The Strength She Carried All Along
Read Anxhela's story
Every morning began the same way for Anxhela: awake before dawn, her mind already running through impossible calculations to stretch what little they had, to care for her mother, whose disabilities required constant attention, and to be there for her younger sister, who saw her as a lifeline.
At an age when most young women were building careers, Anxhela was trapped in a cycle of hardship. Bills piled up faster than solutions could be found. The stress wore down her confidence until her own future felt like a luxury she could not afford.
Then came an opportunity with an almost prophetic name: EMBRACE BALASHE, a project that expanded the Balashe Social Center's social care services for children and families in need. It was implemented by IRCA in collaboration with the Municipality of Elbasan and supported by UNICEF. Anxhela felt a familiar flutter of hope mixed with fear. Hope had disappointed her before, but she reached out anyway.
The psycho-social counseling sessions became her sanctuary, a space where someone listened not only to her words but also to the weight behind them. Week by week, the fog lifted. She learned to manage the pressure, to decide what she could control from what she could not, and to recognize strengths buried beneath years of survival mode.
"I started to remember who I was before all of this," she reflects. "Or maybe I was discovering who I could become."
Through employment counseling and soft-skills training in communication, problem-solving, and professional presentation, Anxhela gained practical tools for a different life. So, when the opportunity at ELBA-Fiore 2022 sh.p.k arrived, she was ready. The woman who walked into that interview held her head high. She got the job.
"This job gave me back my future," she says. "For so long, I felt like I was drowning. Now I'm swimming, moving forward with purpose. When I look ahead, I do not just see obstacles. I see possibilities."
The support did not stop there. While Anxhela built her professional life, her mother received home physiotherapy that improved her mobility and quality of life, and her sister continued to benefit from the project's network. The family was not just surviving anymore; they were thriving.
When Anxhela looks at her younger sister now, something has shifted. She no longer sees one more burden but a child watching closely, learning that circumstances are not destiny.
"I want her to know that no matter how dark things seem, there is always hope. Sometimes you need someone to believe in you until you can believe in yourself again."
Anxhela succeeded because organizations like IRCA, the Municipality of Elbasan, UNICEF, and the Balashe Social Center were on her side, offering not charity but partnership: tools, training, and the steady presence of people who refused to give up on her. That kind of investment does not change one life. It changes what an entire community believes is possible.
This success story was realized within the framework of the project “Expanding the reach and provision of social care services of the Balashe Social Center for children and families in need (EMBRACE BALASHE)”, implemented by IRCA and the Municipality of Elbasan, with the support of UNICEF, within the framework of the Joint United Nations Program “Lifelong Empowerment and Protection In Albania” – #LEAP”, a program of United Nations Albania, supported by the Joint Fund for Sustainable Development Goals (Joint SDG Fund).
