The Albanian Alps Institute

I am writing this to hopefully generate DONATIONS for a project which has been brought to my attention in my class at Oregon State University, where Dr. Steve Cook teaches a great class in Sustainability, GEO300.  Being fortunate to take this class in my 64^th year of life, I have learned that sustainability is more than saving the environment but also about educating people, so that more can learn what needs to be done to sustain this planet for future generations.  Education is the key to sustainability, along with action.

Dr. Cook is an unassuming person, who has created a sustainable home environment, which he shares with all of his students, to hopefully give them ideas they can adopt in their lives.  He has truly changed the way I shop and look at the world now.

If you give to this Institute, I can assure you that your funds will go to the Albanian Alps Institute for the education of the students, especially the girls, who have never been able to receive an education.

In class, Dr. Cook shared with us how everyone thought girls would not come to school, so he devoted a Wednesday for girls only, and the girls came and are now part of the school.

Please check out http://www.albanianalps.org/about.html or email them at albanianalpsinst@gmail.com to contribute money or time.

The Albanian Alps Institute

Dr. Steve Cook, President with Terri Cook as his secretary started The Albanian Alps Institute.   After he and his twelve year old son traveled there in 1992 and “found a post-Communist country that was barely avoiding chaos”, Steve could not forget the things he had seen with incredibly hospitable people living in dire circumstances.

In 1996, with a Fulbright grant he taught at Universiteti I Shkodres in Shkoder and helped several Albanian university students, while personally sponsoring two high school students to study in the United States who received university degrees in the U. S.

In 2001, Dr. Cook returned to Albania where he consulted with Marash Rakaj, now AAI’s Albanian Manager, on how to contribute to education in the impoverished villages of the Malesia e Madhe, consisting of seven clans on five mountains.  AAI, as a group, decided to concentrate on: school libraries, school supplies, English language classes, school repairs and scholarships for promising students, especially girls, who had not been going to school and educated as the boys were.  He has hired an English teacher in Boga and purchased textbook for the classes, many times at his own expense.

Note from the President:
It's been over ten years since AAI began working to improve the education for students in Shkrel. We've invested over $150,000 into these marvelous students and they've responded accordingly. Kids are reading books, swinging on swingsets, using computers and dreaming of a future unimaginable to them or their parents before AAI. One of the biggest successes is that girls are now attending high school and two of our female scholarship recipients are currently enrolled in universities - one in Albania and one in the U.S.-- Steve Cook