In America, we have lotteries. Millions of people from around the country buy $1 lotto tickets, pick the ‘right numbers’ and then hope and pray they are the winner of the PowerBall Jackpot. Sounds familiar right? I know I bought a couple of lotto tickets hoping I would win big and that my trip would easily be fully funded. But with such a small margin to win, it is no surprise my $1 was wasted.
In America we hope to win big money.
In Albania, they hope to win America.
In Albania, there is something such as “The American Lottery”. Every Albanian knows about it and probably the majority of them have entered it. Basically it is a lottery that if you win, you get a free VISA to America (which is not easy for Albanians to attain). This is their dream; to go to America, “the land of opportunity”. Most of the college students we have talked to have mentioned this lottery. They have entered it and hope to win so they can go to America and fulfill their dream. Some students have even viewed us as crazy for leaving America for 11 months and have asked if they can switch homes with us.
A group of students we took a trip into the moutnains with last week.
I guess this goes a long with my previous blog, I guess I never truly understood how lucky and blessed I have been growing up in the States. My missions in Latin America have never shown me this. Yeah the countries there are poor and underdeveloped, but the people have never mentioned about going to the USA so much. Here in Albania, a day doesn’t go by when we don’t hear that a student dreams of America for a better life.
They hope to win the American Lottery in order to get an education, a job, and a better life in the country that I call home. We see the problems at home (economy, government, jobs, immigrants) but we don’t really compare our situation to those of countries around the world.
Yeah I am seeing how America is romanticized here in Albania, but compared with their living situation, America is a wonderland. Just as bad as Americans want to win the Powerball, Albanians want to win America.
