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Introduction
In March 1999, war exploded in Kosovo and nearly 1 million people fled. For more than three months, this huge population sat in refugee camps across the border from their former farms and fields, listening to the bombs and explosions, the distant sounds of war. Then the war ended and Kosovo's people began a journey of recovery as they sought to rebuild their shattered lives. CARE's Mike Godfrey tells of his firsthand experience in Kosovo, overseeing relief and recovery efforts taking fragile hold…
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Arrival
Getting into Kosovo was no easy achievement. Even now, much of the province's borders are closed, the airport is restricted to military and United Nations operations, and the one road from neighboring Macedonia is clogged with military and relief convoys. I opted to take the road up from Skopje, Macedonia to more closely measure the impact of the war.
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Coordination in Pristina
We dealt with the non-glamorous stuff that needed addressing to get the big job done. We unclogged logjams at border crossings, found lost deliveries in transit, promoted collective security policies, proposed local contracting standards, located warehouse space and set criteria for beneficiaries. It took endless hours, but saved enormous problems down the road.
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Shelter Teams in Mitrovica
I met Izhmet Behrami and his wife, Julie, cleaning the rubble from their home in the Albanian enclave of North Mitrovica. The walls remained, but the house had been gutted by fire. There was no roof, and the summer sun poured in. The pattern of the old wooden floor rested in ash in eerie testimony on the concrete sub-floor. Izhmet and Julie were busy with brooms and shovels and had accumulated a huge pile of refuse and ruined personal effects in front of the house.
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A Trip to Chabra
Chabra had been leveled. Not just bombed and burned, but bulldozed into piles. Nothing recognizable remained. It was probably the worst case of destruction in the entire conflict, and the sights were accompanied by wrenching feelings in all of us. "Why?" "What were the passions in the hearts of people that brought the communities to this point?"
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Joining the Deminers
Land mines and unexploded ordnance (UXO) continue to litter the Kosovar countryside. They lie as deadly artifacts of the war, tripping up the unknowing and attracting the curious child. "Mine incidents," as they are dispassionately called, are still a hard fact of daily life in Kosovo.
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Along the Southern Border
The small food warehouse was run by one of the elder women in the community. She received our delivery, helped secure it in the storeroom and then showed us around the few houses in the village. Malesi had been hard-hit, and it still showed in the faces of its people. I left with that uncomfortable feeling of "there-but-for-the-grace-of-God-go-I." Not shame, but deep sadness.
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Departure
It was 5:15 a.m. and the city of Pristina was quiet except for the occasional KFOR patrol vehicle. The sun was still moments from coming up. I was shaking off the grogginess from my sendoff the previous night. The Kosovar tradition is to bestow a big red blanket and flag as gifts and spend a late night of dancing to say falminderet -- thank you -- to those who have helped. We were a well-practiced group in this tradition, given frequent staff changes, and I was emotional with my own fare-thee-wells to the group. My stay in Kosovo had been a seminal experience.
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Epilogue
I returned to Kosovo in late January. Not only was I keeping a promise to the CARE team that I visit during the hardship of winter, but I also very much wanted to measure the progress of the province personally. The trip was a difficult one for me in many ways...
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Message from the President
At the end of January, Guy Tousignant, the Secretary-General of CARE International, and I visited Kosovo. Both Guy and I were enormously impressed by the international commitment of CARE in Kosovo. Eight of the CAREs that comprise CARE International have helped fund our $28 million program there. Some 350 of our 400 staff members in Kosovo are Kosovars; the remaining 50 come from 26 different countries and six continents. We have made important progress since a year ago, when just days after the cease-fire, CARE returned to work in Kosovo.
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