Elona Collins from Albania

Elona Collins from Albania

Elona Collins, mother of two and wife to Scott Collins, was born and raised in Durres, Albania. Elona lived in Albania during its communism stage and left to come to the United States to have a better life. She currently lives in O'Fallon, MO with her family. She is a stay home mother and very involved with the church that her husband is a youth pastor at. She has lived in the United States for 14 years but her very controlled childhood is still fresh in memory.

When visiting Elona at her home today you wouldn't think that she was from another country. Though she has a strong accent, her home is very Americanized. There aren't any upgrades in her home such as water saving showerheads, LED lighting, or septic tanks but she does have added insulation in her home. Upon arrival to the United States, Elona gained some allergies but at that moment, had no idea what was wrong with her. She had runny noses and teary eyes. After living the United States for a while her allergies went away from her getting use to the changes.

Elona has very many people in her family. Just on her side alone, Elona has about 100 members, including aunts, uncles, cousins, nieces, and nephews. For adding new members to their family, a member will get married and reproduce. No one in the family was adopted in, unless you count when her mother's parents passed away when she was very young and her aunt adopted her. Elona's family still lives in Albania, where she has only been able to visit once since moving to the United States. She moved here in 1997 when after meeting with a couple of missionaries. The missionaries told her about God and also about Bible College in Nashville, TN. Elona went to school there where she met Scott, her husband. She didn't move back to Albania because of the marriage.

During Elona's childhood, she wasn't allowed to do many things like the children in the United States are allowed to do. For games, Elona and her friends would go outside and make up games. They did not have any toys so they had to be creative. She said that they all loved to play volleyball but when that got boring they would make up new rules to make it more interesting. They were only allowed to play games outside of the house and outside of school since they did not have a sports program at school like the children in the United States do. While are school, Elona and the other children had to wear uniforms, theirs being a long back buttoned up dress with a white collar and a red scarf symbolizing communism. In the 5th grade, all students were required to learn English as well as get private lessons so they could study the language outside of school. They weren't allowed to listen to much music either. For their choices in music, they could either listen to country music or folk music because that's all the communist government would approve. While at home, Elona was responsible for certain chores, such as dusting and moping daily. In the morning around 2a.m. Elona and her father would stand in two separate lines to get milk and butter. They would stand in separate lines to see who would get to the front the quickest just incase the supply ran out. Later on the in morning they would have to go back to bread and other food they were serving that day. Elona's family, or any other family at that time, did not own a refrigerator so they had to wait in line for good daily.

When arriving in the United States, Elona was very shocked to see how massive the airport was and how many people were there. She wasn't use to seeing so many people being able to go where they wanted without approval of the government. She also wasn't use to having such big meals. Back in Albania, when served a meal, you would have to eat the whole serving because it would be considered impolite if you didn't. Same with your drink, if you did not drink all that you were given, it would be considered impolite. While eating at her first American restaurant in Chicago, IL, where she first flew into, Elona was very surprised at the serving sizes they meals were. Being use to the fact that it was impolite to not eat all your food, Elona started to try to eat all of her food but was very disappointed in herself when she could not finish her plate. Once the missionary she was with, Beverly, told her it was okay to not finish her plate, Elona felt very relieved. Another things that shocked Elona upon her arrival to the United States was the variety we have of items. Going to the super market for M&Ms, Elona left empty handed from not being able to decide which type of M&Ms she wanted.

Having two children, Elona is a stay home mother. Her husband makes the income for the family as the youth pastor at a church they live next to and attend. For food, Elona shops at Shop N' Save to get groceries