5th October 2007

Tumeli Par
The convoy split off into smaller, direct action groups. Taking the aid directly into the houses. In Tumeli Par, we helped a family of nine. The house, was completely falling apart. Castophe as the French soldiers described it. Interpretation not required. 3 mattresses plus basic essentials were delivered here, and the delight from the children was something to behold as they had probably never had anything new to sleep on. It was quite challenging logistically getting to and from the more remote places, but its important to see how this is helping the people, particularly if we need to cascade this important message on.

Vllaih
Three of us went on with Mustapha to Villaih. About an hours drive from Mitrovice in the moutains across dirt tracks. It was only reachable in these dry weather conditions in a 4x4, I imagine its impossible in Winter. We were told that this was a difficult drop. The family were all mentally ill (if that's poltically incorrect apologies) A mother, father, 3 daughters and 1 son. They also had a dog, cat and donkey. The animals were in better condition than the people. What greeted us was a sight that I find difficult to describe, as my limited vocabulary will hardly do it justice. The main living area was also the bedroom and a kitchen. The putrid smell hits you before the visual stimulation of filth just takes your breath away. The scene was just beyond humanity. They clearly were unable to look after themselves, and you know that whatever you give them will look like this within 6 months to a year, but that would not stop you giving it to them as for a few brief months they would not have to sleep in beds that had just been soiled and left for years.

One of the daughters had also mutilated herself removing a growth from her neck. The wound was still open. It was about 4 inches long and about half an inch deep. No medical assistance had been or could be provided for her but how she missed her major arteries was a miracle.

Back at the hotel, you felt like burning your clothes. A half hour hot shower had to suffice. There is barely enough infrastructure to support the able of Kosovo, the infirm and mentally ill have absolutely nothing to support them just the goodwill of agencies and some local villagers.

4th October 2007

The Orphans in Ferizye
The 5 orphans living in the most dire conditions now have a benefactor in Macedonia. A businessman is building them a house on the same site as they are now. It will be finished before the winter. We took down lots of food, clothes and toiletries and also a wardrobe. The most valued gift was a pine table and 4 chairs. The 16 year old girls with apparent mental problems smiled, a rare occurrence.

The Chicken Project
All going well and more since the 12, 6 week ago. We bought more feed, told them that's all, they are happy to carry on by themselves. They now give eggs to the entire community, hence providing them with essential nutrients. The chickens look healthy, 3 are broody. The community seems to have been brought together.

We bought another 40 hens and are supplying materials to enclose the houses as a seasonal temporary measure. The project is a success.

Verbovc, Terstenik and Shutic.
An emotional day seeing aid given to some of Kosovo's poorest people. 4 drops, all by schools enabled us to go in and see at first hand how Kosovo's education system is coping with virtually no finance. The teachers, none of whom had been paid for many months all were so motivated to make a difference to the children. We provided them with a few footballs that were greeted with the most enormous gratitude as most were currently playing with punctured footballs. One of the schools had been destroyed in the conflict and the stories were heart wrenching of how students and teachers had perished.

We tried to buy a bottle of water for 80c in a local shop with a 10 euro note. The shop keeper was dismayed that he could not accept it as he only had less than 4 euros in total in the till. His takings for the week.

Hadar Centre in Prizren
Today Doreen Lewry and John Desty in Hotdog visited the Hadar centre in Prizren. John and Doreen have been collecting aid items and arts and craft materials for this multi-ethnic organisation who work with children with learning difficulties. Doreen reports a beautiful drive through the mountains to reach their destination and says that the Hadar are doing great work with the children

3rd October 2007   

Just a quick update on today's activity, which was all centred on the warehouse. We started work at around 8.30am and by 8pm we had unloaded all nine trucks and one of the 40 tonners, and eight trucks had been reloaded for tomorrows drops. Our efforts were helped by the arrival of our 10 airborne colleagues who arrived at Pristina around 3.30pm, bringing our total crew contingent up to 36, the most ever gathered together for a single convoy. Needless to say we were very glad of the extra hands, and I'm sure that the flyers were very happy to be put to such productive work as soon as they set foot in the warehouse!

We were also visited at the warehouse by a Lt Colonel from French KFOR in whose sector we will be working this time. They are very keen to see how we operate and to help us in any way they can. They have identified a number of needy family cases themselves during their tour of duty and we expect to be sorting out a decent quantity of aid for them to pass on over the course of the next couple of weeks in areas that we would not be able to reach ourselves.

We now have the timetable of drops planned out for the remainder of our time in Kosovo, which will include renewing contact with our good friends at Irish KFOR as well as deliveries to Balkan Sunflowers, Hope and Homes for Children, and all the organisations on our wish lists. We have a busy few days ahead of us but the weather is very good for this time of year so we don't anticipate any holdups in that respect.

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