For love of their land

They open their doors to tourists to help promote local traditions and, at the same time, create opportunities of work and help build a future for their territory. Two similar projects, in Albania and in Sardinia (Italy), are being run by enterprising youth, who use websites to promote them. It’s an interesting idea that other European youngsters could also take up. “THE HOME IS FOR GOD AND THE GUEST”. A group of 14 Albanian youngsters has chosen to remain in Albania, in order to promote it through tourism, by providing hospitality for travellers in their own homes and by accompanying them on novel itineraries. That is the aim of the Vivalbania project, which last year provided hospitality to over 80 guests in localities that are still largely unknown. The idea took shape in 2005. We wanted, explains Erjona Shahini, university student in Tirana, “to remain in Albania and build our present and future here, without having to seek our fortune in other countries, by exploiting the potential of our beautiful land. We provide hospitality to travellers in our homes, and enable them to discover the great qualities of this country; in this way we help pay for our studies and achieve our professional objectives”. The dream took form on the beach of the lake close to Bathore (suburb of Tirana) “where we went to chat – Erjona reminisces -. Still today we go there to speak of this adventure which is gradually growing”. The initial website, Bathorebeach, has now become www.vivalbania.net. The youngsters have created 6 new programmes that enable visitors to get to know the whole of Albania, through personal contacts and an introduction to the customs, traditions, food, and natural treasures of the country. The strong point of the project is that it allows visitors to come into immediate contact with the reality of the country, by exploiting one of the most congenial characteristics of the Albanian people: their hospitality. In the Kanun – an unwritten code of laws transmitted from generation to generation – apart from the more problematic aspects that concern “honour” – there is also a strong emphasis on the value of hospitality. It is said in Albania that “the home is that of God and of the guest” and it is to the latter that the best place is left. “WE ARE THE BRICKS AND MORTAR OF OUR ALBANIA”. “We want this project – says Shahini – to spread to all Albanian youth who think like us”. And there are many in the group who do so. They are young students who have different dreams: some want to become doctors or economists; others want to “combat corruption and trafficking” in the country; some are studying languages “because they give us the chance to enter into contact with the world and get to know various cultures and traditions”, while others are studying archaeology to spread knowledge of the history of the ancient populations of Albania. Yet all of them are convinced of being the bricks and mortar to re-build our Albania and enable her to grow”. Visar Kola, 18 years old, lives in Dushaj, near Tropoje – “one of the most scenic spots in Albania” -; he’s only in his fourth year of secondary school but already has clear ideas about where he wants to go: “I want to study in the faculty of civil engineering. Albania is a country in transit and in a phase of construction; it’s time to lay the foundations. To be built well the foundations need to be strong. I want to contribute to this field. It’s great to be able to study and then work to construct one’s own country”. THE WAY OF CENTENARIANS . In Sardinia three girl students are proposing a project of a rather different kind but also aimed at enhancing local roots: an itinerary to discover the “elixir of long life”, through the “Way of Centenarians” (www.viadeicentenari.it). Carla, Pamela and Giulia realized that in their little villages at the heart of Sardinia (between Laconi and Orroli, some sixty km from Cagliari) a surprising number of locals have already passed the mythical threshold of 100 years. Nonagenarians are equally numerous. This gave them the idea of fostering the natural resources and traditions of their territory. “Ever since we were children we liked to listen to the stories told by our grandparents – they explain – and now we’re a little older we wish that this heritage be not lost, and be made accessible to everyone who wants to be transported back in time by the magical recollections and experiences of centenarians”. So, to pay for their studies, the girls got involved in tourism in the area. This gave them experience. They then decided to set up their own business. “We began to realise that we had another idea of tourism – they explain -, consisting of simplicity, close contact with the territory and its people. We wanted to enhance the traditional aspects, the natural and cultural riches of our region”. The three Sardinian “pioneers” propose, at modest prices, an itinerary of at least four days, with overnight stays in bed and breakfast and dinner in typical restaurants or in families. The itineraries include meetings with centenarians, visits to shepherds and their flocks, river trips on the Flumendosa, rambles in the woods of Badenti, visits to the prehistoric nuraghe of Arrubiu, trips on horseback as far as Giara di Gesturi, participation in a village fete, and introduction to local crafts – how to work stone or cork, or how to make “fregola”, a typical Sardinian form of pasta.