Holding Down the Fort in Tirana

This is Cindy writing - I need to get Dave to add me as a blogger so that everyone can verify who is posting. Those who have read any of Dave's postings, however, will immediately know who the author is.

On Saturday, I booked a flight to London to visit my long lost husband. I leave on Saturday and return on Friday, May 16, and a truly ungodly hour of the morning. I previously accepted an invitation to a dinner at the Ambassador's residence on Friday evening, and it would be truly bad form to back out now. So, the flight time is less than ideal. The good news is, I will get to lay eyes on my husband after, by that time, 3 long weeks away. Hopefully, he will have London all figured out and can show me all of the sights.

This past week was an interesting one here - we had two embassy holidays, Orthodox Easter (embassy closed on Monday) and May Day (embassy closed on Thursday). I worked Monday, but essentially took the Thursday holiday. Taylor was also out of school that day, so I spent the day with her. Her babysitter, Violeta, made an emergency trip to Belgrade, leaving Thursday and returning Sunday. Her sister had an emergency C-section, 2 months early, but she and baby were doing fine last we heard.

I engaged in more rounds of meetings, both with Albanian officials and with representatives from other agencies who are working here in Albania. Just learning and pronouncing these names properly is quite a chore - once I get that mastered - the meetings are a breeze:

1. Fatbardh Kadilli (nickname "Barthi")- Anti-corruption adviser to the Prime Minister;
2. Florion Mima - Deputy Minister of Finances (the Ministry of Finance covers a lot of areas here, including taxes, the Finanicial Investigative Unit, FIU, which is the counterpart to the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, FinCEN, in the U.S., and other agencies);
3. Arben Doci, FIU Director and Armand Shini, FIU liaison to the JIU, that's the Joint Investigative Unit that I'm working very closely with to help increase prosecutions of economic crime and corruption cases;
4. Dritan Rreshka, a JIU prosecutor, who speaks very good English and just returned from a DOJ-sponsored trip to the U.S. to attend an advanced money laundering and asset forfeiture training at the National Advocacy Center in South Carolina; and
5. Richard Wolfe, Chief of Party with Chemonics and USAID/MCC funded project to establish e-government in Albania.

The e-government project is quite interesting and expensive and is focused on three areas: tax, public procurement and business registration. Essentially, if Albania can go online, and remove the number of people the average citizen encounters, then the country can eliminate much of the everyday corruption that takes place here. For example, if a business does not properly register and pay a fee for doing so, then when some policeman comes around and asks for the license, the Albanian without a license must "pay the hand." Similar situations exist in all walks of Albanian life - health care and schools are particularly bad, i.e., paying bribes just to get an appointment with a doctor and paying teachers for grades. One of the taxi drivers who is known to many people in our neighborhood is not licensed because he either does not have the money or simply refuses to "pay the hand."

Anyway, I'm trying to get the MCC folks to provide a training to JIU prosecutors and investigators to show them exactly what information is now available online. Historically, such information has not been available to law enforcement or the general public online. With access to this information, prosecutors can better locate assets, see if a government official owns a lot more than he or she should be able to afford, etc. In addition to training prosecutors, part of my assignment is to develop an anti-corruption strategy for the embassy - essentially, the U.S. embassy position towards corruption in Albania. Hopefully, a part of this will be educating the public about ways to avoid having to pay bribes to public officials. Enough about work.

Last Thursday, I reached the ripe old age of 44. My daughter was very concerned that I have a nice day, so she organized a surprise party for me. Violeta baked an orange cake, complete with orange glaze and candied orange peels on top, and Taylor rounded up some of our neighbors to come. They all hid in the dark house, so that when I got home and flicked on the lights, I got a "Surprise" yell and lots of singing. Of course, I had some clue when I entered and there was no dog runnig to greet me - she was in the on the surprise too - camped behind the couch with Taylor. That same day, Taylor walked to the grocery with a neighbor who owns a little Pekingnese named Bronco. Taylor swears that Zeta and Bronco were actually playing and frolicking along the way. For any of you who know Zeta, you understand how remarkable this is - for those of you who don't know her, she's never met a dog (and hardly any humans) that she likes.

Anyway, with Violeta gone, I've procured a backup babysitter named Verona. She is a 25-year-old student at Tirana University majoring in foreign languages - so, her English is quite good. She also speaks Italian and Spanish, and a little French and German, although these last two are not her favorites. Anyway, she was great with Taylor, and she is quite tiny - not much taller than Taylor actually, which of course gained her many points from my little one.

When I broached the subject of going to see Dave in London, Taylor of course said "Go, I'll be fine." So, between Violeta and Verona, I think Taylor and Zeta will be well taken care of. I'm looking towards another busy week - hopefully, I'll post more later. But, I'm sure my husband will provide some entertainment for us all.

Love to all,
Cindy