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

To: George Papadopoulos who wrote (10676)	5/31/1999 11:26:00 AM
From: RavenCrazy	Respond to of 17770

>>Most or totally legitimate, which one is it? It is a fact that lots of this aid (especially more in Albania than Macedonia) gets siphoned off and never reaches its intended recipients.<< Let me re-word that to say that our volunteers have found these people (using volunteers who are refugees themselves) to every personal observation we have made, totally legitimate. Enough semantics. You are ABSOLUTELY correct that "lots of this aid gets siphoned off and never reaches its intended recipients." Absolutely. It is one of my chief concerns. Well-meaning, compassionate people here are making contributions to large organizations, often run by well-meaning people who don't realize what happens at the other end. Our volunteers studied many receipts while there and concluded that the refugees are receiving 20-25 percent of the donations being given to large organizations. I cannot, for obvious reasons, mention agencies that are household names, but they are operating in expensive offices with large salaries, cellphones, etc. Pro-Macedonias are insisting that to keep the Macedonian economy afloat, these agencies go through "local" Macedonian agencies. And THAT, apparently, is what is happening to the other 80 percent of the contributions. Mother Tereza is run by a man who receives no salary, run from a warehouse with volunteer workers. In our case, we go through a U.S. church (for tax deductible status), then take the contributions to Skopje and buy food that Mother Tereza distributes once a week. I don't want to fight with you, Mr. Papadopoulos, but I can't sit back and let anyone undermine what so many are devoting all their spare time to in the hopes of saving lives. I have no control over the bombing, but I have a tiny bit of control over whether an extra child or two gets some powdered milk, and I plan to use that bit of control as I can. Yes, I want peace as much as you, but for the moment, I don't want to have my friend have to take any more pictures of very small graves at Blace where children do NOT have enough to eat, and I don't want to see that same starvation hit the Skopje refugees. Raven geocities.com

To: George Papadopoulos who wrote (10676)	5/31/1999 12:33:00 PM
From: Anthony@Pacific	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 17770

WEll George I was there and I went to the bank and I watched them gtive the damn money out and they spend a few bucks on cellular bills and gasoline and some money for video casettes ..but not a dime do they put in their pockets...,and before you open you fat mouth again...I suggest you hop on a plane and provve me wrong....till then shut that rancid trap of yours ..you arent helping a soul.. BTW..ONLY AFTER YOU have any substance to offer like evidence that refutes my accounts or evidence of improprieties ..will anyone listen to you......Sound s like you need the petrsons standing nearest you ..to give you a good ear flick,. Pecae, A@P