We have built our dream home in Albania using money our son sent – after he illegally snuck into the UK
THIS couple’s impressive home in Albania was built using cash sent back by their son — who illegally sneaked into Britain.
But Sait Shabaj and wife Xheride say the pad is unfinished as their own builder has now left the country for a better paid job in England.
With its orchard full of orange trees and stunning views over a river valley, the pink mansion is by far the grandest in the village.
And Sait, 70, and 53-year-old Xheride hoped their sons — all working abroad — would come home once the house was built.
But all three have made it clear they never intend to move back.
Their youngest, Nimet, 30, arrived in Britain in the back of a truck and now lives in London.
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Meanwhile, his parents are back in one of northern Albania’s growing number of ghost towns.
Huge swathes of the country are being abandoned by young men who head abroad for salaries higher than they can hope to get at home — with the UK by far the most popular destination.
Latest figures reveal Albanians are the biggest illegal migrant group making the dangerous Channel crossing in small boats.
Around 12,000 have made the journey so far this year, compared to 50 in 2020, each paying up to £20,000 to people traffickers.
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Many come from small villages in the poor, rural north of the country like Rrasek.
But with so many young men leaving, it means hundreds of villages are dying.
Rrasek used to have a population of 500 but it is now down to around 100.
Retired electrician Sait said: “It is a big problem because now there are only old people here.
“All the young men have gone for work, so all the young women have gone as well.
“It means that I can’t find a builder to finish my front wall.”
As he peels oranges picked from his orchard, he admits there was only one way he was ever going to raise the £100,000 it took to build his grand property.
He said: “England is the best place on this Earth. It is the champion of destinations.
“It has always been considered the best place to go. In every other place in Europe, the salaries are lower than in England.
“In Albania, you can earn £30 a day. In England, it is £150 a day.
“When people get to England they find a job and then help people back here to build houses like we have done.
“People get a lift to Belgium or France, stay there for a few weeks and then pay between £5,000 and £20,000 to get onto a truck to go to England through the Eurotunnel.
“That might sound like a lot of money, but it is worth it because Albania is bankrupt.
“Everything is destroyed in this country, so young men borrow the money and know that in four or five years they will have paid it.”
Son Nimet followed that illegal route seven years ago. He later married a woman in England, giving him the right to live in the UK.
He works in construction and continues to send money home, as do his older brothers who work as builders in Greece and Italy.
One of them previously worked in the UK and Sait has ten other relatives who have jobs here.
Even goat herder Jetmir Hyseni, 50, one of the few people left in the village, said: “If someone offered me the opportunity, I would go today. I could earn £50 a day or more working in England. Here I earn £2 a day.”
Dashamir Plangaj, 49, is even worse off. He earns £1 a day using his horse to help neighbours transport items or shift heavy objects.
But he and wife Lavdije, 51, who both used to live in a crumbling stone barn, now reside in a home built for them by big-hearted neighbours, using money sent home by sons who work here.
They hope their own two sons will one day follow suit.
Lavdije said: “They work in the forests cutting wood but we would love for them to move to England. Everything is better in England.”
Sait Shabaj accepts the growth of Albania’s ghost towns is a worry, and said: “We know in England they are not happy with lots of immigrants from Albania.
“But we have heard that England needs workers and Albanians are very good workers.
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“Before we had this house, we lived in a stone building with one bedroom.
“If I’d had the opportunity when I was younger to go to England, I would have gone.”