wfn.org | Ambassador Reopens Refugee Center Restored by Adventist Aid Agency

["Beckett, John" <BeckettJ@gc.adventist.org>]

ANN Bulletin
Adventist News Network
Seventh-day Adventist Church World Headquarters
February 15, 2000
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Ambassador Reopens Refugee Center Restored by Adventist Aid Agency
Baku, Azerbaijan .... [ANN]  

A renovated shelter that will help house some of Azerbaijan's growing number
of refugees was reopened on February 1 in a ceremony attended by United
States Ambassador to the country, Stanley Escudero.  The facility, located
in Aliebad, was refurbished and restored in a joint project undertaken by
the Adventist Development and Relief Agency (ADRA) and World Vision. 

Azerbaijan, a nation of almost eight million people that shares borders with
Russia, Armenia and Iran, has been engaged in a longstanding separatist
conflict with ethnic Armenians in its Nagorno?Karabakh region, known as
Naxcivan. 
In his speech, Ambassador Escudero assured the people of Naxcivan that the
US government, through ADRA and other organizations, will continue to
provide much?needed assistance in the region until a solution for peace with
Armenia is found and economic prosperity has returned.

Bryan Cox, operations director for ADRA Azerbaijan, says that before the
renovations 85 families lived in the Aliebad shelter without running water,
electricity or sufficient sewerage systems. "The general condition of the
building could be described as extremely poor, with broken windows, holes in
the walls and floors, and a roof that had fallen into complete disrepair,"
adds Cox.

After visiting the center with ADRA in July 1999 and hearing about the
desperate plight of the approximately 400 residents, Ambassador Escudero
made US$100,000 available for the building to be renovated through the
existing United States Agency for International Development (USAID) grant
for Azerbaijan. ADRA, in partnership with World Vision, combined resources
to facilitate the completion of this project.  In addition to water and
electricity supplies being connected to each home, local contractors were
hired to replace the roof and gutter systems, to replace doors, walls,
windows and floors where necessary, and to paint the entire building.

"A key component of this program was the involvement of the community in the
reconstruction and rehabilitation of its own homes," says Cox.

During both of his visits to the center, Ambassador Escudero took extra time
to visit ADRA's other programs in Naxcivan and to offer his continual
support for its work. Currently, ADRA Azerbaijan is implementing a US?funded
feeding assistance program that provides food security to 230,000 people
throughout the country.  ADRA is also spearheading an economic development
program providing micro?loans to rural farmers and local business people,
and a health assistance program that supports 50 clinics across Naxcivan.
[ADRA/ANN Staff]
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