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Strategies & Market Trends : Anthony @ Equity Investigations, Dear Anthony, -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Olsinvest who wrote (37194)	5/27/1999 12:48:00 PM
From: RavenCrazy	Respond to of 122087

O/T - Last report from Skopje by Dana Moore. To the best of my knowledge, only one person from this board sent a contribution to these people through us, though I know many of you did earlier via Anthony. Though I've pledged to protect the anonymity of the donor, I'd like to thank him publicly and tell you all that his VERY generous (by far the most generous we received) contribution most likely DID save some lives. I just received the following from Dana: I'm back at the internet cafe again at a little after 4:00 p.m. I will be leaving Skopje tomorrow morning at 6:30, but have to be at the airport earlier... I've seen all I want to see. Michael made good on his promise to take us into Blace this morning. Just before we arrived at the camp, which is right on the Kosova border, he turned off the paved road and drove his small Suzuki up a dirt road that was barely wider than the car, finally stopping at a gate that opened into what initially looked like a peaceful meadow, but was actually a cemetery with a score of fresh graves, some very small. He explained these were people who had died just after crossing the border, the physical demands of their escape having been too much. We took photographs of the area, and returned to the car for the last 1/4 mile or so to the camp to deliver the vitamins and some of the space blankets. Michael had his Press badge, but the police were adamant that no cameras were allowed past the gate, so I stayed outside and used the telephoto lens, and Dusty and Michael walked in. It's a sad place, but while inside they met a very large and merry man from Catholic Relief who was working with children in the camps and was familiar with the problems they are having, and we ended up turning most of the vitamins over to them with his help. He said often the children have had nothing to eat or drink for 2 or 3 days, and the vitamins could actually make the difference between life or death in some of the sicker ones. Things are really scary around Blace. You can actually see the Serb troops parading around, and they aren't above taking an occasional pot shot, according to the Catholic Relief worker. He told us the area around the small creek that runs by the camp is heavily mined, and he fears that it's only a matter of time before a small child escapes to play in the creek and steps on one. He said this morning before we got there, a horse had stepped on one, and was probably still lying down by the creek, but I didn't have any desire to look for it. He also said there are reports he thinks reliable of large massings of Yugoslavian troops in the area just to the north, and large massings of NATO troops just to the south of Skopje, where there are vast open spaces. There were lots of NATO vehicles on the road today, and frankly, I'll be happy to leave Scopje, since it's in the middle of this firepower sandwich. After we left the Blace camp, we drove further back toward Skopje, to the Stenkovic camp 1 with the relief worker, and delivered the vitamins to on of their doctors, then returned to Skopje and the Mother Tereza warehouse. I took pictures of the noticeably diminished supplies there, and Dusty and I talked with a young girl who approached us as we waited for Michael to finish his business. She told us her 16 year old brother was somehow separated from the rest of the family, and is now in the Stenkovic camp. She and her family visited him a few days ago, but she's afraid to go back now, because the Macedonian police tried to hold her there the last time, in spite of her having all the proper papers. This is all I can do for now. I thought about buying some kind of souvenirs to take back, and even tried to shop for some, but my heart wasn't in it. There's really nothing in this country I want to take back, so I gave Eddie most of my remaining dinars, just keeping a few for cabs and some beer tonight. I had commented to the Catholic Relief worker today that what we did is just a drop in the bucket. He said 'but it IS a drop in the bucket, and you should never underestimate the value of any contribution, no matter how small. A single vitamin might save a life.'