The Not Forgotten Sisters
FEBRUARY 20, 2023 | 3 MINUTE READ
JACE MARTIN, STAFF WRITER
Tiffany Janofski was giving a tour of the Jeta facility to a woman named Sarah*. She had already shown her the classrooms, the rooftop terrace, and the physical therapy area. As they entered the gym, Tiffany noticed that Sarah was crying.
Tiffany had met Sarah only an hour earlier and wasn’t sure how to react. So, she hugged her. “I just can’t thank you enough for bringing them here,” Sarah said, referring to her sisters named Diana* and Mary,* both of whom were in wheelchairs and attended programs at VT, a WGM ministry in Vlashaj, Albania.
“This facility is amazing. It’s perfect for them,” Sarah continued. “We could never imagine having a space like this for them and the community that they’ve experienced, they absolutely love coming here.”
In Albania, people with disabilities are often cast aside.
And that is the essence of what VT Albania does. It provides space and opportunities for those who otherwise wouldn’t have them. In Albania, people with disabilities are often cast aside. Resources for their care are scarce, and the social stigma is crushing.
Diana and Mary had started coming to VT a few months earlier, and they wanted their sister to see what they were up to. Tiffany, the director of VT Albania, showed Sarah the physical therapy area, the classrooms, and the rooftop terrace.
In their fifties or sixties, Diana and Mary were not the target demographic for VT’s programming, which is geared toward young adults. But when VT staff heard about the sisters through the grapevine, they immediately made plans to include them in the programming.
It had been a heavy couple of years for the pair. In 2021, their mother passed away. During COVID, they didn’t leave their one-room house for two years. Mary, the younger, was born with disabilities. Diana suffered an accident when she was a child that left her without the ability to walk.
Tiffany Janofski (middle) with Mary* (left) and Diana* (right)
Tiffany and the rest of the staff knew that adding the sisters to the younger group would create an interesting dynamic. But any concerns dissipated the day Diana and Mary joined a day of water-based activities: water balloon fights, relay races, sprinklers, and wet sponges hurled at other participants.
“It was like we had these two big kids in wheelchairs,” Tiffany said. “Their inner children came out because they missed that growing up. They just missed out on this childhood and this innocence. It’s been really fun to witness them having a second childhood and experiencing fun and joy.
Diana had a question as she left Jeta that day: “How often can we come?”
VT’s relationship with Diana and Mary is the renaissance of a relationship that began long ago. Cydil Waggoner is one of the WGM missionaries in Albania. Her parents, Sarah and David vanOrman, came to Vlashaj as missionaries in 1999. Mary and Diana were two of the first people the vanOrmans met when they arrived.
VT’s relationship with Diana and Mary is the renaissance of a relationship that began in 1999. Back row from left to right: missionaries David, Hannah, and Sarah vanOrman; Albanian Xhemalie Bylyku. Front row from left to right: Cydil (vanOrman) Waggoner; Diana; Mary; and Nathan Waggoner.
Now, more than twenty years later, Cydil and her husband, Nathan, oversee the ministry that has pulled these sisters back into community.
That’s the goal of VT Albania: opening doors of opportunity and choice, connecting students with others in meaningful relationships, and cultivating the God-given potential of each individual.
In a culture where disabilities are often assumed to be the result of a curse on the family, these connections are life-changing. The ministry is housed in a building called Jeta, which means “life” in Albanian.
Jeta, which officially opened last spring, is handicap-accessible and has a gym, classrooms, and space for physical therapy. VT offers tutoring and socialization programs during the day, special outings and activities, and physical therapy. They also pick up the students in a wheelchair-accessible van—or furgon, in Albanian—from villages up to forty minutes away.
VT’s message is that all people are created in God’s image out of an overflow of His love.
Ultimately, VT wants to turn the culture toward respecting the human rights of people with disabilities. VT’s message is that all people are created in God’s image out of an overflow of His love. This philosophy is counter-cultural in the majority Muslim nation.
Diana and Mary get to play a fun role at VT: kind of like mentors or lovable aunts. Diana—after having so much practice reading to Mary, the sisters’ main form of entertainment during COVID—has started reading aloud to the class.
Already believers before arriving at VT, their faith has blossomed since joining the faith community. They’re in a Bible study, and Diana sends a Bible verse to a group of friends in a text message every morning before seven-thirty. “They’re just so incredibly diligent and hungry for the Word and being in community,” Tiffany said.
Diana and Mary playing dominoes with Tiffany
Sarah moved to New York City in 2003, but she talks to her sisters every day. She can see the impact VT has made. “I see a change in their self-esteem, overall happiness, and well-being,” she said. “They are very happy, especially after the passing of our mother last year; they feel extremely grateful to be a part of VT Albania and everything that it provides for them.”
For Tiffany, Sarah’s reaction was a reminder of the importance of VT’s ministry. “To hear that—not even from one of our students or individuals who are taking part in the services—but to hear from their family member the impact that it’s making, that was so encouraging.”
*names changed for privacy
Action Step:
GIVE: Being able to pick up people like Mary and Diana to come to Jeta is a crucial part of VT’s ministry. However, costs of fuel, insurance, and maintenance limit how often staff can use the handicap-accessible van. Consider partnering with VT to cover the costs of this part of the ministry.