FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: March 22, 2000

One year after NATO campaign, has life for Kosovars improved?
Much has been accomplished, but peace is elusive, say aid workers

Pristina, Kosovo – One year after the start of a NATO bombing campaign aimed at providing security for the 2 million residents of Kosovo, people are struggling to rebuild their lives and livelihoods. World Vision and other aid organizations returned to Kosovo last June, and over the past winter, distributed 70,000 shelter kits (10,000 by World Vision). World Vision also supported the repair of farming equipment, helping farmers to harvest more than 68,000 tons of wheat, or enough to make 46 million loaves of bread. Pristina’s psychiatric hospital, vandalized by departing Serbs, was rehabilitated, and World Vision trained 1,400 people to provide trauma counseling in local communities.

But building peace between Kosovo’s ethnic Albanian community and the dwindling Serbian minority remains an elusive goal. Rudy Scholaert, World Vision’s site manager in Mitrovica, knows first-hand how deep ethnic tensions run; in February, he was shot at while driving. “We’re in a conflict zone. But if we don’t plant the seeds of peace and hope then I really believe we’ve failed this community,” he says.

WHAT:		At the one year anniversary of the launch of NATO’s bombing campaign, there remains tension and strife in Kosovo as aid agencies seek to help people rebuild their lives.
WHO:		Canadian Rudy Scholaert has worked in Kosovo since August. Previously, he was involved in humanitarian work in Ethiopia, Honduras and Zimbabwe.
WHEN:		Scholaert and other World Vision aid workers are available for interview by phone from Pristina from noon to 3 p.m. Eastern Time, Thursday and Friday, March 23 and 24.

Contacts:		Sheryl Watkins		1-253-815-2246, 1-206-918-8505 (pager)
		Dean Owen		1-253-815-2103, 1-800-605-9475 (pager)