BALKAN SUNFLOWERS UPDATE 14

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From: Balkan Sunflowers <wam@mir.org>
To: ddh list <balkansunflower-list@ddh.nl>
Subject: [Balkansunflower-list] BALKAN SUNFLOWERS UPDATE 14
Date: 09 Jul 99 23:08:04 +0100

BALKAN SUNFLOWERS UPDATE 14 

(It's a Friday and Krayg is triskaidephobic - so there is no Update since 12 !!)

The last refugee camps, and the ideas for the next steps.

(July 09)

------
Contents:

Update on Skopje
PLANNED PROJECTS FOR ALBANIA !!!!
Funding News and Needs
Volunteer Groups
------


------
Skopje
------

Although there are as such not many volunteers here at the moment, things
are getting to run.  Three volunteers started this week in refugeecamp
Cegrane with children activities (and sport for teenagers). Soon they are
going to work, as planned with the mental and physical disabled and the
elderly at the compound of the ICMC, International Catholic Migration
Committee.

The volunteers are overnighting there as well -possible because we
arranged the place of their tent in the ICMC-compound, eg under safe
conditions.

Things have changed again. Did the UNHCR still state at Monday the camp
will be closed soon, now today they have decided in Skopje that Cegrane
will be consolidated and refugees from other camps will come here. It left
the NGO´s in confusion as a lot of agreements were already made about
leaving.


The Shutka-project is also running, but not really at the extent we
wanted. in fact we decided as volunteers just to be one group of
volunteers, based in Cegrane. From there we travel to Shutka to run the
just started English lessons. The English lessons are going well, the
pupils are interested and there is a real effort of the local partner in
the area.  We do have an apartment in the area itself, but as only one
volunteer would actually live there (two volunteers are working and we
found an enthousiastic local youngster nearby who would like to cooperate
with us) we rather form a group in the camp and working in small shifts in
Shutka.


Some more news about figures and political developments. The
refugee-situation as such is stabilising. According to numbers of the
UNHCR more than 200.000 refugees returned on a total amount of 230.000.
The estimated number of refugees is now 20669, with the assumption -also
made by the UNHCR now- that there are still a lot of refugees living in
hostfamilies, who are not registered.  Some refugees come from an open
camp in Macedonia in a military-runned camp in Kosov@, near Prishtine. .

There is a voluntary repatriation programme by the UNHCR, whereby refugees
can return to Kosov@ for the moment to see what is the situation like.
Apart from also refugees, who spontaneous returned to Kosov@ coming back.
Last development is the repatriation of refugees from the third countries.
Also this will run much quicker than the UNHCR. The idea is that those
refugees will land in Skopje and go furtheron by buses to Kosov@. But as a
lot of countries are now starting with this, it will be another flow, and
the idea is already to have a temporary terminal at the airport to receive
all those refugees.

The Roma-refugees in the area of Shutka would not return logically,
because of the many insults of Albanians to the Roma-population in Kosov@.
Together with the Roma center of Skopje (who comes up for the right and
interests of Rom-population ) we will look further on the situation and
see how BSF can assist in this situation. ------ We are further in contact
with the Youth Information Center, who want to run intercultural workshops
for youngsters of Slav-macedonian and Albanian-macedonian background. We
are helping them with funding and might contribute to the programme as the
workshops will be based on bringing the youngsters together on common
interest (sport, English lessons, work and so on)'. This would be for the
longer term (sept 99-june 2000) and a lot of things has to be elaborated
on. To be continued....

Wilbert



-------
PLANNED PROJECTS FOR ALBANIA !!!!
-------

**Intro

Allmost all refugees from Kosov@ have left Albania and so have almost all
the NGO's who were here to help leaving Albania back the way they found it
when they arrived or even worst. Being the poorest country of Europe, with
the highest umeployment rate, a decreasing school system (ever year less
children go to school and less teacher want to teach), a hopeless
infrastructure, a high criminality, a legal autority without influence,
arms spreaded out into every single household and devostated by civil war
and total economical collapsed. With other words help is needed in
Albania, maybe even more needed here as in Kosov@, but you can't compare
those two.

Children and youth in Albania are growing up under emergency conditions,
and are in a way as traumatised as children from a war zone. Being an
average civilian of Albania is almost as living in a refugee camp, the
living and housing conditions (beside the center of Tirana) are not that
brilliant.

Therefor some NGO's have decided to stay behind, at least with a part of
their programme, one of those being the Balkan Sunflowers. In many
occassions is had been shown that the presents of foreigners and the
contacts of local people with people from abroad has a kind of
normalisation effect on situation. Most NGO can help with money, but not
with human resources, we can, if we want help with human resources.

**Practical plans for the period July-September

Together with IRC (International Rescue Committee) and CRS (Catholic
Relief Service), supported by UNICEF, we are involved in the planning of
summercamps for remaining Kosovarian refugee and local Albanian children
and youth. This camps will start by the end of July and last till the
beginning of September. This camps which will take place in Elbassan,
Shkodra, Tirana and Durres. In this summercamps which will be mostly day
camps, children will come there in the morning and leave in the evening
(but maybe even will stay there the whole time) all kind of events and
activities will be organised.

At this moment we are in the middle of the planning. If volunteers are out
there who have been planning such kind of activities, like summercamps for
boyscouts or other children and youth groups, we would be delited if such
persons could come as soon as possible and join this planning stage. Also
for the participation in those summercamps we are looking for 30 till 40
volunteers which are hopefully having some of this type of experiences. It
would be very helpfull, since allthough Albania had under communism a long
tradition of summercamps for children this has been totally collapsed in
the last 8 years. And basically new ideas and new type of activities are
badly needed.

For the rest we are looking for volunteers who are willing to stay in
Albania and help here instead of going to Kosov@. Again we like to stress
that help in Albania, not only for Kosovar refugees, but also for the
Albanians is badly needed.


------- Funding News and Needs ------- We have a promise from the
Netherlands Refugee Council of funding to help with the first projects in
Kosovo. Details are still to be arranged.

One of our volunteers had his laptop disappear while in Albania, and thus
we are looking for someone who can donate one to replace it for him. (We
are still looking for all the materials on our wish lists, computers
included!).

-------
Volunteer Groups
-------

For the moment it is impossible to give precise project descriptions for
each Sunday date that volunteer groups will be starting. The work that
volunteers are doing is decided nearer the time of their arrival, or
after.

We are presently looking for volunteers to start any Sunday, for projects
in Albania and Kosovo (as and when they develop). For Macedonia we have a
need for volunteers as soon as is possible, so for any arrival date soon.
And then 23d July and 13th August are the project start dates for later
on.




for the co-ordination team, Belzig, Germany
                    
-----------------
Latest info about the Balkan Sunflowers:
http://www.balkansunflowers.org
or by email: lists@mir.org
apply as volunteer: http://www.mir.org/dataform
our bankaccount always needs feeding:
Accountnr:         160 160 1
Accountname:    Sunflower
Bank                   Oekobank Frankfurt (Germany)
Blz                       500 901 00
Telephone numbers: +49-33841-30670 +49-33841-30671 (fax)

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