wfn.org | UMCOR helps Bosnians rebuild in wake of war

[NewsDesk <NewsDesk@UMCOM.UMC.ORG>]

Nov. 3 1998        Contact: Linda Bloom*(212)870-3803*New York
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NOTE:  This story is accompanied by photographs and a sidebar, UMNS
#644.

By Franklin Fisher*

AHMICI, Bosnia (UMNS) -- On a fog-shrouded hillside, several hundred
people stood in the morning chill as the president of the Bosnian
Federation hailed a new beginning for this war-ravaged village and its
people.

In his remarks at the Oct. 16 ceremony, President Ejup Ganic praised the
humanitarian efforts of the international community, including the
United Methodist Board of Global Ministries. The church agency is
playing a key role in rebuilding war-damaged houses and helping nurture
the country to soundness with a wide array of social, agricultural and
infrastructure projects.

On April 16, 1993, Croat forces shelled Ahmici, then went house to
house, killing women, children, infants and livestock, destroying houses
and barns. Every Muslim house in the village was burned. Some 110 people
were believed killed in the attack.

It is only now, five years later and under the terms of the 1995 Dayton
peace accords, that the surviving villagers have been allowed to return.
And in Ahmici, as elsewhere in Bosnia, many of the houses left as
gaping, gutted hulks have been rebuilt through the United Methodist
Committee on Relief (UMCOR).

UMCOR has refitted 37 houses in Ahmici and has rebuilding projects under
way elsewhere in Bosnia. The agency takes no sides in the recent
conflict or its aftermath, and it distributes aid without regard to
recipients' religious, political, cultural and ethnic identities.

"This is Ahmici," Ganic told the audience, "the story about suffering
and return. ... If people can return to Ahmici, people can return to any
place in Bosnia. ... Always remember the friends who helped us to begin
with a new beginning. ...Today, Ahmici. Tomorrow, many other villages."

Besides the construction, repair and rehabilitation of houses, UMCOR's
efforts extend to schools, hospitals and community centers, and
emergency water and sanitation repairs. The agency provides shelter
materials, food, hygienic supplies, clothing and other emergency help to
refugees and displaced people.

The agency's projects also help war invalids, traumatized children and
women who face the stresses of postwar life.

For Bosnian youth, for example, UMCOR has an outreach program that
provides educational and recreational activities for 500 children ages 5
through 12. It offers such basics as arithmetic, reading and writing,
effective communication skills, and workshops that foster an
appreciation for ethnic diversity. The program was started in the fall
of 1994 and is active in five municipalities.

A Women's Development Program was started in January 1998, working with
women ages 18 to 50. Its services include educational and recreational
activities, plus training in how to handle individual and family
conflicts constructively.

In addition, UMCOR's programs have provided cows, sheep, horses, pigs,
chickens and goats to needy farm families in rural areas. 

UMCOR has also supplied large amounts of "in-kind" materials, more than
$3.5 million worth in emergency medicine and medical supplies, clothing,
blankets and hygienic supplies.

The Rev. Paul Dirdak, UMCOR's chief executive, was among the speakers at
the Oct. 16 ceremony.

"I bring you greetings from 10 million United Methodists from around the
world," Dirdak told the audience, which included Bosnian officials,
United Nations representatives and other guests seated in front of the
speakers' platform.

"We are people who will cross any boundary and insert ourselves into any
circumstances where there are people in crisis," Dirdak said.  

Noting his recent trips to other places where UMCOR is at work, such as
famine-stricken North Korea and areas damaged by recent hurricanes,
Dirdak said: "Their suffering and your suffering, their reconstruction
and reconciliation, is also the same as yours. God does very good work.
God makes people just as gorgeous as you, and God does it everywhere." 

# # #

*Fisher is a writer for the United Methodist Board of Global Ministries.

United Methodist News Service
(615)742-5470
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