Spring Cleaning

As a general rule Albanians clean every Sunday morning. The loud thuds from the rugs as they surrender their last weeks residue of dust and foot traffic give in to the persistent beat of a forceful housekeeper. There's no doubt that these homes are kept weekly.

Americans, on the other hand, tend to do their house cleanings seasonally and our spring cleaning at the ministry center in Vlashi has been thrown into full steam ahead. With piles of papers and bits of boards it was time to have a roaring good fire in the back yard. I had to play a bit of Mark Twain to get the boys to help with the cleaning process. "I bet you guys can't build a fire and make smoke." This challenge was a bit more than some of them could stand and before long I had columns of boys marching with armfuls of trash towards the selected spot. A few got wise to the adoptive process and heckled from the sidelines but for the most part as the picture shows, there still is a bit of pride in a young boy's life