For illustration

Just this week I was walking by one of the main streets of Tirana when I noticed a weird site! A casino, located at the cross-road of Rr. E Dibers & Rr. E Barrikadave, had closed its doors! Needless to say that it “almost” broke my heart. It had been there for several years and now it was closed.

Poor countries and weakening economies tend to have a positive effect on the growth of gambling, where Albania is a prime example. The number of casinos in the city of Tirana is rivaled only by the number of public urinals (of which there are none, but any dark and dirty corner does the job) preferably in densely populated areas and cross-roads.

The municipality is trying to get them off the city and positing them in pre-determined areas in the periphery of the city, but such attempts seem futile when faced with the political and financial power that such “organizations” have.

A casino was closed in Tirana!

Generally I try not to park my car outside on the street. Thankfully we have an underground garage, which is quite handy considering the maxed out number of cars driving and parking everywhere on the streets of Tirana.

However, this past week, I decided to leave the car parked outside for a quick movement in the mornings. Normally, I take our son to kindergarten and am always running late as we always wake up late in the morning.

This morning I could not help but realize that the entire car was covered by a thin, but very obvious, reddish layer of granular dirt (adobe color). At first I thought it originated from some nearby construction or road, but it was unusual. The previous night the wind had been blowing relatively hard as the weather changes to become warmer. But, somehow, all that wind had brought with it plenty of dirt which I later realized had blanketed the whole city as I traveled to the other side and found it on other cars as well.

On ongoing challenge

For several years now, Tirana has suffered the continuous fight with air pollution, mainly from dust originating from ongoing constructions and ruined roads. The fact is that most people do not even leave their windows open because it is sure to fill up their house/office with a layer of granular dust.

Personally, I’m very worried by this fact and despise it very much, but am left with little choice in the matter.

The multitudes of people, traffic and constructions in the city are sure ways to maintain this level of pollution for several years to come.

Living in a dirty city!

Hills, mountains, clouds, and sky

Friday, January 18th begins as a normal day in Tirana. After working a while, I meet my friend and we start our drive to Gjirokastra. Since we have not had much time to talk in a while, we enjoy the opportunity to catch up and time passes easily. We stop for a meeting in Fier and continue an uneventful trip past Tepelena to reach Uji i Ftohtë (Coldwater), named thus for the cold springs that flow out of the mountains. As we try to get going again after lunch, a little after 3 o’clock in the afternoon, a police officer informs us that the road is blocked by a landslide a short distance ahead of us.

The whole area has seen a lot of rain over the last several days, the earth clinging to the mountainsides is waterlogged, and a mudslide is not that unexpected. The key pieces of information we are missing: the large size of this landslide and the time it will take to clear. We decide to wait! Nearly two hours pass before we see a bulldozer go by. Time estimates vary widely and there is no mention of the event in the various news channels. As we debate whether they can even work properly to clear the road in the dark, time slips by and we backtrack to find a hotel for the night.

One lane is almost cleared and people are impatient to get going…

In the morning, we arrive at Uji i Ftohtë and settle to wait again in the restaurant where we stopped the previous day. By some quirk of chance the only empty table is the same one we occupied for hours the previous day, and people we recognize from the previous day seem to experience mild déjà vu upon seeing us. It takes several more hours before one lane is finally opened through the landslide, and traffic is allowed to proceed shortly before noon on Saturday, January 19th.

As we drive on to our destination, to meet students and volunteers from BSKSh, we thank God for each-other’s good company that turned what could have been a miserable wait into a pleasant sojourn, and for the technology that allowed us not only to keep others from worrying, but also to use the time productively. Looking forward to meeting friends in Gjirokastra, we are still left with unanswered questions: What would it take to clear the landslide faster? Would it have been so difficult to come up with correct estimates for the duration of the blockage? Could the 24-hour news channels inform the public so that people travelling by bus would not suffer a cramped, 20-hour wait on top of their cramped, 12-hour ride?

Landslide-induced Adventure in Southern Albania

These are some examples of everyday maintenance situations:

• A door needs to be oiled from time-to-time so it doesn’t squeak.
• A chair needs to be tightened or slightly strengthened to maintain its rigidity.
• An elevator needs to be mechanically maintained for safe and efficient use.
• An irrigation pump needs its tubes cleansed and adjusted so that it works when most needed.
• A road needs to be maintained so that it does not wear out faster or become dangerous.
• A friendship needs to be maintained as well, it requires care for the other.
• Etc., etc.

However, these situations and the general concept of maintenance still seem to be a hard concept to grasp for many an Albanian. Just the other day I was taking the elevator up to my parents apartment to notice that it had worsened though there are people that are paid to maintain it. But this is just one example, the hardest part to understand is why this is so wide spread as a cultural phenomena, which leads me to reach these various conclusions:

• On a psychological level I understand this to be the result of brute “selfishness” and lack of care.
• On a practical level I understand this to be the result of “too many” things to worry or take care of.
• On a financial level I understand this to be a lack of “resources”.
• On a business level I understand this to be a lack of “management skills”.
• On a human level I understand this to be a lack of “will” to change things.
• On a political level I understand this to be a lack of “understanding” on the need to change.

It is as though we are under the impression that if things are left on their own they will somehow fix themselves without our intervention, which is a very fatalistic worldview. At least this is true about the elevator that I mentioned earlier.

As a consultant, sometimes the best illustration that I use with some of my customers is that of a garden which needs to be maintained for it to remain beautiful. Though as Albanians we are very capable to enjoy and appreciate beautiful and functioning things, at the same time, we often seem unable to move ourselves to the point where we can do what is necessary to maintain or even improve on them!

Why is “maintenance” such a difficult concept for many Albanians?

I knew I had to get back to “school”! Thus, I started reviewing some of my course materials as well as doing other readings to improve my bookkeeping knowledge and skills. Currently, I’m still working on improving bookkeeping as well as on improving financial forecasting in the mid-to-long term.

Part of my daily routine

Every day now, once I start my computer, one of the many things I do is jot down all the various transactions (both personal and business ones). The rigors of bookkeeping (accounting) are a relatively new discipline for me but the part I’m enjoying even more is the ability to see where I’m currently standing financially and also create a better idea of where I need to go.

As I said, it’s a new discipline, but one that I intend on improving and maybe, just maybe, get to perfect to the point that I can take on bigger projects or business ideas in the future.

Some cultural background – importance of education

In developed counties, the idea of a child’s budget is a common and well established thing for most families, while for Albanian families this is still a relatively new discipline. Having their own small budget helps a child learn how to better manage funds early on, thus becoming better at it once they grow up and become financially independent.

However, for example, when I was growing up, my parents (as most Albanian families) did not have much in terms of income to give me to spend on a weekly or monthly basis. Also, there was the important fact that there were very few places that you could spend your money on as there were not that many shops or coffee places (late communist period, early democracy).

Things changed radically with the advent of democracy in the county and the slowing improving economic conditions. People started to have more funds and more places where to spend them. However, the idea of a child’s own budget has not yet caught on, thus mismanagement was and continues to plague the 1970’s and early 80’s generation.

Meanwhile, for children still in school, there is greater hope as they are being taught basic economic principles and also ways to better manage their own finances (which was not the case when I was in elementary or high school).

Finances and the importance of early education

He was reasonably concerned over the economic stability of the country and how the advent of parliamentary elections could worsen the situation further in 2013. I couldn’t help but agree with him. Moreover, I trust his judgment very much and so do thousands of other readers that have been following his economic articles in the written media for close to two decades now.

The keywords under consideration were “worsening poverty” and possible “default of the economy”. I should confess that my economic knowledge and expertise are rather amateurish (comparatively speaking) but though I did not agree completely with this very gloomy forecast, it made me even more aware of the fact that things would not improve if left on their own.

These thoughts remained with me and today while chatting with another friend of mine I got to ask him as well about his economic forecast for 2013. Unlike my close friend above, this one is a true economic expert. His agency serves as the main consultant intermediating major foreign investment projects in the country.

He was of the opinion that the infusion of foreign capital through such major investments, such as Albpetrol, TAP and Devoll HPP could change the situation much more easily, considering how small our economy is.

But when asked to consider how the political stability of the country could affect these investments, he was quick to admit that the risk is present.

So what now? What will happen with Albania this coming year? Please share your opinions and thoughts in the comments for other readers.

What will happen economically with Albania in 2013?

Albanians everywhere celebrate this centenary anniversary of our mother country’s independence and it is truly a time to celebrate.

It is a time to celebrate the present but also to remember the past.

It is a time to be festive but also to reconsider lessons that should be learned through this journey.

It is a time to enjoy but also to reevaluate the contribution of key people and events in our nation’s history.

Sadly, politics continues to have a major impact in our daily lives but most Albanians have started to understand the importance of their own personal freedom and independence in choosing which way they should go and how their own future should be.

It is the future which is now of highest priority. Every decision that is made now, will impact our future and that of our children’s children. It is not to be taken lightly.

Nevertheless, today is a time to celebrate our independence and freedom.

Happy 100 Years of Independence to all Albanians everywhere.

Happy 100 Years of Independence Albania!

Albanian Minististry of Justice

They say that the first step to solving a problem is recognizing it. But what happens when the issue has been over recognized? What happens when it is a well-known fact that the Albanian justice system is entrenched with corruption and that most of our lawyers and judges are filthy? Well, we go about reestablishing the fact, but this time acknowledged from the horse’s mouth! And that is exactly what a recent survey has done.

A survey of Albanian judges, published by the Center for Transparency and Freedom of Information, showed that many admit the problem of corruption in the system.

Like a good doctor trying to cure a patient, the survey created the helpful conditions to where the patient not only recognizes that he/she is sick but also acknowledges the source of their malady, in our case corruption.

This wide recognition by the culprits can in many regards be considered as a very bold one, nonetheless it does not mean that we are anywhere near a quick recovery. No, no, this malady has been in the system for far too long and it might as well take that long for it to cure. It not only requires good diagnostics by doctors (various institutions and enforcement of the laws) and recognition by the “patients” but in may in fact require extensive surgery (not just reconstructive one) but and a long and well-thought out recovery sessions.

Curing the corruption malady of the Albanian justice system

I’ve ignored calls in the past (on weekends) and this would not have been different, but his persistent rings (five in all) made me pay a bit more attention. It was someone to whom I’ve forwarded some pocket cash in the past in hope of helping just a little bit in his struggle for survival.

But the situation is graver. The number of people struggling financially and getting by with the bare essentials of life has increased. I will not try to quote statistics as there are none, but the news are reporting such cases every day, at the very least, talking about the effects that the economic crisis it’s having on people behavior as well.

Basically, people are being reduced to begging!

People are being reduced to begging!

Update: Just released, the Greek foreign minister apologized for the incident.

I heard about it yesterday but only today I was able to read a bit more into the “diplomatic incident” caused with the upside-down Albanian flag during the joint press conference of the Greek and Albanian foreign ministers in Athens yesterday.

This “incident” did not cause a reaction on the part of the Albanian foreign ministry (for obvious reasons) but the Greek foreign ministry has not reacted either, which is another indicator (at least in my mind) that the incident was intentional.

At their face-to-face meeting, beyond the warm smiles and handshakes our two foreign ministers had some hard talks about major issues affecting our two countries, which obviously were not all to the liking of the Greek protocol people who, intentionally or not, caused this incident in the first place.

The Albanian media was quick to point the incident out. In my opinion, this is a true “diplomatic incident” and despite the fact that it was or not intentional it does convey the Greek’s sense of hostility and less then amicable attitude toward us as their neighbor. Apologies on the part of the Greek foreign minister will clarify the true intent of this incident.

Below you will find the news report by one of the major Albanian media TV channels – Top Channel.

The Greek “diplomatic incident” with our flag