FLASH
Shkruar nga Eljan Tanini
Selling blood to the dictatorship to keep yourself and four orphans alive!
Paid blood donation was once very widespread in Albania. All this for a single reason: The lack of economy at home, where the sale of blood was good money that kept alive the spirits of the house, themselves and others!
Mehmet Smakaj from Gruda e Re was tonight's guest on the Essence Show that appears every Friday and Sunday on the Report TV screen at 21:00. Smkakaj is also a champion of donating blood for humanitarian sentiments since 1975.
Eljan Tanini talked with Mr. Smakaj, bringing the discourse of blood donation before and after the 90s.
Eljan Tanini : - How and why this personal connection of yours with selling or donating blood at a very young age?
Mehmet Smakaj : - From 1975 to 1995 I donated blood. Men donate blood once every 3 months, women once every 4 months.
For 350 grams of blood, the state of the time paid 2800 old lek, which was enough. There were cases when the whole family donated blood, after the 90s, the blood went to about 27 thousand ALL. Then they asked to give blood for free!
I have donated blood regularly for 15 years to support my family. I was healthy, otherwise I started donating blood at the age of 18, we lived in Grizhë Village, life was very difficult.
It was a workplace where if it rained during work, the state would pay 80 percent of the working day.
Eljan Tanini : - What made you sell or donate blood?
Mehmet Smakaj : - I was hanging out with my friends. A friend told me to come and try it once, come and get a salary and get some work done.
Eljan Tanini : - How old were you when your mother passed away?
Mehmet Smakaj :- At the age of 36, our mother dies while nursing her sister. In those years, they called it 'drops', today they call it cerebral haemorrhage. Then our father also dies. In these conditions, we were left with 5 children, the younger sister went to the befotrof, while the brother went to the children's home, that is, the youngest ones. Me sister and brother at home. Leaving that village, the village where we had our first houses, was done on my initiative. Whoever gave us something, we were very happy. We were poor.
I walked 17 km to meet Sul Bushati, the Chairman of the Shkodra Committee. Plus another 17 km return on foot. Suddenly, Sul Bushati comes with a blue Benz in front of me, I asked him for a date as soon as I saw him.
I remember saying to him: - You have a belly full of bread, I don't. He directly told me to come to the office. He asked me to write down all the problems I had. I wanted to speak to him out loud. I told him all my troubles, I spoke and Marku typed. At dinner they took me to the village where I wanted to go for better conditions. After a short time, we moved all the things and the house to the new village, as they met our conditions. They also gave us a payment of 4,000 lek, as part of our parents' pension.
The people who worked in agricultural cooperatives were also somewhat selected, my father got sick at work. As the people around him say, Dad's stomach burst.
I was the oldest brother, I was 14 years old. My sister and other brother grew up working on the farm. In 1980 I got married because we needed a man at home, my older sister also got married.
Eljan Tanini : - Was it difficult to marry 3 poor children?
Mehmet Smakaj : - We were lucky where I took my wife. About the sister who was left by the little mother, the woman said to me one day: - Shall we take the little sister and keep her at home? My sister was somewhere in the fourth grade when she came home to us. The younger sister and brother were in Shkodër at the child's home.
Eljan Tanini : - How was blood donation at that time?
Mehmet Smakaj : - Blood was given in very, very good conditions, compared to today it is like night and day. 3 days ago, the tests were done, on the day you went to donate blood, you took off your uniform and put on what you needed. Wash the arm, head to the right or left side. When the blood donation was over, you were given a glass of milk, and when they were convinced that you were okay, they let you go.
Donating blood does no harm, but the syringe is thick when it enters the vein. The place where the blood was given was separated from the hospital. Then they would give you a letter to take the money to the hospital cash register. Donating blood increases your life expectancy and extends it to others.
In 1991, I created the first blood donation association, today we have 15 thousand members. In 1997 we were there to help people too! Today, the state must give money for 350 grams of blood, at least 100 thousand ALL, so that the blood is not missing. Hospitals should not run out of blood.
Eljan Tanini : - Do you know that you also deal with charity?
Mehmet Smakaj : - From my family history, I have helped many people until today.
Mehmet Smakaj : - I am an Honorary Citizen of Shkodër District. In Albania, there is a weak economy due to unemployment, but there are jobs. Only Edi Rama can sign the special pension in my name since this fate has been dragging on for a long time!
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