wfn.org | NCCCUSA/CWS Projects in Bosnia Help Bring Peace

[CAROL_FOUKE.parti@ecunet.org]

National Council of the Churches of Christ in the U.S.A.
Contact: Wendy McDowell, NCC, 212-870-2227
Internet: carol_fouke.parti@ecunet.org

NCC1/16/97               FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

CWS PROJECTS IN BOSNIA HELP BRING PEACE

 NEW YORK, Jan. 16 ---- As the peace brought
about by the December, 1995 Dayton Peace Agreement
remains tenuous at best, Church World Service (CWS),
the humanitarian assistance arm of the National
Council of Churches (NCC), is working for peace in
Bosnia and Herzegovina through cows, computers and
sewing machines.

 Yes, cows.  Among the many development projects
CWS has funded in the past year is a program
providing 10 cows for families forcibly displaced
from their homes.  "For a rural person, the cow
represents life itself," said Peter Mikuliak, CWS
Regional Director for the Balkans.  When a CWS team
visited the families in the formerly Serbian suburb
of Slatina this past November, an elderly woman's
voice broke as she told the team, "A cow is a
treasure for us.  Now our children will have milk."

 Although considered controversial and risky to
attempt a development project with people still
living in conditions of displacement, Mr. Mikuliak
explained that because "a cow can move," it is an
ideal gift.  He said these displaced persons have
become "pawns of politicians of all three ruling
parties" so that "God only knows when they will move
again."  When CWS staff asked the displaced what
they needed most, they were told "If we have cows,
we can take care of ourselves again."

 Additionally, the CWS program will lead to true
"trickle down" economics, as the recipients are
required to repay their gift in milk and cheese
through a local charity that will pass it on to some
of Sarajevo's neediest.  Mr. Mikuliak explained that
this system suits the rural people it serves, many
of whom are afraid of monetized programs of credit
in which they would have to pay back cash.  They are
also enthusiastic about giving food to others who
are needy.  One of the recipients summed up his
pride when he said, "I feel like a human being
again, because now I can help others who are even
worse off than we are!"

 Since issuing an appeal in 1995, CWS has sent
total cash and in-kind assistance of $1.1 million to
support its projects in Croatia and Bosnia-
Herzegovina and the wider efforts of the ecumenical
organization, Actions by Churches Together.  CWS
recently issued a new appeal for $750,000 to support
humanitarian and development efforts.  CWS has
committed $132,000 of the total to finance micro-
enterprise projects in Bosnia-Herzegovina,
including: egg, fish and sheep farms, a beekeeping
operation, an industrial quicklime production
project, a home-based sewing project, a computer-
based training project and a metal fabrication
plant.  Many of the projects address the needs
specific to a war-torn region: Widows, orphans, and
the permanently disabled.

 CWS capitalization funds went to a new NGO
which provides computer-based job training and an
employment center for paraplegics, amputees and
other permanently disabled persons.  The war victims
will learn graphic design and Internet web page
authoring as well as other office skills.

 The industrial quicklime production plant being
assisted by CWS is owned by a demobilized and
disabled veteran who expects to employ eight
additional workers - also demobilized veterans - at
the outset.

 CWS funds also have gone to purchase 35 used
sewing machines for war widows who have completed a
four-month course in sewing.  Training, marketing
assistance and in-kind payback is being coordinated
by a local humanitarian agency through contractual
agreements with the individual women.

 As with the family cow project, all projects
assisted will "repay" the amount given by CWS,
either in in-kind product or service, to a local
NGO.  The NGO, in turn, distributes this product or
service according to its own priorities, to the
neediest local people.  "With this system, we know
that the money we provide is at least doubling in
value," Mr. Mikuliak said.

Assuring the economic viability of the proposed
businesses is a primary concern, but proposals also
are selected on the basis of their potential to
benefit the vulnerable and promote social
reconciliation.  As such, the CWS projects attempt
to carry out what Mr. Mikuliak calls "the tough work
of peace."

Mr. Mikuliak said he finds it hard to be
optimistic about any quick solutions in Bosnia and
Herzogovina.  He pointed to the immense economic
disruption in the region, continued human rights
violations and mounting evidence of organized crime.
Roving nationalist gangs intent on claiming certain
areas continue to dynamite and burn newly
constructed homes or remaining structures, Mr.
Mikuliak reported.

"We are witnessing the greatest forced exchange
of populations in Europe since that imposed by the
victorious Allied Powers upon ethnic Germans in
1945," Mr. Mikuliak commented.  "The overwhelming
majority of refugees and displaced persons have been
unable to freely return to their homes of origin,"
as required by the Dayton Peace Agreement.  Mr.
Mikuliak also noted that all three ruling parties in
Bosnia and Herzegovina act as though ethnic purity
is the principle for "demographic reconstruction" of
areas under their control.

 "If military protectorate forces pull out,
fighting will start immediately," Mr. Mikuliak
predicted.  "Those who love peace have to be
stronger and tougher than those who relish war.  We
have to work faster, though it is not easy."

-end-

Note: This and other stories may be viewed directly
on the Internet, on Mr. Mikuliak’s personal Home
Page: <http://www.icontech.com/baldeagle>.
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