44 kg of coins for surgery

Avni Hasmuca lives with his wife and two children in extreme poverty and terrible conditions. His disease began when he was a child. While the time was passing by, the disease was deteriorating  and he was at risk to be totally paralyzed. He needed a surgical intervention and two plants in form of a disc had to be placed at his spine.

This intervention cost approximately € 6000, but a private hospital offered to make the intervention for € 1000.

“A different weekend”, which is an initiative that helps people in extreme poverty initiated a campaign in every supermarket of Tirana. The campaign lasted 20 days and at the end, they managed to secure the money for the surgery. The surgery lasted 7 hours and it was successful. The hospital was paid in coins, with  the intention that everyone who has contributed to find himself when looking at how everybody’s donated coin saved a human life. The powerful message behind was that together with a small contribution, we can achieve great things!

Fundjavë Ndryshe is a community foundation. They battle social issues with the power of the community. Apart from fundraising for cases like Avni’s, they promote philantropy with campaigns and fostering involvement, through volunteer work and engaging the large Albanian diaspora.

Fundjavë Ndryshe, “A Different Weekend” is the initiative of Arbër Hajdari that has turned into a great support for vulnerable families. First such families are identified, then, the next charity is planned, under the motto “Donating does not make you poor”. Such journey was a modest initiative based on goodwill. So, each of these families, living in the brink of their existence, can enjoy gifts and meals prepared for them, almost every beautiful weekend.

Arbër Hajdari is an Albanian media celebrity who decided to foster social change in his country by founding an organization that involves the community into solving social issues. He is very active in initiating a constant public debate on solidarity, philanthropy and community solutions using his fame, and the ability to get the media’s attention.

A few months ago he launched another enterprise: by seeing the necessity of the promotion of free speech, he decided to create an online media portal, Tirana Today.