Solidarity from the Southeastern Europe’s Balkan Peninsula, Albania has been spiced with a unique approach for refugees. From January to October, Albania, like other European countries, has experienced a massive influx of individuals, numbering at least 9,000, according to United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. The figures of refugees have geometrically progressed since 2017. As of September, Albania was the safe haven for 115 refugees and 1,528 persons at risk of statelessness, the UNHCR added.

The New York Times recently reported an uncommon approach adopted by Albania to accommodate up to 4,000 Afghan refugees, by housing hundreds in resorts on the Adriatic coast. This is a rather strange step from a country battling with its own development, and the bold action to contribute to actively protecting needy refugees is an example for all countries to emulate. Ensuring that the 677 who arrived, including about 250 children, are having a comfortable place is an emergency-response approach. Albania developed this approach after a devastating earthquake in 2019, and people left homeless were put up in beach hotels.

Affirming their age-old hospitality, Prime Minister Edi Rama said in an interview in capital Tirana that caring for the refugees “is the right and natural thing to do.” The prime minister denied putting people in camps, saying that they are “dehumanizing and where all the problems start psychologically.” “[W]e have been like them many times… [T]hey are just trying to escape from hell” Edi Rama concluded.

The NYT report added that the presence of veiled Afghan women on poolside lounger chairs at the Rafaelo Resort has surprised guests, but none seemed to mind. Besnik Zeqiri, a Kosovo Albanian émigré to the United States, was unaware “there were so many Afghans living here, but they don’t bother me.” “[T]hey are all humans and need to be protected,” Zeqiri continued.

In an interview with Albania’s foreign minister Olta Xhacka, Zeqiri said the Afghan evacuees were originally expected to stay a couple of months. The evacuees’ U.S. visas were being processed and confirmed for relocation. “[B]ut we are now working on the premise that they will stay in Albania for at least one year, maybe longer,” she said. Xhacka added that those unable to secure visas to move elsewhere would be welcome to stay in Albania. What is an exceptional action from people who were once refugees who had fled Kosovo to escape marauding Serbian forces in the late 1990s and knew the trauma of flight?

Since the Taliban took over power in Afghanistan, thousands of Afghans have fled their country with the hope to be considered in other countries as humans. Commenting on the situation, a journalist who helped run a U.S. funded news agency covering women’s issues in the western Afghan city of Herat, described his horrific last travels in Afghanistan. He said Kabul, taken by the Taliban a few days earlier, “looked very, very dark.”

Describing the traumatic stories of all the hundreds of refugees will be an endless teary biography. However, hope is definitely after the tunnel, though worrying memories of family members still lingers fresh in their minds. For the world, this presents a worthy approach worth emulation. It is about time; camps on the outskirts of cities are no longer considered homes for the most vulnerable people. As much as safety and stability is a concern for everyone, a comfortable house remains a primary need for all humans no matter where they come from. The refugee-hosting nations need to adopt this model as a new standard to accommodate homeless refugees. Refugees are also humans who need to have a shelter like everyone else.