the kosovo crisis

Looking to a Brighter Future

by Alix de Mauny, CARE International press officer

Selvete and Milhate
Selvete, 9, and her older sister Milihate, 15. Milihate completed primary school last year and would like to go to secondary school, to further her dream of becoming a doctor. For now, however, she has to stay at home since the secondary school is too far away, and the family doesn't have the means to send her there.
Kacanik, KOSOVO (February 9, 2000) -- Selvete Gavazi, 9, is lucky. She is a bright, happy child, living in a mountain village in the southern region of Kacanik in Kosovo. Only a few months ago, however, Selvete and her family were caught up in the worst humanitarian disaster in Europe since World War II. Violence threatened their village of Biec and Selvete and her family had to flee.

They walked all through the night, little ones in tow, over the mountains to the border with Macedonia, only to be turned back by the Yugoslav army. Two days later, they fled again, this time by tractor, and managed to get through the border to the safety of a camp near Tetovo, in Macedonia. They stayed there for more than a month, worrying constantly about what they would find when they returned.

When they finally made it back to Biec, all that was left of their house were scorched walls open to the sky. But the family was lucky enough to find five of their cows in the neighboring forest.

Today, Selvete and her family have food and shelter thanks in part to CARE.

Selvete and her father
Selvete with her father, Beqir Gavazi, 56, who dreams of a good education for all of his children.
Every morning, Selvete and her sisters help their mother milk the cows, which provide them with a vital source of food, and occasionally income. But the milk is not enough to feed a family of 11. CARE is providing Selvete and her family with monthly food rations, including flour, oil, rice, beans and cans of fish and meat. With the flour and oil, Selvete helps her mother cook burek, a filling, doughy pastry which is a mainstay of the Kosovar diet. To help them look after the cows, CARE gave the family five bags of animal feed. In the spring, they also will receive wheat seeds and fertilizer to plant their fields.

CARE also provided Selvete's family with a roof -- made of a solid timber frame and heavy-duty plastic -- to help shield them from the harsh winter temperatures, which can drop to minus 25 degrees Celsius. A new window and two doors helped to seal off a couple of rooms. Thick industrial carpet, and several mattresses and blankets ensure that Selvete and her eight brothers and sisters keep warm at night, and thick jackets help fend off the cold during the day.

In the afternoon, Selvete goes to school near the village mosque with her brother and two of her sisters. She is in 3rd grade, and is busy learning spelling, grammar and math. Fortunately, she and her school friends attended class in the refugee camp so they didn't fall too far behind.

"When I grow up I'd like to be a teacher, a math teacher," she says.

Gavazi family
The Gavazi family: still strong, despite difficult times.
Her father, Beqir Gavazi, nods approvingly. He has one dream for all of his children:" I wish for all of them to get a good education, and through that, a higher standard of living. The last 10 years, and in particular the last few months, have been extremely hard for us -- but now, finally, it seems as though things can start to get better," he says.

CARE's activities in Kosovo, including reconstruction and agricultural rehabilitation programs, are helping families like Selvete's to get back on their feet, and build a better future for themselves.

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