Skiing is for everyone

[randoskier]

Perhaps this could be an idea:
have a "troop" of donators in the US bring their old stuff to any military logistics branch willing to assist with transport to e.g. an air force base in Germany ; or any other NATO base in central Europe or the Balkan.
Same for donators anywhere in Europe.
From European side have another gang doing their share: we could do a road trip with a few of us on this side of the pond from a NATO air force base to Albania. All we need is a couple of vans or even just a few simple cars and small trailers.
Sponsorship needed beyond the long distance logistics assistance from the military: some € for fuel & food & road tolls. Place to sleep at destination should be no problem. Borrowing a company van with a Europe-wide fuel card would help of course. In that case all the volunteers would have to put in is time and effort.
I think it could be a quite nice adventure for a good cause.
Or maybe a parcel service company could sponsor logistics? DHL / UPS / ... ?
Surely at destination some people with knowledge & experience need to mess around with bindings, boots, skins etc. in order to give the kids usable setups.
Yet I think in Europe alone it should be possible to get enough old skis etc together : people even make fences & benches out of old skis which are still better than what I see on the picture above.

Albania is in NATO and has one airbase they are upgrading. USAF flies all the time to Kosovo, KFOR is still there keeping Serbia out and they resupply them. Kosovo is right next to Albania and Kosovo is majority Albanian.

[randoskier]

This is the original article https://www.euronews.com/travel/2021/11 ... f-the-alps

Re-reading that article these kids are in Armenia not Albania, also very impoverished. But that is a no go for NATO, Armenia is one of the few ex-USSR republics that is till very tight with Russia (like Belarus). Oh well it was a nice idea.

Maye someone can figure out a way. There are certainly a lot of Armenian Americans, not just the Kardashians...

[fisheater]

and the "last mile" is just as important as the first. groundwork would be advised to ensure that gear actually ends up in the hands of kids, and not "disappeared" into the hands of people looking to profit. maybe a local youth center( if there is such a thing) could manage the gear fleet making it available on loan to local kids etc.

So true, Albania in addition to be the poorest country in Western Europe is also the most corrupt.

Three major ethic groups, at the crossroads of Roman Catholic, Orthodox Catholic, and Muslim religions all having epochs of control.
People are just people. This is a huge difficulty for “ethnically different” people to overcome.
I’ve known a few Albanians of different stripes. Universally they are a strong people. There was more than one Roman Emperor of Albanian lineage.

[randoskier]

and the "last mile" is just as important as the first. groundwork would be advised to ensure that gear actually ends up in the hands of kids, and not "disappeared" into the hands of people looking to profit. maybe a local youth center( if there is such a thing) could manage the gear fleet making it available on loan to local kids etc.

So true, Albania in addition to be the poorest country in Western Europe is also the most corrupt.

Three major ethic groups, at the crossroads of Roman Catholic, Orthodox Catholic, and Muslim religions all having epochs of control.
People are just people. This is a huge difficulty for “ethnically different” people to overcome.
I’ve known a few Albanians of different stripes. Universally they are a strong people. There was more than one Roman Emperor of Albanian lineage.

They are still very active in Rome!

"The Albanian Mafia constitutes one of the highest crime generating elements in the world, combining the "traditional" characteristics of organized crime – its rigid internal discipline, its clan structure, its "endogamic closure" (marrying within the organization) which increases the organization's impermeability, and its internal cohesion – with modern and innovative characteristics, such as trans-nationality, commercial imprinting and its criminogenous culture of service. The massive logistic capacity and the diverse nature of Albanian organized crime has facilitated its establishment outside the mother country and its integration with local criminal elements."