Participants in OriginAL will engage in immersive experiences, exploring the cultural heritage, history, language, and traditions of Kosovo and Albania. The program aims to strengthen participants’ sense of identity and deepen their understanding of their ancestral roots.

For the first time this year, OriginAL offers flexibility by allowing applicants to choose their preferred participation period. This innovation ensures that more young individuals can participate in this life-changing opportunity at a time that best suits their schedules.

Eligibility Criteria:

• Must be of Albanian heritage.
• Aged between 18 and 24 years.
• Interest in cultural and historical exploration.

How to Apply:

To apply or to find out more about eligibility criteria and program details, please click the link below.

APPLY HERE

This event will be co-hosted by Richard Lukaj, Mark Kosmo, Fadil Berisha, and Avni Mustafaj, who have long been champions of the program’s mission. We are happy to welcome Dr. Vjosa Osmani, President of the Republic of Kosovo as a special guest.

Additionally, alumni of the OriginAL program, will share their personal stories about how this experience has impacted their lives and strengthened their ties to Albanian history and culture.

In the last three years, over 140 young Albanians from 25 countries have participated in OriginAL, gaining a deeper understanding of their identity through this transformative journey.

If you believe in giving Albanian youth the chance to connect with their roots and experience their family’s homeland, you can make a difference by donating HERE.

Your support will help them create lasting memories and deepen their connection to their heritage.

As the name implies, OriginAL offers a new perspective on Albanian culture and heritage. The dream of OriginAL is to provide a unique and life-changing experience for Albanian youth that will take them on a fascinating journey to the homelands and inspire them to be a part of a Global Albanian community. Hence, program aims to offer Albanian Young Adults a new perspective about the homeland’s culture and heritage, and their connection with it.

OriginAL will be supported by our world-known soprano Inva Mula and the pianist, Genc Tukiçi. They will perform live for the program in the Town Hall Theatre of New York on the 24th of May.

“A dëshironi një udhëtim falas në Shqipëri dhe Kosovë?” – if you think that your descendants will have difficulties understanding this sentence, then it is time you join us and BUY THE TICKET for the concert now.

Take advantage of this unforgettable musical experience while supporting a great cause. Be part of an initiative that will transform the connection of the young Albanian diaspora generations with their origin. Be OriginAL!

The Global Albanians Foundation and GERMIN power the concert and the OriginAL program. Therefore, the renowned photographer Fadil Berisha, alongside Albanian-American community activists Mark Kosmo and Avni Mustafaj, will be your hosts of honour at this event.

#AlbanianDiaspora #homeland #youth #education #heritage #connection #Albania #Kosova

DONATE

PS.  My birthday is tomorrow Wednesday December 21, and I am making a $21,000 donation to OriginAL.  Why don’t you join me and support some fine young Albanians.  You’ll feel good about it, and so will they.

Mark Kosmo, ChairGlobal Albanians Foundation

Our goal is to send 100 young Albanian Adults to visit the homeland countries for two weeks next summer.  This will cost about $200,000, so we still have a ways to go to reach that goal.  But we’ll get there step-by-step.

Ideally we will raise $100,000 by the end of this year and and another $100,000 before next summer.  So it would be great if you can continue to spread the word this month so that we can reach additional donors.  We’ve only just begun.

LINK TO DONATE

On behalf of the Global Albanians Foundation and Germin, faleminderit shume for your support and efforts for OriginAL, Albanian youth, and strengthening our Diaspora and Global Albanian community.

Also, please note that we will be launching fundraisers this month to support two wonderful Albanian organizations doing great things — Down Syndrome Albania and Action for Mothers and Children in Kosova.

At the same time, this now offers us a great opportunity to reconnect young Albanians around the world to their roots. There is tremendous potential to build a strong and special Global Albanian community in the coming years.  But potential is only realized if you do something about it.

Donating for OriginAL will be one of the best donations you ever make.  Why?  Because the OriginAL mission is to give every young Albanian the opportunity to explore their homeland and their family roots.  The Global Albanians Foundation and Germin are going to build a program like Birthright Israel, and over the next five years begin to provide the experience of a lifetime to thousands of young Albanians.  

LINK TO DONATE IS HERE

Thanks to your generous support, we already started in 2022 with 40 OriignAL participants from 15 countries this past August. These young adults (18-24 years old) spent two weeks in Albania and Kosova discovering their roots, and experiencing the beautiful culture, history, and nature.. They visited Prishtina, Mitrovica, Prizren,, Kruje, Berat, Tirana, and more. They met with artists, youth organizations, international organizations, political leaders and more.  it wasn’t just a tour….it was an experience.  So now it’s time to do more.

• Over 100 Albanian young adults (18-24 years old) from our large Albanian Diaspora to experience their roots in the summer of 2023;
• Build a program so that your children and thousands of others can someday experience the opportunity of a lifetime;
• Transform long-term relations between the Diaspora and our Homeland Countries in a way that benefits Albanians everywhere; and
• Create a strong Albanian Diaspora like Israel, Ireland, and India have — a strong Albanian nation to be proud of all around the world.

So, all of us who are fundraising for this noble cause that we call OriginAL ask you to just say YES, and donate generously to bring together young Albanians from around the world, and to build a bigger, better, and stronger Global Albanian Community . Thank you very much for your generous support.

Enter the Code OriginAL when you checkout to buy your merchandise from SHQ1PE CO. or TRUSHILLA, and get a 10% discount.  In addition, 10% of all profits from these sales will go towards supporting OriginAL so that young Albanian adults around the world can experience their roots in the future.

What are you waiting for?  You can proudly wear your heritage… buy something cool, wear something cool, and support something cool.

Are you wondering what you will do? Why should you do this? What impact you will have?  You will help:

• Over 100 Albanian young adults (18-24 years-old) from our large Albanian Diaspora to experience their roots in the summer of 2023;
• Build a program so that your children and thousands of others can someday experience the opportunity of a lifetime;
• Transform long-term relations between the Diaspora and our Homeland Countries in a way that benefits Albanians everywhere; and
• Create a strong Albanian Diaspora like Israel, Ireland, and India have — a strong Albanian Nation to be proud of all around the world.

We will launch our fundraisers on Monday November 28th to coincide with Albanian Independence Day and our collective sense of national pride, and continue with Giving Tuesday the following day, and then on to the end of December.  This means by next week we will be contacting all of our OriginAL Ambassadors with more detailed plans, but we are going to make it so easy for you….all you will need to do is turn the key..

Just say YES, and we’ll be in touch with you next week.

We need your support to achieve this vision since everything happens together as a community, and we are all Albanian Ambassadors no matter where we live.  But now we want you to open your heart and your mind and become a different kind of Ambassador –  an OriginAL Ambassador.

You might wonder what is an OrginAL Ambassador, and the answer is it’s someone who cares about Albanian youth and their future and wants to help fundraise for OriginAL.  

All you have to do is reply YES to this newsletter and you will become an OrginAL Ambassador for Giving Tuesday.  We’ll do the rest since that is our responsibility as the Global Albanians Foundation and Germin

Specifically, we want to recruit 100 OriginAL Ambassadors to each raise $500 or more using the peer-to-peer fundraising platform that we will set up for all of you during the next two weeks.  You will not only have an impact, but you will have fun doing it, too, by connecting with your friends and family to support a great cause.

The campaigns will launch on Giving Tuesday and continue until the end of the year.

Just say YES, and we’ll be in touch with you soon.

We need your help to continue this program, for which we have absolute confidence that it will be the experience of a lifetime for Albanian Youth living abroad for years and years to come.

In our pilot year this summer, the main goal of OriginAL was to help young Albanians living abroad, find their Albanian roots, and we think we achieved that goal, but now want to do more and for more people.

From August 10 to 22, 40 young adults from 18-24 years old who were  born or raised in the diaspora had the opportunity to visit the most important cultural and historical places in Kosova and Albania.

This program included participants from Kosovo and Albania, with the sole purpose of introducing diaspora youth to their peers from their countries of origin.

For this beautiful tradition to continue, we need your help.

Thank you very much in advance, and remember to reply YES to become an OriginAL Ambassador – you won’t regret it, and neither will all the Albanian youth that you help.

Shumë faleminderit,

With respect,

Mark Kosmo, Chair,

Global Albanians Foundation