wfn.org | CWS Staffer Gives First-Hand Report of Kosovar Refugee Crisis in

[CAROL_FOUKE.parti@ecunet.org (CAROL FOUKE)]

Bosnia

National Council of the Churches of Christ in the USA
Contact: NCC News, 212-870-2227
Email: news@ncccusa.org  Web: www.ncccusa.org

EDITORS: When listing organizations providing humanitarian relief
in the Kosovo crisis, please include Church World Service, Attn.
Kosovo Crisis, 28606 Phillips Street, P.O. Box 968, Elkhart, IN
46515. Phone: (800) 297-1516, ext. 222.

Thirty-five Protestant and Orthodox communions work together
through Church World Service - a ministry of the National Council
of Churches - to meet human need in more than 80 countries
including the United States.

42NCC4/12/99 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

CWS STAFFER GIVES FIRST-HAND REPORT OF REFUGEE CRISIS IN BOSNIA
CWS Expands Response Goal to $1.8 Million, Continues to Send
Blankets to Refugees

 NEW YORK, April 12, 1999 ---- A first-hand report from a
Church World Service (CWS) volunteer from Akron, Ohio working in
Bosnia verifies the most recent United Nations High Commissioner
for Refugees (UNHCR) report which relates a refugee crisis there.
CWS is responding with $1.8 million for blankets, bedding and
other supplies to help the thousands of refugees in the region
fleeing war in the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (FRY).

 According to the UNHCR report, there are 27,000 refugees
from FRY in Bosnia, including 14,000 Kosovans, 11,000 Moslems
from Sanjak and 2,000 refugees from other places.  Earlier this
week, CWS Bosnia Director Vitali Vorona said more and more
refugees are expected in Bosnia, and that blankets were "the
first priority."  CWS has just released $265,000 to provide
15,000 blankets, 10,000 bed linens, 2,000 mattresses, and 5,000
each of pillows and cases for Kosovar refugees in Bosnia.

Amy Gopp, a Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) volunteer
for the CWS Bosnia office, notes the irony that Kosovar and other
refugees are "searching for safety in a land that has not known
much safety."  (See her first-hand account of a family forced to
flee southern Serbia, which follows).

 "Bosnia is already exhausted from its own war and filled
with displaced people and refugees of its own, so will need aid
and support in order to deal with this influx of refugees," said
the Rev. Paul Wilson, the NCC's Europe Director.  "Our CWS staff
of five will be purchasing and supplying blankets, bedding and
other supplies for a refugee camp in Bosnia to be run by UNHCR
and other international NGO's."

  CWS has expanded its goal in the Kosovo Crisis Response to
$1.8 million, $1.3 million to support Action by Churches Together
(ACT) efforts and $500,000 to support CWS assistance in the
region.  CWS already sent $100,000 for blankets and bedding
through International Orthodox Christian Charities (IOCC) and
$800,000 for tents, blankets and mattresses to be purchased and
distributed in Albania by Diaconia Agape, the social service and
development office of the Orthodox Autocephalous Church of
Albania.  Funds have also been sent to the Federation of
Protestant Churches in Italy for Kosovar refugees there.

Contact: NCC News, 212-870-2227

Not in Heaven Nor on Earth: Refugees from the Kosovo Crises Find
Safety in Bosnia
By Amy Gopp*

"We left out of fear," Jasminka and Enisa told us.  Two bold
women.  Five beautiful children. An elderly, disabled aunt.  On
the 27th of March they packed a few bags and left their beloved
Novi Pazar, a city in Sanjak, the predominately Muslim region of
southern Serbia (Federal Republic of Yugoslavia).  They were on
one of the many buses pouring into Bosnia and Herzegovina from
the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia.  Now they are crammed into a
modest two-room apartment with a retired uncle in Sarajevo.

"More and more people are leaving every single day, because we
are deathly afraid.  We have heard too many stories from Bosnia -
it was time to get out."  Schools, factories, and businesses are
no longer functioning in Sanjak.  Jasminka and Enisa, colleagues
and close friends, were let go from work along with most of their
other colleagues.  Their husbands also lost their jobs but cannot
leave the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia because they are of
draft age.  Very few men have been let past the Serbian border.
Enisa said it is just a matter of time before her husband's
number is called.

Jasminka and Enisa are still able to talk to their husbands over
the telephone but are aware that that, too, is only a matter of
time.  Two year-old Zenaida, the littlest of the children with
big brown eyes, refused to speak to her daddy on the telephone
because "he didn't come with us on vacation."  The children
believe they have come to Sarajevo to visit their Uncle Izet and
can't understand why their fathers have not joined them.

"The kids realize that something is happening but don't
understand what."   As they walk through the unfamiliar streets
and markets of Sarajevo they ask for chocolate and ice cream as
their mothers try to find words to comfort them.  But words
aren't pieces of chocolate, and the children can't understand why
they are being denied the "normal" things of life.  Even before
they left Novi Pazar these things were becoming harder and harder
to purchase because of the massive inflation.

The refugees have registered with the local Bosnian police but
have received no information about receiving humanitarian aid.
"Our biggest concern now is food," Jasminka stated worriedly.
"How will we continue to feed our children?  There are nine
mouths to feed in this apartment now, and Uncle Izet only
receives a 150 DM salary per month."  At the present time there
are 14,000 other refugees in Sarajevo from the Sanjak region
alone, not including Kosovar Albanian refugees and others coming
from FRY.  In a country whose resources are already exhausted due
to its own recent war, the question now is how to handle this new
influx of refugees.

"It is difficult to believe that Slobodan Milosevic was given a
peace award after the Dayton Accords.  Look what kind of
situation he has led his people into now!"  In tears, Jasminka
shares her disbelief over what is happening in her country.  "It
seems that Bosnia is happening all over again - the same type of
silent cleansing is slowly but surely happening in Sanjak as
well."  Enisa adds: "We are not in heaven nor on earth and we
have no idea where we are going.  Every day is the same now: just
waiting."

Most Muslims from Sanjak believe that their region will be what
they call "icing on the cake" after Kosovo.  Now they search for
safety in a land that has not known much safety.  Ironically,
Bosnia has become a safe haven for many who now share a similar
destiny.  Jasminka and Enisa fled their country in hopes of
guaranteeing safety for their children but fearing for the safety
of their husbands.  If their husbands are sent to Kosovo, who
knows how long or if they will ever be reunited with exiled
families.

In the meantime, the bombs continue to fall on FRY, the war
continues to be fought in Kosovo, and refugees continue to flood
the streets of Bosnia.
-end-

* Amy Gopp is a Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) volunteer
from Akron, Ohio working in the Church World Service (CWS) Bosnia
Office.
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