Project prisonwork Shkbsk, Albania

As most of you know, we have been in contact with the Teen Challenge team in Albania for years. Jan has visited the country several times. We hope to go together later this year.

During his visits, Jan also came into contact with Fred Westerink who has been living and working in Albania with his wife since 2008. Fred is the director of Shkbsh Prison Fellowship Albania.

The organization has been around for 22 years and they are now active in 20 prisons and also help hundreds of children and families of prisoners. All in close cooperation with local churches. The team consists of 25 people, half of them full-time, the other half part-time.

Fred wrote to us a while ago with a request for financial support for their project 'Chaplains bringing Hope'.

The tasks of the Shkbsh chaplains are clear: Share the gospel with as many prisoners and their families as possible, and involve the local church in this forgotten and often marginalized group of people.

The prison chaplains are Albert, a chaplain with his workplace in Korca, Arber (himself a former prisoner) who is active in the prisons in Durres and Rrogozhine, and Zamira, who works in the prison hospital in Tirana among female prisoners with mental problems.

The government does not support spiritual aid in any way. Unfortunately, this is a remnant of the post-communism era, when the first democratic government decided that each religious community had to arrange for itself how and where it wanted to organize its aid programs.

In recent years it has become increasingly difficult to pay the chaplains, partly due to the devaluation of the euro against the Albanian lek.

As Traveling Light, we are involved in prison work in the Netherlands and we know how important sharing the Gospel is in the rehabilitation process of prisoners.

We would therefore like to help Prison Fellowship Albania with a nice amount so that their chaplains can continue to do the work. Would you consider sowing a financial seed?

Donations, large and small, are always welcome. You can send your gift in different ways:

💛Send a donation to St. Traveling Light, Papendrecht IBAN: NL91RABO0118582275 BIC: RABONL2U and make sure to mention PRISONWORK ALBANIA

💳 Give by card

👉You can also donate directly via our website!