Over the last 10 days, Albanian students have taken to the streets to demand improvements in education, their rights, and the conditions that they are forced to accept. If you live in Tirana, the chances are that you have seen them marching, heard them chanting, or seen pictures of them on your social media news […]
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On December 12th2018, 24 NGOs in Albania released a statement to express their support for the ongoing student protests in the country. Supporting the student’s requests, the Civil Society organisations demanded that 5% of the GDP of the country be spent on Education. At the moment, Albania only spends 3.3%of the GDP on education, a […]
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So it is the most wonderful time of the year once again, but if you are in Tirana, Albania this year, you may be a bit unsure of what goes down in terms of festive frivolities over the next few weeks. As a predominantly secular country, religious festivals aren’t highest on the list of Albanian […]
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On Saturday 8th December, an Artisan Christmas Market was held at ‘Urban Roots’ in Tirana. Organised by myself in conjunction with ‘Urban Roots’, the idea behind the event was to give a platform to local artisans to sell their products, but also to raise money for two local charities. A total of EUR 465 was […]
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You may have noticed photos of protests circulating on your news feed today and yesterday, you may have even had your travel disrupted due to roads being closed and more traffic than usual, but there is actually a very good reason for this. Students in Tirana have been protesting proposed governmental changes to the way […]
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As the long, cold nights draw in and the twinkling Christmas lights of Tirana keep us feeling festive, thoughts of summer and beaches might seem like a whole other world away. But whilst you may not be quite ready to start making your summer holiday plans, the wheels are already in motion for Kala Festival […]
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This post was originally written by me, for Exit.al Saturday, December 1stwas World AIDS Day, an event that did not go unmarked in Tirana. As a part of the annual Christmas market held at Skanderbeg Square, a local NGO called Alga set up stands giving out free booklets, condoms, information, whilst helping to raise awareness […]
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For those that do not know why their social media feeds are full of Albanian flags and patriotic comments, today is the anniversary of Albanian Independence. On the 28th of October 1912, the Declaration of Independence or Shpalija e Pavaresise was created and signed in Vlore. After it was signed, 83 leaders in the […]
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There is a deep, dark secret in Albania that not many people talk about and that is the issue of human trafficking. I have lived here for over one year and whilst people talk quite openly about domestic violence, corruption, drugs, and other issues, no one wants to talk about human trafficking. According to […]
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I have many friends that are artisans- jewellery designers, beauty product makers, illustrators and more, and I love purchasing their products at any given opportunity. Most of these people do their business via Instagram and rely on word-of-mouth to advertise their products, and after discussing this with one of my artisan friends one day, an […]
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