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The Essay

In Albania

Tirana

Duration: 14 minutes

First broadcast: on BBC Radio 3Latest broadcast: on BBC Radio 3

Available for over a year

It's the mid-1990s, and Joanna Robertson is settling in her new home: a crumbling flat in Albania's capital Tirana. The country is falling into crisis - miserably poor and with outbreaks of disease so bad that the World Health Organisation feels compelled to intervene. Plenty of material for Joanna to start filing her first news stories - from a bugged phone booth in a hotel, where the call has to be paid for in advance with a pile of painstakingly counted-out banknotes.

Presenter: Joanna Robertson
Producer: Arlene Gregorius

Photo: 'Theth - waiting for transport’ by Stan Sherer from the book, ‘Long Life to Your Children!’ Show less

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