to Teen Challenge Belgium for the purchase of a building that they are already using (since September 1st) as a residential rehab center. We are happy, thankful and excited to announce that Teen Challenge will be buying the building!

With their campaign, they raised 150,000 euro up to and including September 30th. So, not yet the entire amount required, but apparently enough to close the deal. Thank you very much everyone who contributed to this and please consider giving a donation if you haven't done so already.

And, yes there is more, we have also been able to donate 3,000 euro to the phase 2 Teen Challenge men's home project in Falesti, Moldova. A team from the Czech Republic arrived there last week to further help with the construction of the second floor.

Construction 2nd floor men's home Falesti

The men send their greetings.

The support of all these great and practical projects is only possible thanks to your donations, which are always welcome by the way, at St. Traveling Light in Papendrecht, IBAN: NL91RABO0118582275 BIC: RABONL2U.

Let us never give up encouraging one another.

And as we often say: keep the giving going!