Albania 777 children participated in the summer camps

26 Sep 2008 |

After Kosovo and Romania, our last section of the Summer Camps 2008 is about Albania. Starting from June up to August, the 13 Summer Camps organized throughout the country in 8 different districts (Tirana, Durres, Fier, Korca, Gjirokastra, Pogradec, Elbasan, Vlora) gatered 777 children who 80% of them belong to the Roma/Egyptian Communities.

Animators and psychologists were involved in games which were organized aiming at physical and psychosocial development of children. Different sessions were held with topics such as family relationships, health and role of education. Depending on the age of children, sessions of story-telling or story-reading were organized, drawing and crafting were brought forward as well.

See the image gallery here

Vasilika Laci, Child Protection Officer from the delegation of Terre des hommes in Albania, believes that: “these camps offer an alternative to the street, developing new skills and expanding their horizon”. Moreover, Vasilika reports that: "they are a good opportunity for socialization, offering a place where children can discover skills, talents and also increase social skills and build self-esteem."

Summer camps are regularly organised by TACT teams to identify new children at risk of abuse, exploitation and trafficking and to provide them with various types of assistance. Child Protection Policy trainings were provided to all the persons who organized the summer camps. Also, all the teachers and animators were trained on how to provide psycho-social activities

This year summer camps were organized in closer partnership with public and non public local structures such as NGOs Romani Baxt, Roma Vision, and ARSIS and the 6 Child Protection Units and Community Counseling Groups members. Some School Psychologists/ Child Protection Specialists at school have been involved in summer camp activities through organizing various psycho-social games with children. [MAE]