Monday
Up at 7am for a shower and breakfast, then walk our oldest child, Xhoni, to school. We stop to look at the cow in the truck behind the butcher's shop.
It moos at him loudly, making him jump. Laughing, we head to school.
I've been a nursery nurse for six years and have had jobs varying from a nanny to a playworker. But after I graduated with an Early Childhood Studies degree earlier this year I decided to work as a volunteer in a children's home here in Albania after seeing an ad in Nursery World. The home is run by the Albanian government, but the charity Hope and Homes for Children assists with the running costs and training staff.
Back at the home I do sponge painting with the five children who are not yet at kindergarten. Head up to the baby room to find one of our new babies awake, so decide to give him a massage, which he loves. Twenty minutes later the peace is shattered, as eight other babies all want attention.
There are 40 children aged from two months to seven years old in the home and my role and that of another volunteer is to organise activities and work alongside the staff to show them how to play with the children. We are also involved in setting up child welfare regulations in Albania, as at present these do not exist. We are working with one of the charity directors and the Albanian government.
Tuesday
Spend the morning with the toddlers. I need to get their monthly observations done, so set up an activity of shells and containers in the art room and take two children in at a time to observe them. By 11am we are all fed up with being inside and temper tantrums are erupting, so we go outside on the balcony to play in the sunshine. After lunch and some food shopping at the local vegetable stalls, I start to type up the observations. Become completely frustrated, as there are constant power cuts all afternoon - nothing new there! Spend an hour in the evening with the older children, making Lego houses and threading beads to make necklaces. At last, sit in front of the TV and watch anything in English we can find.
Wednesday
The smaller toddlers who are not yet walking don't get the chance to go outside into the garden like the older toddlers, so this morning we take them to the beach. After getting stuck in numerous potholes and getting funny looks from the locals, we arrive in one piece. Not the best beach, as it seems to be used as a rubbish dump, but we see the sea and get some fresh air. At 4pm it's time for my language lesson. This week we're learning parts of the body - the most important thing I learn is how to say 'Don't bite'. Put my new phrase into practice in the toddler room that evening!
Thursday
This morning we have a meeting with one of the non-governmental organisations in the city to plan a foster care system in Albania.
Unfortunately the most influential bodies don't turn up, so the meeting is a waste of time, but we go for lunch in our favourite cafe, which only sells American food - milkshakes, yummy! Head back to the home and do some more brainstorming over foster care legislation so it can be e-mailed to everyone for the next meeting. Take some of the older children up to the development centre to play. Try to focus my attention on the two with special needs, as the staff tend to leave them out. Discover that building towers out of shoe boxes and knocking them down is a great game - their faces light up with huge grins.
Friday
No water this morning, so after filling up a pan from the barrel and waiting for it to boil, I finally get washed. Have the observations to finish typing up as well as assessing the children's social, cognitive, motor and language development so they can be included in their care plans.
Visit the beach trampolines to celebrate Jori's fifth birthday. Take home some very excited but weary children. Time to crash out over the weekend.
Information
* Nursery nurses are always needed to work in eastern Europe for Hope and Homes for Children. Log on to www.hopeandhomes.org
