Albania Winter 2000

February 1

     Riza greeted me at his gate with his pickaxe in hand. I liked Riza not so much from the fact that he reminded me of a leprechaun or for the twinkle in his eye or that he entertained me for two hours. I think it was the fact that he was honest. He is the only man in my life that I have met that has never been to one day of school. He says he has never taken an apple to a teacher or his lunch to school and never read from a blackboard. Then he handed me an apple.
   Riza serves no God, worships no God, and follows no man. Riza has been married for 52 years to a sweet little lady, smaller than he. She watches the cows and he does the gardening. He cuts the wood, and she does the cooking. He tucks her in at night on the floor by their only fire.

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