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A good neighbor offers help when people are in crisis. World Vision worked in many such emergency situations this year, notably with earthquake survivors in Turkey and Taiwan; with those devastated by Hurricane Mitch and tornadoes in the Midwest; and with victims of violence in places such as East Timor, Sierra Leone, and Kosovo.
 Fetia Gara, 29, holds a blanket she dried on a line inside the camp for displaced Kosovars in Montenegro. A majority of the primarily ethnic Albanian population returned from the 78-day war to find their homes in ruins and many of their loved ones unaccounted for. World Vision is working in Kosovo to help families rebuild their lives and come to terms with what, for many, are permanent losses.
A Family Outing Turns to Horror
When a crisis occurs, World Vision begins assessing the damage and determining how we can mobilize help to meet people's needs. Because generous donors responded to the Kosovo crisis, World Vision was able to provide 86,000 people with emergency aid such as food and relief supplies, including clothing, diapers, and personal care items. We worked outside Yugoslavia in refugee centers like the one in Sarande, Albania, where 13-year-old Bersarta Nikshi and her family found help.
A simple trip to visit relatives turned nightmarish when a Serbian military convoy, with weapons drawn, overtook the Nikshi family. The incident ended in a forced march that led them out of the country. Bersarta's mother, Djana, recalls, "They robbed us of everything." Bersarta adds, "They grabbed their knives and said they would cut our heads off." After many days of travel by foot and train, this and other families found shelter in a fish-canning factory in Sarande.
World Vision helped make the factory facilities livable by installing toilets, running water, an electric stove, and sinks. An emergency shipment of beds and mattresses kept people off the cold floor at night.
Bersarta Nikshi and her family were overtaken by a military convoy one afternoon. With a frightening roar, tanks and police cars pulled up beside the Kosovar family. Serbian police and soldiers began firing their weapons in the air. |
The 78-day conflict destroyed more than 100,000 houses; up to 100,000 ethnic Albanian men and boys are still missing and may have been killed. Hundreds of thousands of people have been traumatized by the violence. Bersarta's family, like so many others, will need further assistance to recover from their experiences and begin leading normal lives again.
Hope for Kosovo Lies in Ethiopia's Example
Ethiopia's Antsokia District today is an example of how World Vision came to a community's aid during a crisis, and now life is much better for its residents.
Fifteen years ago the Ethiopian population faced severe drought and famine conditions. Initial emer-gency feeding programs led to long-term development projects.
 During the intervening years a verdant expanse has blossomed in Antsokia due to the hard work of local farmers with help from World Vision. The people sustain progress by participating in community groups that plan, implement, and manage all development activities in their villages.
Antsokia's transformed countryside became a refuge for thousands of people fleeing drought conditions elsewhere in Ethiopia this summer. Ali Muhammed Berbere reported, "I came with my family 22 days ago. We had to come because there was nothing left to eat."
Neighbors Share Their Resources
Grower Mohe Lagas experienced success in the midst of this year's food crisis, but not solely through his own efforts. When Mohe and his family came to the region three years ago fleeing tribal violence in his hometown, World Vision asked the local council to give him some land and integrate him into a farmers' association. "As neighbors, we share our resources," he says, thinking back on a time when he borrowed grain from another grower.
"When I first came to this area, I was a day laborer. I used to think I was lucky if I had something to eat," recalls Ethiopian farmer Mohe Lagas. "These days I actually have to choose what to eat. It's wonderful," he exclaims. |
Now Mohe's half-acre plot is abundant with cabbage, maize, and other vegetables. He picks his way through vine-ripened tomatoes, choosing some to sell and others for his family's meal. The lush acreage that attracted the Berberes to Antsokia has been a blessing for the Lagas family. "I look around and I realize that everything I have is the result of World Vision's help," Mohe remarks.
Although Kosovo's situation is different than Ethiopia's, World Vision has found that lasting recovery from an emergency can be achieved with help from worldwide neighbors and as local communities, using their resources, work together. We will continue to help the Kosovar people, hoping that as their wounds heal, they will work with their neighbors to rebuild their land.
 Eight-year-old Halima Adem (left) and Meriama Husien, 10, came with their families from Afar, Ethiopia, to World Vision's Antsokia area development projects (ADPs) to find food. By living here, these girls will likely escape the fate of the majority of Ethiopian children, more than 70 percent of whom do not attend school. World Vision's ADPs built schools to provide its girls and boys with an education.
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