Overnight, Lorik Cana collects $60,000 for those affected by the earthquake in Durres

In the United States is former football player and Albanian national football captain Lorik Cana. He came to the US the day Albania was hit by an earthquake that caused many deaths. Tragedy changed the mission in America. In the visit he had planned to celebrate for Albania's 107th anniversary of independence, he is raising funds to help those affected by this natural disaster. In Detroit, Voice of America reporter Burim Gojuli spoke to the footballer, who also ordered Albanians to be united whenever and wherever they are located. Former football player and Albanian national football captain Lorik Cana had planned his visit to the United States differently.

But after the earthquake in Albania, the purpose of his visit changed. “There have certainly been evening cancellations, but major associations have continued to gather people with the same symbol and flag, no longer in the form of joy to celebrate, but in support. And I guess it was the right way to say this: Those present on Albanian evenings responded to his calls to help financially affect the earthquake.

We've collected some 50-60 grand, just on the first night. And we have encouraged people to continue to give donations in these days and in the coming weeks as far as they can”, he said. Football player Cana calls on all donation collectors to be very cautious in managing them.

We need to get the trust through to the end because it's a moral duty, it's a spiritual duty and it's not played with such times”. He does not believe he will be abused by his accumulated means, but prefers to ensure that they end up in the hands of the needy. We will examine the school or garden that will need reconstruction and we will do directly with my foundation”. The Albanian national football star says the Albanian people must learn lessons from this tragedy. I'm pretty sure we can help people, rebuild and rebuild. We've witnessed this in difficult times. We have preserved our identity and language. The problem with us Albanians lies at the moment when the situation calms down, a kind of normality returns. The whole focus of building our nationwide society is lost, because then we start to think only as an individual, only as a grouping and only as a political party”, Cana told the Voice of America.

His message in this interview for the Voice of America is for the collaborative spirit to accompany Albanians, whenever and wherever they are located. The love of the country, the love of building a society, the love of investing in generations to come, is not something that goes off and goes on. It's like faith in God. Our faith in God cannot be returned only when the situation is difficult, when we are sick, when we have sick children when tragedy strikes, when we lose a person. Faith in God is daily. We must thank God every day, we must believe God every day, our homeland is the same. We can't only light up the territory at the moment of tragedy, because in many cases what leads to these events is precisely because we don't do the right things on the way”, he said during his visit to Michigan.

Like Lorik Cana, other popular sports and culture personalities contributed to the collection of earthquake affected funds.