Slatina e Mokrës in Pogradec is emptying of residents: We miss the sound of children (VIDEO)

Slatina e Mokrës, in Pogradec, is one of the villages where the emptying of rural areas is visible every day. Emigration, the lack of work and, above all, the deteriorated road have caused many families to leave, while those who remain face an increasingly difficult reality.

In this village, the school was once filled with the voices of children. One of the teachers says that years ago around 150 pupils attended the school in Slatina. Today there are only around 30.

According to him, emigration is one of the main causes of this change, while the difficult road makes life even harder for the families that have remained.

“Here, the schoolyard used to buzz; games were played. Now there are times when you can’t even put together a team,” the teacher says.

Even the children who remain in the village face the consequences of their peers leaving. One of them says there are no longer children in the village for him to play with, while many families have emigrated.

But leaving has not completely severed ties with their hometown.

A teenager who lives in Greece says he returns to Slatina to visit his grandfather.

“The road has separated us from our grandparents. We come to see grandfather and that’s all. We miss the place,” he says.

Although he lives outside Albania, he says he is proud of his country.

“I love Albania, I grew up here. When people ask me where I am from, I say from Albania. I am proud to be Albanian,” the young man says.

The grandson’s words also touch the grandfather, who refuses to leave the village where he was born and has lived his whole life.

“We were born here and we do not want to abandon the place. We must keep this place that our parents left behind,” he says, as he recounts that his grandchildren ask him to go and live with them.

Around 200 families and nearly 800 residents once lived in Slatina. Today, according to residents, most young families have moved abroad and mainly elderly people remain in the village.

One resident says his two sons live outside Albania, one in Greece and the other in Germany.

“We miss the noise of children,” he says, recalling the time when one class had about 45 pupils and in the evening the village filled with young people.

Residents say one of the main problems remains the road. According to them, there have been many promises for intervention, but investment is still lacking.

One resident, who has lived in several places across the region and returned to Slatina to take care of his sick father, says that under these conditions he would not be able to stay long in the village.

“Whoever comes, it’s all talk. They haven’t done anything. They ask for your vote, but they don’t keep their word,” he says.

Residents say they are also willing to contribute from their own pockets to improve the road, because it is not only a physical connection to the village, but also an opportunity for those who have left to come back, at least to visit the place where they grew up.

The story of Slatina e Mokrës was covered in the Euronews Albania show “Njerëzit e Fshatit” (Village People) by journalist Xhensil Shkëmbi.