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Pastimes : Kosovo -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Hawkmoon who wrote (10197)	5/28/1999 12:31:00 AM
From: RavenCrazy	Respond to of 17770

I spent a good bit of this evening revising and updating our site at: geocities.com As you'll see from the updates, Dana and Dusty leave tomorrow (a couple of hours away for them). In fact, I believe it's just a bit over an hour before Dana's flight for Amsterdam leaves. I know this has been very hard for them, especially today's visit to Blace. One of many problems is that we are not getting accurate media coverage. We have dealt with Macedonia and not Albania. We chose to send our guys and aid there, knowing that despite the poverty of Albania, the refugees would there be among friends. That is not at all the case in Macedonia. What even I, from here in the states, have learned in the last week is enough to write a small book, something I'm encouraging Dana to consider. The politics over there cannot be avoided. The agency we will give all our donations to, Mother Tereza, is the only Albanian group helping the refugees. Major organizations in the U.S., often collecting millions of dollars, are being convinced to keep the Macedonian economy afloat by going through local Macedonian agencies, and it appears that the refugees are getting only a very small portion of what is donated. Furthermore, I am told that those running the Macedonian agencies are often lacking in any compassison for the Albanian refugees. Much of the cash donated toward the refugees is going to staff salaries, offices, cellphones, and the like. But we have had it verified by our two volunteers that Mother Tereza is getting it all straight to the 41,000 people in Skopje they are feeding. So we will continue to try to help them supply food. Michael Memetaj, owner of TV ERA, mentioned so often by Dana and Dusty, is going to Bulgaria for food tomorrow. Even if you've visited the site, please revisit, as it is updated and clarified. I've introduced myself in it less shyly, as I'll now start hoping to gather some help locally. We also need volunteers to do the "paperwork" (computer work, website updates, etc.), as I will be leaving for Guatemala for two weeks on June 8. And when you visit the site, note the guestbook, where you can share your thoughts on all this. Before we know it, we'll be sending Brad off. He has his ticket, his expenses, and over a thousand dollars raised so far. I do so thank all of you who have cared. May our two guys be carried out of Macedonia on wings of safety tomorrow. They will have changed a few lives and, in so doing, will have enhanced their own greatly, most deservedly. Raven