wfn.org | Coffee break with refugees in Tirana's sports center

[FRANK_IMHOFF.parti@ecunet.org (FRANK IMHOFF)]

LWF assesses situation, ACT opens first camp

(Roswitha Dinger, the Lutheran World Federation (LWF) Department for
World Service (DWS) Program Secretary for Refugees, who was in
Albania last April, shared with lwi her experiences with Kosovar
refugees in Tirana.)

TIRANA, Albania/GENEVA, 12 May 1999 (lwi)   "Would you like to sit
with us for a coffee?" One woman who was smiling at me in a friendly
manner as I take photographs of a group of women and their children,
asks me. A second one approaches me with her two small children. We
sit down together on the mattress and sip the hot traditionally
sweetened coffee. They have a small kerosene cooking stove and a
plastic bucket. As I enquire further from them whether they are here
with their husbands, they answer in the negative   their men are in
Kosovo and whether they are alive or not, the women do not know. What
about their parents? They too remained in Kosovo. They have had no
further news, since three weeks ago when they were separated from
their families and driven out of their homes. Together with their
seven children, these women trekked for 13 hours to arrive here.

I am in a sort of stadium, a roofed sports arena, and children are
playing on the platforms  along its left and right sides. It is very
dark. Daytime is the only time the large hall gets any light, which
comes in through the niches in the rear and front flaps. The only
luxury in this enormous concrete building is the parquet floor, which
right now is entirely covered with foam mattresses. One hardly has
space to place their feet between the mattresses on which families,
old people, groups of children and teenagers are seated. Most of them
pass the time playing cards. Apart from sleeping, chatting with
neighbors or comforting children who do not understand exactly what
has been happening to them for weeks, there is nothing else to do.
There is no form of school instruction nor any other organized
activity for the children, many of whom are of school-going age.

In all, about 2,200 people are accommodated in this narrow space. It
is very clean, it does not smell, it is not noisy apart from the
moment once in a while when an announcement is broadcast over the
loudspeaker. In a short while the people will be summoned to collect
their daily ration. There are many women here who work with an
Albanian non-governmental organization which prepares the rations
destined for each family head. Today, the package contains dry white
bread and a piece of cheese. The women with whom I have been drinking
coffee tell me that up to now, they have not received any hot meal
 for three weeks now. Outside in the refugee camps, they could at
least buy a hot meal if they had money. Unfortunately, they were
forced to leave behind everything they owned in Kosovo, especially
hard cash and documents.

Next door in the basketball hall on the dressing rooms' side is a
kind of small pharmacy. Problems related to the digestive system are
common and easily spread, especially among children. According to the
mothers, such illnesses are a result of deficient hygiene conditions.
The water supply for this sports hall comes from a garden hose
outside, from which women and children fill buckets and mineral water
bottles. The water has a strong taste of chlorine. It is surprising
that no epidemic has broken out.

On the right side of the stadium, with little distance between them,
are 10 wooden outhouse toilets intended for everyone. The branches of
a few small trees, planted to decorate the front of the stadium have
become laundry drying areas. Today is the first warm sunny day after
much rainfall. There is water everywhere on the streets since the
whole of Tirana has no public drainage system.

I ask my two lady companions what their hopes are. Of course, they
would like to know as soon as possible what became of their husbands
and parents. They also want to return to Kosovo as soon as possible.
Asked about their most urgent needs they reply: "We would like to be
moved from this dark cold stadium and be settled in a family tent."
That is precisely the reason why the LWF/DWS through the Program
Secretary for Refugees, was in Albania at the end of April  to offer
assistance to such refugees   together with other ecumenical partner
organizations in the Action by Churches Together (ACT) network.

Organizationally based in the Lutheran World Federation (LWF) and the
World Council of Churches (WCC) in Geneva, ACT is a worldwide network
of churches and their related agencies meeting human need through
coordinated emergency response. Church agencies working in Albania
within ACT include the LWF, Diaconia Agapes (Orthodox Church of
Albania), DanChurchAid, Norwegian Church Aid, Finn Church Aid, Church
of Sweden Aid, and Christian Aid, UK.

As soon as the water engineer has sunk the well and put the sanitary
system in place, which should only take a few days, then the first
tent will be set up. "Then the women with whom I was drinking coffee
will at least have a dignified, though temporary, place to stay,"
Dinger told lwi.

The LWF/DWS program secretary explained that the Albanian authorities
provide daily news about the camps. For example, on 26 April 1999,
altogether there were 356,631 Kosovar refugees in Albania. The United
Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has set up a
humanitarian information center at a central point. Here one can get
an update on the refugee situation, share problems and find solutions
together. The place also serves as a meeting point for the UN
organizations, the Albanian and international aid organizations, and
local authorities.

Dinger pointed out that the UNHCR had for weeks been accused of
laxity, since the coordination was not functioning. "But one should
not forget that in this case we are dealing with a very complicated
refugee situation, one in which there is a thin divide between
military and humanitarian action," she said.

At the time of writing this article, lwi learnt that the first camp
managed by ACT and the
Albanian Orthodox Church opened on 3 May 1999 in Ndroq, just outside
Albania's capital, Tirana. Some 200 Kosovar refugees moved into the
new site which has capacity for approximately 1,500 people. In the
weeks ahead ACT plans to open several other camps in Albania.

According to Hans Marklund, currently in the ACT information office
in Albania, the site is an old military camp. Some of the barracks
have been restored with paint and minor repairs. Other buildings have
not yet been renovated but they will be utilized later. There are,
for example, two big rooms that could be used as classrooms for the
children. Some new brick buildings are under construction. They
should be ready for use within a week. Situated on a hill overlooking
a green valley, it is a good site because tents can be spread out.

Marklund reports that the ACT team had an early start on 4 May. They
were at the sports center in Tirana before 8.00 a.m. to start the
selection process.  Many refugees had lived in the center for up to
four weeks and some were reluctant to move. They knew what they had
but not what they were going to get. Finally, 200 people agreed to
move to the new camp. There was also a group of refugees who just
went along to check the camp to decide whether they wanted to go
there or not.

The tension was still obvious when the first group  arrived at Ndroq.
They were wondering where they had been taken. The camp reception
team, on their part, was apprehensive about how the refugees would
react. But registration of the refugees started immediately and in
less than an hour individuals had been allocated beds, kitchen
utensils and other essentials and could move into their respective
tents. After a few hours tents' occupants were working around their
temporary homes in an attempt to make them look nice. Children, who
in the sports center had been doing almost nothing, started to play a
few minutes after arrival.

(Photographs are available from the visit made by Roswitha Dinger.
She can be contacted at the following E-mail address:
rod@lutheranworld.org )

*       *       *
Lutheran World Information
Assistant Editor, English: Pauline Mumia
E-mail: pmu@lutheranworld.org
http://www.lutheranworld.org/