wfn.org | Breakfast Guests told of Kosovo Relief Efforts

[PCUSA NEWS <pcusa.news@ecunet.org>]

GA99087 
25-June-1999 
 
                     Breakfast Guests told of 
                      Kosovo Relief Efforts 
 
 
FORT WORTH - "A soldier came to take my Jesus, but I would not let them 
take my Jesus," said a 10 year old Kosovo refugee, clinging to a picture of 
the Madonna and baby Jesus.  That portrait was the only thing she had saved 
when Serbian soldiers drove her and her family from their home, Art Beals 
told nearly 300 Presbyterians Wednesday.   They were attending the second 
annual World Ministries Division breakfast at the 211th General Assembly. 
     The ten year old, her three teen-age sisters, their parents and 
grandmother were living in an abandoned building.  The father is a dentist; 
he had lost his entire practice and equipment, and his family had lost 
everything they owned.   More than 50% of Kosovo refugees are living with 
Albanian families, and many, like the dentist's family, live in abandoned 
buildings, Beals reported.  He noted that one man had 27 refugees living in 
his home.  
     Beals has been coordinating Presbyterian relief efforts in Albania for 
Kosovo refugees. He updated commissioners and other guests on the status of 
the 467,000 refugees in Albania.  He noted that having 467,000 refugees in 
a country the size of Albania is "the equivalent of dumping 35 million 
refugees on the U.S. in an area where more than 40% of the population is 
unemployed and those who are employed make an average of $50 per month."   
     Beals reported that Presbyterians began working in Albania in 1991, 
moving into the area as an outgrowth of the church's work in Kosovo. 
Presbyterians work with the 160 Evangelical churches in the country and 
with the Albanian Orthodox Church.  The denomination and its ecumenical 
partners are providing food, shelter, and  medicine in refugee camps. Beals 
noted that several Evangelical congregations were providing all the needs 
for one camp of 4000 people. 
     Presbyterians are also providing  recreational and play therapy for 
children in refugee camps, and psycho-social thereapy for adults. 
Presbyterian mission workers Art and Eloise Ware are running the "Host 
Family" program, working with 500 families who have refugees living in 
their homes.  Beals  is the Partnership Facilitator for Central Asia and 
Albania. 
     "One of the greatest needs in Southern Europe is for religious 
reconciliation," Duncan Hanson, the denomination's Coordinator for Europe, 
told the breakfast crowd.  "We know this is possible because our God is a 
God of reconciliation."  Peacemaking in the region is another challenge, 
Hanson stated.  Peacemaking would be helped, he continued, "by 
strengthening the United Nations and addressing the veto problem on the 
Security Council." 
     The Mission Theatre Company Thuma Mina performed as well.  They 
performed one section of "The Hollow Reed" with which they are currently 
touring.  Thuma Mina's company is made up of mission workers from the U.S. 
and abroad.  Its purpose is "to tell the exciting, life changing stories of 
their participation in Mission Service," according to the breakfast 
program. The company is sponsored by the National Ministries and Worldwide 
Ministries Divisions of the PC(USA). 
 
Peggy Rounseville  

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