UMCOR covers food, shelter, social needs of Kosovars
8/24/2000 News media contact: Tim Tanton · (615) 742-5470 · Nashville, Tenn.
By the Rev. Mike Stanton-Rich*
KOSOVO PRISTINA, Yugoslavia (UMNS) - United Methodists have poured untold millions into rebuilding Kosovo - its agricultural base, its homes devastated by war, its people.
For United Methodist Committee on Relief (UMCOR) staff in the field, much of the work can be summed up in two words.
"It's all social development," said Nick Gummere, grants coordinator for UMCOR Kosovo.
Angela Oliver, head of mission for UMCOR in Kosovo, explained further. "UMCOR's goal in Kosovo since the beginning has been social development. The shelter and agriculture programs are part of an integrated effort to make a difference in Kosovo, and they should be considered social development because they are driven by the concepts of self-sustainability and community empowerment."
UMCOR works with a wide variety of church and non-governmental agencies to provide social development projects in Kosovo, which is rebuilding following the 1999 war. Pristina, the capital of the province, is serving as the base for the United Methodist relief work.
The coordinated efforts have brought Kosovo's food production up to 60 percent of its level in 1989, the last year before Serbian policies in the country brought industry and agriculture to a near standstill, according to Oscar Samso, agriculture director for UMCOR Kosovo.
Immediately after the war, Kosovars received aid primarily through direct relief with food and shelter. With no time to prepare for crops and livestock before the winter, agriculture projects were focused on the year 2000.
Samso came to UMCOR in October 1999 after working with a relief agency in Bosnia for two years. With funds from the 1999 ACT (Action by Churches Together, UMCOR's ecumenical partner) Balkans Emergency Appeal, UMCOR staffers procured and distributed seeds, fertilizer and chickens to more than 2,800 families in 16 villages near Mitrovica and Vushtri in Northern Kosovo last spring.
UMCOR procurement specialist Sandra Lukics, who worked closely with Samso, confirmed the difference the spring emergency program had on the villages. "It is wonderful to travel to these villages and see that many families have a flock of chickens and large gardens that would not have been possible without our help."
"But we are not finished," Samso added. "We are moving from pure relief to rehabilitation, from distribution to family self-sustainability."
The war killed 45 percent of the country's livestock, so UMCOR has been working to raise the livestock numbers in one of the hardest-hit areas. Since early summer, it has delivered 3,000 sheep to more than 150 families under contracts that require the recipient to share the first year's offspring with the neighboring community. By next spring, that will result in the distribution of more than 7,500 sheep to about 300 families. In July, Samso negotiated the purchase of 264 milk cows, which will be distributed to the same number of families. The contract with the owners will result in 200 more families having livestock in 2001.
The Tractor Repair Project is another UMCOR agricultural project that is making a difference. Already in 2000, UMCOR has assisted with rehabilitating 175 tractors and expects to complete 100 more before winter.
"In rural Kosovo, the tractor is a must for living," Samso explained. "Not only does it prepare the fields, but also provides transportation for the family and a means for rebuilding homes destroyed in the war." The investment, at a cost of about $500 per tractor, makes a huge difference in many facets of a family's life.
A trip into the villages of Bare and Bajgora confirmed the impact of the programs. Flocks of chickens and sheep were seen at many roadside farms, large gardens were in full production, and tractors were hauling building materials and children.
"Nearly every sheep or chicken you see is the work of UMCOR," Lukics said. "There is not a family in this area that has not been touched by the work of the agriculture program."
UMCOR's programs go beyond basic needs of food and housing. Examples are the Educational and Psychological Rehabilitation Program, the Youth Initiatives and Peacebuilding Program and the Crisis Center for Trafficked Women Program.
Since summer 1999, UMCOR has been working near Mitrovica, providing access to educational and psychological support services for women, children and youth. That work has included developing parent-teacher organizations as a means of restoring schools in the area. Leadership training for youth began last January.
Youth groups are preparing proposals for seed grants from UMCOR to develop community programs and facilities such as youth centers, athletic fields and sports activities.
The Youth Initiatives Peace Building Program seeks to bring the various ethnic groups together in Kosovo. By developing networks of relationships through youth clubs, UMCOR pursues a vision of bringing Kosovar Albanian, Serb and Roma youth together for leadership training, communication and mediation skill-building, as well as joint community-building programs. UMCOR staff is working with youth groups representing those main ethnic divides in the Mitrovica area.
The Crisis Center for Trafficked Women was started last summer to help women from Eastern Europe who were kidnapped or tricked into working in the sex industry. The United Nations police force and KFOR regularly raid brothels in Kosovo and have discovered a lucrative organized crime industry based on trafficking women. The crisis shelter provides temporary housing for women who have been freed from the brothels until safe passage can be arranged for their return home. The center also provides basic medical and psychological care. UMCOR is seeking funding to continue operation of the shelter beyond this year.
The Stabilization through Social Development Project is another program that has just been funded by a grant from the U.S. Department of State. The effort was announced to UMCOR staff on Aug. 14, and slightly more than $1 million is designated for it.
Between now and August 2001, UMCOR staff and hired consultants will focus on peaceful conflict-resolution projects among youth (ages 12 to 24) in East Kosovo, one of the areas with the most tension and the most potential. United States KFOR secures this area.
The basic plan begins with developing educational and recreational activities for youth with the broad goal of bringing people of different ethnic origins together in peaceful coexistence. Next, groups and individuals who have potential for peace building and conflict resolution are identified, and they are given training and funding. The plan also provides for immediate mediation and conflict resolution for situations that will one day be handled by people trained in the program.
"We are breaking new ground here," Oliver said. "UMCOR has never done anything of this magnitude, and it is the first United States government initiative of this kind in Kosovo, and they chose UMCOR as a partner to implement it."
"It's like a dream come true," Gummere added. "If someone were to ask me, 'What would you do with $1 million that would make a difference in Kosovo?' this program would be it."
Support for the people of Kosovo can be provided through financial gifts to several UMCOR Advance numbers: Kosovo Emergency Relief, No. 982450-8; Mother/Child Survival, No. 982645-1, Kosovo; Youth House, No. 982844-8, Kosovo. Check donations can be placed in church collection plates or mailed directly to 475 Riverside Drive, Room 330, New York, NY 10115. Credit-card donations can be made by calling (800) 554-8583. # # # *Stanton-Rich is pastor of New Covenant United Methodist Church in Mount Holly, N.C. He was in Kosovo Aug. 7-17 as a volunteer with the United Methodist Committee on Relief.
Related Story
Korean News
