FLASH NEWS
The American Red Cross in Albania in 1919/ The intervention that illuminated a wounded country
2025-11-02 00:04:35 / JETË
After the heavy fog of World War I, Albania found itself amidst poverty, disease, lack of institutions, and open social wounds. It was a country newly emerged from the smoke of battles, immersed in chaos, and left to the mercy of fate.
It was precisely at this crucial moment, in 1919, that representatives of the American Red Cross first set foot on Albanian soil, and were shocked by the tragic reality they saw: a severe lack of medical services, hundreds of orphaned children, entire areas without schools, entire communities without any humanitarian structures.
Their intervention was immediate and decisive. They set up mobile dispensaries, produced a wave of medical visits, distributed vital aid, and created hospitals in six of the country's largest cities. In collaboration with the Tirana hospital, they founded the first training school for nursing assistants, an absolute novelty in Albania at that time.
As American doctors and nurses worked side by side with Albanians, four children's health centers were established. To these centers, hundreds of mothers brought their little ones to be washed, examined, and dressed in clothes imported from America. There, for the first time, a structured education on hygiene began, especially in areas lacking even the most basic health care options.
Severe earthquakes in Elbasan and Tepelena devastated entire villages, exacerbating the social tragedy. For about nine months, a thousand people survived thanks to the American Red Cross’s food relief. Meanwhile, the American Red Cross Youth opened the “Child Hygiene School” in Shkodra, a model of strict hygiene, education, and care that served as a community center for mothers and children.
But the main challenge was education. The thirst of children in remote areas for knowledge was palpable. Americans raised funds in the US to establish schools in the highlands, such as the one in Thethi in 1920, which became a window into modern culture in the Albanian Alps. They organized courses for the first teachers, provided financial and material assistance, and created new bridges between knowledge and centuries of isolation.
At the request of the Ministry of Education, the American Red Cross Youth reorganized several schools, training Albanian teachers and establishing the first technical school in Albania, today "Harry Fultz", an institution that would transform Albanian vocational education by 1933.
In this climate of reconstruction, the Albanian Red Cross was founded in 1921, with the full support and encouragement of the American Red Cross. The two associations cooperated closely until 1946, while relations were reestablished after the reorganization of the ARC in 1989.
Albania, a country historically plagued by migration, conflict, dissent, and poverty, found itself in need again. After 1999, the American Red Cross sent teams to Albania and Macedonia to help Kosovar refugees, providing assistance in reuniting families separated by the war.
Other major projects such as "Help for the Elderly", measles and rubella vaccination campaigns, as well as child survival programs in Debar, demonstrated the unstoppable character of humanitarian cooperation.
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