The amazing story of Besa Shapllo Director of Mission Possible Albania for thirty years.
“God Almighty, help me!” These were the words that Besa Shapllo, an English teacher in Tirana, Albania, wrote in her diaries as far back as 1974. The request was addressed to God, whose existence she still questioned. Albania, her home country, had declared itself an atheist state and forbade its citizens to believe in God. But whenever she was desperate, Besa turned to God with that petition. “I was the youngest of the three kids in our family. I was born in Tirana, but spent my childhood in Durres, which is the main sea-port of the country. I grew up in an atheist family, or so I believed, for our parents never denied God in our presence, but never worshipped Him either.
“When I was little, there were churches (Catholic and Orthodox) all over the country as well as mosques. But in 1966, when I was in the 8th grade, the regime in power proclaimed Albania an ‘atheist country’ and consequently closed down all of the churches and mosques. They went so far as to open an ‘Atheist Museum’ in the town of Shkodra, which is in the northern part of the country. “In the following year, I went to Tirana, the capital of Albania, to attend a special school for foreign languages. Most of the students studied Russian, whereas there was only one class with students who studied French and another one, with those who studied English. I was in the English class, despite the fact that I had applied for French. “When I was in the third grade, I began to write my name in English. 20
