Our very first delivery was in conjunction with a convoy run by another charity, Workers’ Aid for Bosnia (which soon became Workers’ Aid for Kosova). The aid was taken to a charity operating out of Kosova’s neighbour, Albania, for delivery to refugee camps in that country.

This was our first hint that Albania itself was a very needy place. The influx of refugees from Kosova had destabilised the border areas significantly, and in addition, Albania was at that time reeling from a succession of failed post-communist governments.

Almost at the same time, a group of students from the Universities of Sussex and Brighton had set up a group to try to do the same as us. We met them during our publicity and fundraising campaigning. They had already arranged for one very similar delivery to Albania, and it was agreed that in the future their volunteers would work with us, enhancing the connections we had been making with the excellent numbers of keen student volunteers.

Please keep reading — a lot happened in the following month and then during our second convoy, in May 1999!