Albania is mostly an atheist country, and only 43% of people identify as religious, (and it includes muslim, catholic and orthodox). It is part of NATO and it is in the process of getting into EU, and it is a staunch ally of USA, and probably the most EU/USA loving country in the region. (there are plenty of sentiment polls that have measured this).

I sympathize with the Kazasis. Albania went through a major shock after the fall of communism in 91, and it had another financial collapse in 97-98, where people lost of of their money on companies/financial institutions that promised lots of returns (pyramid schemes).

People of Mr. Kazasi's generation went through a lot, and have a deep distrust of both financial and governmental institutions for good reasons. Also, he was put into a catch 22 situation, where he couldn't declare the money until he went to New Ark (the port of exist), and had to deal with a corrupt system that doesn't care.

The back to back financial collapses of the 90's are the main reason that the older generations like him, prefer to deal with cash, while younger generations, (the one that become adults after 2000), embrace the modern style of consumerism (banks, ATMs, credit cards, etc). About 58k, is exactly what a house/apt costs around non-prime areas, so this story checks out.

I hope they win, and more stories like this get covered by the press.