The sisters in Albania have founded “Mary Ward Loreto” to fight human trafficking. They are also active in social and pastoral ministries.
When Sister Imelda Poole moved to Tirana in 2005, she soon encountered families of Roma communities living in shanty towns near the railway station, close by to where she lives.
Roma communities originated in India many hundreds of years ago and are considered the poorest of the poor and the most abandoned peoples in eastern Europe.
Nearly all Roma communities in Albania live in shanty-like situations in the towns and especially Tirana.Tirana now has a third of the population of Albania, and is still growing.
Sr Imelda Poole writes:
“Albania, where I have been on mission against human trafficking for 16 years, is faced with an explosion of poverty following a brutal earthquake in 2019.
Mary Ward Loreto fulfils the mission, in collaboration with survivors, for emergency relief, rescue, reintegration and the rehabilitation of exploited and abused people. Our six advice and service centres work increasingly on and offline with new and multiple crisis.
The nature of the mission means that I am also part of cross border communities online, working with survivors and colleagues in RENATE, across Europe and with MSA in the UK, to attempt to break the chain of Human Trafficking”.
