A gap year in Albania
Gap years in Albania
Albania is an unconventional choice for your gap year. It’s not for the faint-hearted: difficult conditions, rural corruption and bumpy travel mean you must be truly determined to reach your destination. But the country will reward you socially, personally, and emotionally if you choose to take a volunteer post here. A unique political history and some of the world’s strangest laws have left it scarred and in need of international aid. Could that be you?
Gap Year Opportunities
Conservation volunteer work is one of the most popular options here. Albania’s reserves and World Heritage sites are attracting increasing numbers of visitors, so volunteers have been busy repairing park walls and trails, carrying out digs and clearing weeds.
| There are currently no vacancies available. |
Albania is also one of Europe’s most disadvantaged countries. It is still recovering from economical and social problems caused by years of political shake-ups. This means that there are plenty of Non-governmental organisations (NGOs) in the country, all offering volunteer packages. Longer placements focus on community work, where you can help with children or adults to promote basic skills and AIDS awareness. You could staff a medical centre, help to build affordable housing, or work with addicts.
About Albania
Albania borders Greece, Serbia, Macedonia, and Montenegro. Situated right in the south-eastern corner of Europe, it enjoys a continental climate, with a mountainous interior and a long stretch of coastline.
Modern Albania is 60% Islamic, with a share of Roman Catholics and Christians – all of whom live in religious freedom and social peace. The country’s religious history has been full of surprises: did you know it was the only European country to actively defend and protect its Jewish communities? Albanians came together to fight against Nazi and Italian invasion, protecting their own Jews and offering refuge to those from neighbouring countries. At the time, Albania was an Islamic state.
In 1946 something even stranger began: Enver Hoxha, after just five years in power, launched an anti-religion campaign. He seized religious properties, expelled foreign religious leaders, placed severe restrictions on all religious activities, and finally, in 1967, passed the world’s first anti-religion decree. It said that all “fascist, religious, warmongerish, antisocialist activity and propaganda” was banned. He even demanded that anyone with a ‘Christian’ name should legally change it. Although many Albanians continued to practise in private, the punishments for those discovered were terrible: one clergyman caught performing a baptism was given a life sentence. Albania’s religious ban finished in 1990, when Ramiz Alia spearheaded the new Constitution.
Hoxha’s rule left its mark on the country. Although many Albanians record themselves under a religion, the majority no longer practise. The 1990s were characterised by political unrest and social anarchy as leadership passed from hand to hand. The economy, damaged by Hoxha’s poor relationships with key trading partners, is in slow recovery; Albanians, who were once emigrating for work, are beginning to find employment opportunities closer to home.
Getting Around
Albania’s roads are terrible. Citizens were not legally permitted to own cars until 1991 (another of Hoxha’s legacies) when an influx of used cars arrived, exacerbating the damage already caused by lorries and buses. Avoid driving. Unfortunately, it’s hard to avoid travelling by road – just try to pick a bus driver who hasn’t been drinking. On the bright side, the government has recently launched a three-pronged attack on bad roads, and is now building shiny new highways to link Durres with Tirana, Kosovo, and an Adriatic-Ionian highway (connecting to Greece and Macedonia). But they’re not much use to us yet.
What to see in Albania
Tourism is one of Albania’s fastest-growing industries and you can see why. Visitors flock to see 224 miles of golden coastline, romantically crumbling castles, and Butrint National Park. The National Park has been declared a UNESCO World Heritage site: natural beauty combined with ancient architecture makes it worth a trip. Historic monuments abound, including city walls, a basilica, a theatre (with an ongoing programme of music and drama), and Venetian castles.
Wherever you travel in Albania, look out for the sinister concrete bunkers built by Hoxha after he cut off relations with the Soviet Union and China in the late 20th century; convinced of invasion, he ordered the construction of 700,000 bunkers, which you can now find dotted all over the country.