Churches of Christ in Tirana, Elbasan, Korca, Vlore, & Fior are helping over 10,000 Kosovar refugees with most if not all of their emergency needs. Missionaries from the United States, Great Britain, Italy and Greece are joining Albanian Christians to handle huge amounts of food and other relief supplies. Following are some quotes from relief reports received today.
We are dreaming of the day when we can follow the refugees back into Kosovo to help them get resettled and to plant churches that minister to their real needs.
God bless you for caring about these needy people,
Don Yelton
The following are quotes from several reports:
FROM TIRANA, ALBANIA:
Grace and peace to all of you from the Church of Christ that meets in Tirana, Albania. It is with great joy that we write this week's letter! We are praying that the "peace" in Kosovo will hold and that the hundreds of thousands of people who have been displaced by the cleansing and subsequent bombing may return to their homes very soon. At this point it hasn't had any effect on our work.
We would like to thank the "GENERALITAT de CATALUNYA" for the 15 meter truck full of beans, sugar, oil, baby supplies, flour and various other items. This is a group from Spain who wanted to help in some way so through one of Wayne's students they made contact with us and gave us the truck full of aid for the refugees. The day we unloaded this truck was very busy and tiring. When you have to unload a big truck into little trucks and then into the warehouse it always seems to double the labor.
Artan Samara and Randy spent three days with the customs people trying to clear up the documentation problem with the container from Texas. We got it done and took possession of the container full of aid on Thursday afternoon. The effort to empty the container and send it on it's way followed. With 4 smaller trucks (3-5 ton) and hired laborers to help, we started unloading the container. This was a professionally packed container and everything in it was still in very good condition. We had some problems moving the 550 pound boxes of pasta but we managed. The team of church volunteers and paid laborers worked well into the night and finally got all the aid stored in the warehouse. We were thankful for Trent Mayberry from OCU, who just happens to be 6 feet, 9 inches tall, and was able to stack the boxes to the ceiling.
We are very grateful to the Tom Bean Church of Christ and the others that helped in putting together this massive amount of aid. Some of the items included in the container were 7,000 pounds of pinto beans, toilet paper, diapers, feminine hygiene products, shampoo, personal care packs, toothpaste, hand cream, lubricating jelly, baby oil, some radios, batteries, socks, mixed clothing and KISHA E KRISHTIT aprons. The aprons have been a big hit among the volunteers at the warehouse.
Registration had been closed earlier in the week to allow those who had been previously registered to collect food and other necessities. Friday the registration was opened again and people literally stormed the gates. Another 150 families were registered to receive aid for a total of 800 families!
Last week Brenda drove several of the Christians out to an area of the city where we have several families registered to do some follow-up work and a little visiting. We are also happy to report that not only are some of the Kosovars attending our worship services now, but also our favorite van driver, Ēimi, along with his 13 year old son, joined us last Sunday! He said they enjoyed themselves and will be back.
We also want to mention that in cooperation with other organizations and from the containers we have been given, we estimate that we have received approximately $300,000 in free aid. We praise God for all of it! It will help us extend our funds even farther into the future so the Lord's work can be carried out for a longer period of time.
Once again we thank all of you for your participation in the cause of Jesus Christ, for without your prayers and financial contributions, it wouldn't be possible. May the Lord richly bless all of you.
For the Church of Christ in Tirana,
The Refugee Crisis Committee
Artan, Tom, Artan, and Randy
FROM PETE HODGE IN ELBASAN, ALBANIA:
Greetings,
It's hot! I could not think of a better way of starting this report. The
temperatures have been high, and the pace of life in the aid programme has
not enabled us to keep cool. We had stopped registering families three weeks
ago, except for strict emergencies. This gave us a total of 300 families and
a little over 2,500 people. Then we were asked by the Bashki if we would
take over control of all families in apartments in Area 1, which is the
central area of the city. It made sense to us, and so we agreed, many of our
current families coming from this area. but it looks as if our total will
now increase to over 400 families and an additional 1,000 or so people. It
keeps us out of mischief!
Our team has swelled by three other people. One is a young Kosovar teenager, who though we do not supply his family attends every day to help us distribute the aid. Two others who help us, and this is really strange, are a couple from the UK who work as 'missionaries' in the country, but who do not have a 'church' here, or any refugees to help, they passed theirs on to us, and who attend our services every week. It must be said that their help has proven invaluable.
World Vision, bless their hearts, are increasing their supplies to us to 450 families, and NATO are also helping with the supply of milk, 480 liters last week, and 1,500 this week. We also received 1000 kilos of beans from Tirana this week. With our regular supplies our warehouse is beginning to look 'stuffed' though that will soon change as we distribute it.
One job I enjoy doing is to distribute Bibles. We recently purchased 200 Albanian language Bibles, and we offer them to people at the centres we visit or when they come to collect their goods. Imagine having people rushing to collect their copy of the Bible. I hate running out as I did this morning (Wednesday) with 'hungry' hands stretching out for their copies. We still have a few copies left, but I will need to buy some more next week. Anyone who would like to make a donation to the purchase of Bibles can contact me and let me know how many they will 'sponsor' at a cost of $4.50 per copy. I can assure you that they will soon get placed into the hands of refugees or Albanians. We could usefully use 1,000 copies, by making them available in the markets or through our English School activity.
Another idea that has been getting some thought in Tirana concerns the availability of a video projector to enable the screening of the video 'Jesus' onto a large screen. This video is available in the Albanian language now, and would certainly be a great tool for the work here. Anyone who might like to contribute funds toward this project, which is an extra to the aid programme should also contact me.
Dulcie is beginning to feel the strain, and as soon as we can manage it I want to send her back to the UK for a few weeks break. To see her work it is hard to believe that she suffers from MS. She is putting in many hours a day, and generally keeps a cheerful disposition. Yet I know that she is not feeling 100 per cent. Please pray for her and the other members of our great team here.
I have started an English class for Kosovars and Albanian students in Shtėrmen, one of our groups. Today there were around 60 in the class. I will be gently bringing in the Bible into the lessons, and next week I will teach them a chorus, 'My God is so Big,' which enables them to make a lot of noise at the end, something they like to do here.
So there is much happening in Elbasan. God's word is being preached both through preaching, and through feeding and clothing the hungry. Please pray that we may all have the strength to continue in this work.
In His service
Pete