Population 3.5 million; 850 thousand families
Albania has gone through a long transition from Communism, which ended in 1991. What has suffered most has been the family.
The Albanian family is going through a very hard time because of the unstable economy. Parents are under constant stress and time pressures to eke out a living. This has resulted in a rising divorce rate, domestic abuse and worst of all, children being raised on the streets. The future of a country is dependent on family values being learned in the home, but parents in Albania have little knowledge or experience in this area. Thus the generations are being raised without those values.
Couples do not know how to deal with conflict or work on strengthening their marriage, so they turn to legal divorce or emotional divorce and isolation. There is great potential in Albania to help marriages thrive, thus to have an impact on child-rearing and the whole society as a result.
Even though not full speed yet, FamilyLife in Albania has had a great impact. Witnessing the reality that surrounds us and the changed lives through our conferences, we are filled with faith that God can change the marriages in that country.
FamilyLife marriage conferences began in 2003 and HomeBuilders groups were begun in 2006.
Several churches form HomeBuilders groups as follow-up to our conferences. This has been wonderfully out of control; therefore, we do not have accurate information on the number of groups or participants. All we know is that we have sold a lot of the Couples Series to different churches.
This basic foundation has created solid ground for FamilyLife to go full speed now in Albania and Kosovo as well. Two additional full time staff couples are serving with FamilyLife to give help to marriages today and hope for tomorrow.