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Walk for shelter
Rajmonda Ballvora went from having six servants and a chauffeur to being homeless and working three jobs to pull her family out of homelessness.
Rajmonda, her husband, Avenir, and their two children, Iva and Ilvis, then 12 and 13, fled their native Albania in 2004. Homeless, they found help from the Good Shepard Alliance in Leesburg and friends they met there. They are now working their way up from the bottom and bought a home this year.
The family was not always living on the brink of poverty.
Rajmonda speaks seven languages. She was a professor of history and geography in Albania, and she has a master's degree in modern art and a doctorate in accounting. Her husband, Avenir Ballvora, was the president of a construction company in Albania. He also has a doctorate in accounting, plus a degree in international law.
“But life is not always straight,” Avenir said. “It is up. And it is down.”
Life began to go down for them when Avenir filed a violation of human rights case against the Albanian government over a situation that cost his company 60 million lek (about $600,000) and pushed them into bankruptcy.
Avenir eventually won the case. But soon after, he said his family was being pursued, receiving threatening calls and letters.
They went to the American embassy and were soon safe in America.
Within a few months, however, the once well-off family found themselves among the 170 homeless in Loudoun County.
“Here I was at ground zero,” Avenir said.
With nowhere to go, they called GSA, where the family stayed for a month.
“I feel so down,” Rajmonda said. “But [GSA] give me hope again for life.”
GSA has three shelters and 36 beds for homeless families, women and children.
“But if all we do is provide a bed and mattress, all we'd be doing is perpetuating their situation,” said John Culliane, director of development and community outreach for GSA.
Their main focus is to teach life skills and help people who go into the shelter overcome homelessness.
“It's not just help material,” Mr. Ballvora said. “It's help with heart and mind.”
Less than two years later, the family has purchased their own three-bedroom home, which was being foreclosed in Leesburg.
The Ballvora family is looking forward to a brightening future in America.
Iva and Ilvis attend Heritage High School and now speak English fluently, along with seven other languages. Iva started her senior year with a 4.6 grade point average and is looking at going to college next year at Boston College.
Rajmonda said they would not be where they are without the help of GSA.
“I have a big treasure here -- my children, where they can have a future,” Rajmonda said.
Rajmonda Ballvora is the real deal. She and her family came to the GSA as political refugees and worked hard to move out of the shelter and back into mainstream America. The people that enter through the doors of the GSA come from all walks of life. Regardless of the circumstances, the GSA provides an unconditional love to those living in need.
Posted by B_Mark_Gunderman
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