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ON THIS PAGE: Legacy of war / Churches / Roma Camp / House for Shaip / Medical care / Schools / Palliative Care Conference / Gospel recordings in Goran language / Report on Kralan School water supply During the Kosova conflict, over 10,000 men were killed, leaving many widows and fatherless children. Approximately 2,000 men are still missing and every day mothers and wives of missing men visit the municipality office in Gjakove to ask if there is any news of their loves ones. They have done this for the past 4 years. During our time in Kosova in October 2003 we witnessed over 8,000 people gathering in the small village of Meje, as bodies were returned from a mass grave in Serbia, to be buried near their local village. Four and a half years previously, on 27 April 1999, the village of Meje witnessed a terrible massacre as over 782 men, women and children were slaughtered during the ethnic cleansing. A mass grave of 500 had been discovered in Serbia and, after forensic DNA checks carried out by Scotland Yard, the bodies are being returned to Kosova in groups of 30 or 50 at a time. On Sunday 2 November 2003 people gathered from throughout Kosova to pay their last respects to friends and relatives as they were laid to rest. The massed crowd were completely silent as the coffins were presented to their respective families. Politicians made speeches, and Moslem and Catholic church leaders said prayers. The grief and sadness was all too evident; in one case three generations of one family were buried – grandfather, father and his 15-year-old son. Family members thanked the Smile team for attending the funeral, as they want the West to remember and not to forget that 10,000 men were killed in Kosova during the Balkans conflict of 1999, and that over 1,500 are still missing, presumed dead. We pray that these families may know God's peace and comfort during these difficult days.
Graves on Cabrati Hill which overlooks Gjakove – Grave of a 17-year-old girl – Widow visiting the graves at Cabrati; the Smile Centre can be seen in the central far distance Smile seeks to support Kosovan Christians through supplying Bibles, Christian literature and Christian discipleship materials, as well as assisting with outreach programmes and social action projects. The "Treasures of the Snow" book in Albanian has been distributed and aid, shoeboxes and computers provided for churches. Our ministry teams regularly encourage the local Christians, visiting the churches, and helping with refurbishment where necessary. Pastors are invited to use the Theological Library at the Smile Centre, and several Christian conferences have been held at the Centre, to train and encourage them, so that they may return to their ministries refreshed and strengthened.
Church equipment needed Is your church or club upgrading its equipment or do you have items you no longer use? The young emerging churches in Kosova are in need of PA and musical instruments for their worship sections. Our trucks go out regularly to Kosova. Please contact the Smile office if you can help.
Smile has for several years been supporting the Roma camp on the edge of Gjakove. Smile team members regularly care for and minister to the children and families there, delivering aid and shoeboxes of toys. We also support their Roma school which provides education for 300 children aged 4-11. It is a joy to work with Bethany Christian Services who oversee the daily running of the school with the sole desire to see many of these children learn to read and write, and develop social skills, in order to free them from the downward spiral of poverty.
Smile regularly sends medical provisions (such as bandages, cotton wool and incontinence pads) and clinic/hospital equipment on our aid trucks. The standard of medical care is below what we are accustomed to in the UK, and many people cannot afford treatment. Donations of two ambulances have provided the Smile Centre with the means to take supplies and a mobile clinic to remote mountain villages, to bring medical care to those who cannot afford either treatment or travel costs to get to town. We also plan to make dental and medical care available at the Smile Centre, as well as respite care for the disabled.
Smile has brought several young people to the UK for specialist treatment unavailable in Kosova - Ryve for a prosthetic arm (having lost her left arm in the war), Berat for removal of a bullet lodged near his lung, and Selvie for correction of a life-threatening curved spine. Shkurta was provided with a prosthetic eye, as she lost an eye as a baby due to shrapnel; she has now regained confidence and is integrating well with her school friends. We greatly appreciate all those who funded these treatments and the generosity of the doctors and staff at the various hospitals and clinics.
Smile has been able to provide many schools with basic equipment such as pens, paper chalk, crayons and shoeboxes full of toys, as well as supplying over 100 computers in order for them to establish IT departments. Our gift pack scheme has been a great idea in providing children with their own pens, pencils, paper and stationery in a zip folder, which is not supplied by the schools. We are delighted that we have also been able to twin schools in Kosova with schools in the UK. The schools correspond by letter or email, and staff members from schools in the UK have been able to visit their project and see first hand the difference their help is making. If your school would like to participate in the twinning project, please contact the Smile office for details. Through these long-term links, children in both schools gain an educational awareness of their different countries, cultures and needs. By twinning schools, interest and support can be raised in the UK to support children's education in Kosova. Special Needs Children We have links with schools for special needs and traumatised children in Kosova. Please let us know if you would like to twin with these schools or help in this particular area.
PALLIATIVE CARE CONFERENCE, 10-11 APRIL
After working with many widows in the
Gjakove area over the past 7 years we have discovered that there is a
high degree of breast and cervical cancer. This is partly due to the
trauma and stress caused through the war and bad diet, smoking, and
pollution by depleted uranium (from exploded ordnance during the
war). We also discovered, after discussions with many doctors in the
area, that there was no palliative care available in the Gjakove area.
As a result, we organised and hosted the first ever 2-day Palliative
Care Conference which was attended by over 40 doctors,
nurses and NGO’s. The key speakers were Dr Anthony Smith, Dr Eva Harizaj
and Professor Dr Xhavit I Bicaj, executive Director of Ryder Kosova.
GOSPEL RECORDINGS IN GORAN LANGUAGE In the south west corner of Kosova is an area around the towns of Dragash and Brod with 17 villages which are home to approximately 30,000 Goran people. These people are a mixture of Kosovan, Albanian and Macedonian, and because they are not from one people group, they have over the years been shunned to the mountain hills, where they are sheep and cattle farmers. They have no written language and there is no church in this area. We have been able to distribute some Gospel tapes in Macedonian, which they understand, along with wind-up cassette players donated by our good friends at Language Recordings, but our desire was to provide tapes in their own language, which we have now been able to do. Our Goran volunteer is a Christian musician and hunter from Northern Albania. He walked over the Albanian mountains, fording rivers in order to get to the Smile Centre in Kosova. He made his epic journey so that for the first time ever a recording of the Gospel message could be made in his own language, which is ‘Ours’ a form of the Torlak dialect. The recording sessions were overseen by dedicated professionals Kenny and Joan McKee from Language Recordings, with help from our excellent Albanian interpreter (who had travelled for 14 hours on 10 buses to reach us!). Our Christian volunteer returned home with multiple copies of a Gospel presentation in his own language. We hope that through his ministry many of the Goran people will be inspired to discover more about Jesus. If you would like to support this work people, please visit www.justgiving.com/smileint/donate or our Donations page and mark your donation ‘Goran.’
Report on the water supply at Kralan School, 2007, by Valerie Carr
It was a humbling experience to see the Director
of the School shed tears in gratitude for all the help and support that
Smile have given to his little school over the last 2 years and to watch
the children enjoy and, I know, benefit from the Summer School
activities, the fun and love that the teams have provided and given
them.
With prayer, God’s help and determination we all
can make a difference. Thank you Smile … for giving me the opportunity
and courage to get out of my comfort zone and think of and put others
before self. We thank the Lord for bringing this project to completion through the faithfulness of his people and the generosity of supporters.
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| 27 July 2008 |