wfn.org | ADRA Providing Relief To Kosovo Refugees

["Christian B. Schäffler" <APD_Info_Schweiz@compuserve.com>]

April 3, 1999
Adventist Press Service (APD)
Christian B. Schaeffler, Editor-in-chief
Fax +41-61-261 61 18
APD@stanet.ch
http://www.stanet.ch/APD
CH-4003 Basel, Switzerland

ADRA Providing Relief To Kosovo Refugees 

Basel, Switzerland - As thoussands more refugees 
pour into Albania and Macedonia from Yugoslavia, 
the Adventist Development and Relief Agency (ADRA) 
is preparing shipments of food, shelter materials 
and personal hygiene items for suffering families, 
reports the Adventist Press Service (APD), based in 
Basel (Switzerland).

ADRA Germany personnel are procuring food and 
hygienic materials for 4,000 families, 
approximately 40,000 people total, in refugee 
settlement areas of Macedonia.  Each family will 
receive 44 pounds (20 kilograms) of food, including 
wheat, rice, noodles, milk, beans, fresh fruit and 
more, and hygiene items such as soap, toothbrushes, 
towels, etc. All of the items will be purchased 
directly in Macedonia by project director Tihomir 
Lipohar.  Funds for this distribution are being 
provided by the German Foreign Office through ADRA 
Germany, ADRA Trans-European Division, ADRA 
Headquarters in the US, and ADRA Canada.

"It is our job to help make the crisis a little bit 
more human," says Petracek Thomas, ADRA Germany 
office assistant.  He adds, "Many people in Germany 
are unhappy with the situation in Europe and 
therefore support the refugee projects.  The older 
population is especially interested in helping 
because they can remember the time following World 
War II and the refugee situation they suffered 
through."

ADRA Czech Republic is preparing a truckload of 
food, candles, matches, clothing, blankets, hygiene 
materials, and more, for bombing survivors and 
refugees within Yugoslavia. The truck is scheduled 
to leave the Czech Republic on 5 April. Once inside 
the bombarded country, the ADRA Yugoslavia office 
will take the items into Kosovo.  ADRA personnel 
estimate there to be 250,000 refugees within 
Yugoslavia. 

ADRA Albania volunteers helped set up a welcome 
centre in Vlorë, and are providing refugees there 
with mattresses and blankets.  ADRA Albania 
director, Sean Robinson, reports that they are 
planning to help set up at least two more welcome 
centres in the lower regions of Albania where 
refugees are being redirected to keep from 
overcrowding northern camps.

ADRA Germany is contributing a truckload of relief 
items for hundreds of the Albanian refugees.  The 
truck is scheduled to leave Germany early next week 
with beds, shelter materials and baby food.

News reports show no near end to the Kosovo crisis, 
and the continuing influx of refugees into 
Macedonia and Albania is creating an increasing 
demand on all humanitarian organisations to help. 
[99/09/02]