A Helping Hand in Albania

Later that evening, as we were sitting outside a local restaurant having dinner, we saw our lady in black walk by with a small grocery bag. She seemed to be less disoriented and looked like any of the other elderly women we’ve seen walking. This made us smile and send her a prayer for good health. We will never know why she was put in our pathway. Thinking of that day and the way we could give back to even one wonderful Albanian will always give me a warm hug in my soul.

**We found our later that Albanian women wear conservative black dresses when they are widowed. So, we now know one more thing about our elderly lady in black.

Have you ever felt like you were in the right place at the right time, instead of the wrong place at the wrong time? We spent 30-days in Vlore, Albania. We didn’t have a specific agenda in Vlore except for a couple day-trips. Vlore is a beach town, and we got into the beach vibe, just chilling. We went for walks daily and rarely had a purpose in our destination. Perhaps we would walk toward a particular grocery store, but mostly we walked, talked, and observed.

One day, we were on a random walk going up the center of town and starting back down. Approaching an intersection, we slowed and looked both ways, Vlore drivers barely make a California stop so we had to be alert when crossing the street. We observed a parked car on the far side, and then at about the same time, we observed a person on the ground. With a double-take we noticed it was an elderly woman in a black dress laying on the ground in an unnatural position. Then we heard her feeble call for help.

One day, we were on a random walk going up the center of town and starting back down. Approaching an intersection, we slowed and looked both ways, Vlore drivers barely make a California stop so we had to be alert when crossing the street. We observed a parked car on the far side, and then at about the same time, we observed a person on the ground. With a double-take we noticed it was an elderly woman in a black dress laying on the ground in an unnatural position. Then we heard her feeble call for help.

We darted over to the woman laying there awkwardly. Given his medical background, I let Greg do a quick analysis, and then we assisted her into a sitting position. The woman in the black dress appeared to be in her mid to late 70’s but given the hard life of an Albanian, age is difficult to distinguish. She did not cry out in pain. She did not grab any part of her body. She shook her head and lifted her knee-length black dress to her abdomen area. It seemed she was looking for blood and we took a quick glance for injuries too. When she readjusted her dress, she took a deep breath and tried speaking, but we could not distinguish her language. Was she speaking Albanian?

Bracing ourselves on each side and lifting her gently from under the armpit, we offered her assistance in standing. After several seconds, it appeared she could stand, and again she did not cry out in pain. Greg pulled out his phone to attempt using a language app for communication. I maintained one hand under her armpit, and she grasped my other hand firmly in a “please don’t go” manner. Pointing around us, we tried to communicate with her through gestures. We wanted desperately to know “Where do you live?” “Can we help you to your apartment?” Does anyone know you are out walking today?”

The woman in the black dress began walking still holding hard to my hand. She didn’t walk toward an apartment, but toward the main road we had previously been walking. Turning right she continued to hold my hand as we walked up the main street. Greg was still trying to use the phone app to capture her words and try to make sense of the few phrases she was uttering and I had a million questions going through my head. Was this local woman really ok? She seemed a bit disoriented, was that her normal state or was it a result of the fall she had? Does she know where she is going? Is anyone looking for her? As we walked further from her original location, I was hoping that she was walking toward a familiar person and that we weren’t accidentally leading her away from a safe and known area.

After about 10 minutes of walking slowly up the hill, she began to relax her grip. She pointed toward a park we often passed where elderly people and families gathered daily. When she let go completely, we paused, and she kept walking. She was walking on her own and didn’t appear to be favoring any hurt part of her body. As she went into the park, we turned and continued our journey toward our own home. Greg took one last glance back and said she was now speaking to two other older adults that she seemed to know.