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The amazing story of Besa Shapllo Albania
The amazing story of Besa Shapllo
Director of Mission Possible Albania for thirty years.
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“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.
‘Besa’ is a special word in Albanian. We say ‘Besa of the Albanians’, which means faith and promise and a lot more in one word, but on my notebooks, I chose to use only the word FAITH without my family name.
“In 1974 I began to keep a diary and GOD was in it. Whenever I had a problem and needed help, I would write: “God Almighty help me…!!!”. In my name ‘Besa’, God had sown a seed that was to grow.
“For several years, during the summer holidays, I worked as a tourist guide. Once, I was with a group in Shkoder, up in the north, where we took the tourists to visit the city, but especially our ‘Atheist Museum’. It was in this museum that I saw the first Bible in my life. It was a big open Bible. Its inside was cut out and a gun was placed there. With this, they wanted to show that those who claimed to be Christians, were in fact spies of other countries. In the museum there were exhibits of trials of Catholic priests, who had been executed for espionage.
“As time moved on, I married and became a teacher for English in a general school. At that time, we had a black and white TV, and we could watch only one station that was the Albanian TV, owned by the state. Once, as we were watching a movie in English with subtitles in Albanian, we noticed that the word GOD was not translated. So that became the topic of a ‘secret’ discussion between my husband and myself, as you could never discuss such issues with other persons during those days: ‘Are they so much afraid of Him, that they do not even translate the word GOD!’
In September 1991, Albania opened its doors to the world and the people were finally free to worship God!
Besa was one of the first believers in this new era in Albania. As a new Christian, Besa was given a challenging task: to lead Mission Possible’s ministry in Albania.
Under her leadership as she followed God, the Albanian team has reached tens of thousands of people, sharing the gospel and providing help.
Read the full story of Besa and Mission Possible online at: www.ten-uk.org/besa
Photos: Left: Besa with two local children Right: Besa being interviewed by News 24
