It was the first time we got to meet Bacci and Astrid who are Albanian nationals that work for Reinhardt during the olive harvest. Greece is one of the few EEU countries that turn a blind eye to the arrival of refugees from the former Balkan states. They had some amazing stories to tell.
Astrid’s son had just arrived from Albania as well. He is 16 years old and had walked the 270km across the Alps in 18 days by himself with only the clothes on his back and a small rucksack of food.
They also told us about the public works official who was in charge of the main reservoir for the Albanian capital of Tirana. One night he got so pissed on vodka he somehow contrived to open the main sluice gates on the dam wall. He opened them so far that the pressure of the escaping water buckled the plates, preventing them from being closed again. The ensuing flood downstream broke the banks of the capital’s river flooding businesses and homes. The guy, realising his blunder, knew that he would be hunted down and killed for what he had done. He took off and has never been seen or heard from again. It was in the news in late 1999.
The other little bit I found fascinating from that neck of the woods was that when the Balkan states initially broke away from Russia they realised that they needed assistance in maintaining the integrity of their borders. Who did they turn to? Another communist country, China. Hence they have had Chinese soldiers on their borders for years now. If any one had told me that the Chinese military were patrolling borders around the EEU I would have laughed. I have never seen it reported anywhere but there you go. Bacci tells me that it is influencing the whole look of Albania as more and more Albanian Chinese are born. Nice people to be sure.
They can only go back to see their families if they are prepared to sneak over the Alps and back again. One of them does so every 5 years or so to take money to their families. It sure is a tough world for some people.
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