wfn.org | Methodist lay pastor to return to Kosovo

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

June 30, 1999 News media contact: Linda Bloom*(212) 870-3803*New York
10-71B{356}

By United Methodist News Service

A United Methodist congregational leader from Kosovo and his family are
reported to be heading home from Albania.

In a June 30 e-mail message, Bishop Heinrich Bolleter, the United Methodist
leader for central and southern Europe, said he had received news about the
departure of Mehmet Sopaj. The lay pastor from Pristina, Kosovo's capital,
had established a congregation there and in the cities of Sallagrazhde and
Suhareka.

The Sopaj family does not know if a daughter who had decided to stay in
Pristina is there or if she is alive, Bolleter said.

"As soon as we have direct contacts (from Kosovo), we will prepare our
support, especially for the three congregations to help them get shelter and
food," the bishop added.

Sopaj's flight to Albania was difficult, according to Urs Schweizer,
Bolleter's secretary, who visited the pastor there in mid-May. The pastor
and his wife drove to the border in their car, while two sons, a
daughter-in-law and two grandchildren followed slowly behind on a tractor.
Most of their possessions were stolen and the house was burned down.

At the border, the family was forced to leave the car and tractor behind.
The Serbian police confiscated and destroyed all personal documents.
Eventually, the refugees found shelter with a Muslim family in Rushbull,
Albania, who put them up for a number of weeks. Financial support through
Bolleter's office helped improve their situation, Schweizer said. That
support was shared with the host family and other refugees, including
members of the Kosovo congregations that Sopaj discovered living nearby.

Bolleter will also minister to those on the other side of the Balkans
conflict. From July 15 to 22, he will visit Novisad, Serbia, to speak with
the United Methodist community there and make an assessment of their
situation. The bishop said he also would bring funds for salary support for
the pastors and to purchase medicines.

The United Methodist Committee on Relief (UMCOR) has had a team visiting
refugee camps in Macedonia, assessing the situation within Kosovo, and
conferring with members of other relief agencies. The team was to be in
Kosovo again on June 29 and 30.

The team discovered that the refugees are leaving Macedonia, Albania and
Montenegro for Kosovo much faster than expected. As of June 25, an estimated
300,000 had returned, according to a team report received by staff at UMCOR
and the United Methodist Board of Global Ministries.

The team also is exploring ways to distribute landmine awareness information
along with health kits assembled by United Methodists. About 30,000 kits are
scheduled to arrive on July 2.

Because returning refugees will lack food and shelter in Kosovo, relief
agencies are focusing on getting emergency supplies there. On June 22,
Action by Churches Together (ACT) began distributing food supplies in
Kosovo. Ten tons of flour, salt and oil were delivered to Dragash. The
International Orthodox Christian Charities, an ACT member, sent a truckload
of flour, beans and other food items to church warehouses in Pec. The
Orthodox monastery in nearby Decani has assisted the mixed Albanian and Serb
population in that section of Kosovo.

The ACT international staff is setting up headquarters in Pristina, along
with satellite offices in Pec and Mitrovica. UMCOR, an ACT partner, will
work with others in Kosovo to rebuild homes and other buildings and provide
water and sanitation.

UMCOR and ACT will provide assistance to all ethnic groups in the Balkans,
including a population of gypsies who are unwelcome to return to Kosovo.
Donations can be made to UMCOR's International Disaster Response No.
982450-8. Contributions can be placed in church collection plates, mailed
directly to UMCOR at 475 Riverside Dr., Room 330, New York, NY 10115, or
made by credit card by calling (800) 554-8583. 

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