Date: Wed, 5 May 1999 21:15:47 -0400
From: Don Yelton <DonYelton@compuserve.com>
Dear friends,
Next week this time I plan to be in Albania helping with the relief work there. This message should explain what has been done to date. We are working on sending a shipment of medical supplies worth about $250,000 and we want to try to get food at no cost to us from the World Food Program and possibly other organizations to supplement what we are not buying on local Albanian markets. We solicit your prayers.
I am trying out a new email program which I have having problems with. If you receive duplicates, please disregard. I hope to learn how to handle groups in MS Outlook Express soon. More confusion later.
Following is the latest relief report from missionary Randy Richards and the church of Christ in Tirana, Albania. Thanks for your patience.
Don Yelton
Web site: www.wfrchurch.org
Contributions may be sent to: White's Ferry Road Church of Christ (War Relief), 3201 North 7th Street, West Monroe, Louisiana 71291.
Date: Tuesday, May 04, 1999 2:56 PM
Subject: TIRANA CHURCH OF CHRIST REFUGEE REPORT #1
May 4, 1999
Dear Brethren, Friends, and Family,
We thank God every time we remember you and your desire to help the hundreds of thousands of Kosovars who have been through the nightmare that has been happening in their country.
As mentioned in earlier reports, the group leaders in the Tirana church of Christ came together and selected a "Refugee Crisis Committee" to organize the relief work in Tirana. The committee consists of Tom Panidha, Randy Richards, Artan Samara, and Artan Xhaferi. We have meetings every Tuesday and Friday, which are open to everyone. We decided to write an "official" report from the church informing you of our activities on a weekly basis.
Each report will cover our activity from Monday through Friday of the prior week, including a financial report.
On Sunday of last week, Hicks Neal from the Odyssey Network in Nashville came to film some of the work of our congregation. He and his camera person came to Bible class and worship and then traveled around with us to several places where we had been providing aid and some comfort to the refugees. It was a good experience for us.
The days of the week have all blurred together for us and it has become very difficult to report things on a day to day basis. So much has been happening and so many of the church members have become involved in some way. The students at World English Institute have even been helping to sort out who needs what, and they have been working as guides and translators in some cases. Overall, the crisis has pulled the church together as a family working to help as many as we can with what we have.
The young church in Albania has responded by rolling up their sleeves and putting their faith into action. Please pray that their zeal for helping will continue and that we are good stewards of what you, our brethren from around the world are so generous in providing.
Your contributions have now provided hundreds of mattresses, blankets, diapers, underwear, personal care items, and meals for the Kosovars. Last week we even bought a water heater and a shower for a "community" of about 100. The very large house they are staying in has no hot water and no finished bathrooms. They were so happy! These people are very thankful for all the help that is being provided. The ladies' Bible class bagged several hundred pairs of underwear according to families and it was distributed the next day. Some of the women also distributed some balls, cards, dominoes, yarn and knitting needles to help the refugees pass the time. When we provide for the people, we also provide Bibles and/or literature about the gospel of Jesus. We have had several Kosovars attend our worship and Bible classes. There are some involved in Bible correspondence courses. We are praying that their hearts will be opened to obey the gospel. There is one family that is especially interested in learning more about the Bible and it looks like a great opportunity. Some of the brethren have visited their home and have also invited their Albanian host family to join the church when it meets.
As of Friday of last week, we were providing for 123 families with 770 people, at 104 addresses. The total has increased to almost 1000 as of yesterday, with Kosovars coming in droves to the WEI office to register for relief. Rumira Xhaferi and Irida Dautaj spent countless hours during the past few days putting all the data into the computer given to us for relief work by "Relief Ministries" of White's Ferry Road Church of Christ.
Much of our time has been spent looking for the addresses of people who come register for assistance so we can deliver supplies. We will be eliminating much of this wasted time by having a pick up point for the families we are helping. We are actively searching for a warehouse now and Tom Panidha has consented to manage the warehouse that will be used for storage and distribution.
For the last 10 days or so, we have hired a truck and driver to take us to the farthest reaches of the city of Tirana. God has really been with us in helping us find people in some parts of the city that even our local brethren couldn't find without help. Just today, we were searching for an address that we couldn't find last week and as we drove down the road, one of the men from the house we were seeking spotted us. He led us through winding alleys until we found their place. There we found a severely handicapped young girl and more people with needs, ranging from an expectant mother who is Rh negative and will need special treatment, to men who wanted to find jobs just so they could get their minds off the lives they had to leave behind. One of the men told us that when they are just sitting around, they think of their relatives and friends from whom they were forced to be separated and they worry about what has or will happen to them.
Thursday of last week Artan Samara and Randy met with the director of the national trauma center to discuss having medical supplies shipped to them by Healing Hands International. We will get some very good public relations with the government of Albanian if we are able to get the details of this transaction worked out. The medical centers of Albania are in desperate need of the supplies we are offering.
We are also working to some degree with other aid organizations and are able to acquire many of our supplies free of charge. This will help the money you are sending last a little longer. We've been asked by Med-Air to accept the referrals that come to them, and they in turn will give us free supplies. Med-Air has only a warehouse and they aren't a distribution point. Until we get our data organized, a warehouse and vehicle secured, and time to evaluate how many refugees we can feed, we won't make a commitment to Med-Air.
The church here has funneled $11,500 to Korca, Elbasan, Vlora, and the Shkodra congregations for their work in those cities. In fact, Randy and Artan Xhaferi made a three hour trip to Shkodra on Friday to carry money up there for the work. At the same time they did some follow up work with a WEI correspondence student who wants to be baptized. She will come to Tirana soon to be baptized.
To date, the church in Tirana has received over $100,000 for the relief effort. Partners in Progress, Relief Ministries, World English Institute, and Manna International are all collecting for the work in this country. Congregations from Europe, Japan, the U.S., and the U.K. have sent donations to help the Kosovars in this time of great need. The relief effort will last for a long time if the forecasters are correct. From what we are hearing, the Kosovars will be here through the end of the year or longer. Please pray that they will keep their cool during the long hot summer.
We continue to thank God for all of you who help with your prayers and support. Please know that we will do the best we can in this awful situation to help the needy and to show them God's love. May God be glorified and the gospel be taught to these poor lost souls.
For the Church of Christ in Tirana,
The Refugee Crisis Committee
Artan, Tom, Artan, and Randy
FINANCIAL REPORT FROM THE BEGINNING TO FRIDAY, APRIL 30, 1999:
TOTAL DONATIONS: $106,355.65
EXPENSES:
FOOD 2,725.85
HOUSEHOLD 2,309.42
PERSONAL CARE 1,050.82
CLOTHING 580.08
HEALTH CARE 72.64
EDUCATION 52.08
OPERATIONAL COSTS 1,289.31
FUNDS TO OTHER CONGREGATIONS: 11,500.00
REMAINING BALANCE: $86,775.45