Youth keep little Arkida alive

Arkida, 7, lives in Milot, northern Albania with her parents and her big brother. They live in very poor conditions. The father can’t work because he is very sick, he was diagnosed with leukemia. The mother doesn’t work either as she can’t find a job.

Last year little Arkida started school. She was excited of having new friends and she enjoyed the classes very much. But, her joy lasted for one week only. 

She started to feel weak, to feel pain all over her body and had no strength to do anything. She was diagnosed with acute leukemia. Her life changed dramatically. Her life was at risk. Because of her illness she was forced to quit school and lost one year of education. Arkida needed immediate medical care, but the family couldn’t afford all the expenses. 

Seeing her losing weight and her joy for life melted everyone’s heart. A group of youth from her school decided to do something and not let the little girl surrender to her sickness. Samuel, Elisabeta, Vasil, Ambra, Kristjana, Ledjana and their friends did a fundraising campaign. “We went door to door to each home, from morning till night, to each business we knew in the city, we asked  people in churches to donate, teachers, students and our parents”, says Samuel, 16. 

They told her story and asked for help to save her life. Everyone in the city had heard about her. Ledjana tears up when she remembers one of those moments. “We were talking to a passerby, when a woman who was begging in the street, told us: Please take these three cents that I have”, she says. They also involved other youth, so eventually they became about 70 youth in a mission: to keep Arkida alive. 

And they made it. In less than a week they collected about US$3,000.

With the money collected little Arkida had the chance to get the medical care she needed. Like many children with her illness she underwent chemotherapy. She became weak and lost her hair.