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WASHINGTON -- Several United Methodists were among approximately 180 guests honored by the First Lady at a White House reception on Jan. 29 recognizing relief organizations at work in Bosnia.
"This gathering represents an extraordinary commitment of religious and non-denominational organizations to humanitarian relief in Bosnia," Hillary Rodham Clinton told a larger group of guests and media representatives immediately preceding the reception.
"As a Methodist, I am proud that my own church is one of those involved," she declared emphatically.
Representing the growing Bosnia efforts of the United Methodist Committee on Relief (UMCOR), a division of the Board of Global Ministries, were the Rev. Kenneth R. Lutgen Jr., associate general secretary; Arthur B. Keys Jr., program development officer; Lloyd Rollins, executive secretary for emergency response; and Carol Van Gorp, UMCOR social service and volunteer director in the former Yugoslavia.
United Methodist Bishop Melvin G. Talbert of San Francisco in his capacity as president of the National Council of Churches (NCC) was also present, as was NCC executive secretary the Rev. Joan Brown Campbell.
Clinton used the occasion to announce a new relief initiative in Bosnia, focusing on families and children. For the first time, she said, the Catholic Relief Services and the International Orthodox Christian Charities were embarking on a project together.
The project, with support from the U.S. Agency for International Development and the State Department's Bureau of Population, Refugees and Migration, will work with church groups, Islamic associations, local non-governmental organizations and professional associations to enlarge a project providing counseling and other relief needed by people suffering from war-time experiences of rape, loss of loved ones and other trauma.
"The religious charities are committed to providing relief ... to all people in Bosnia who need assistance," Clinton said. "It is this kind of courageous cooperation that must be emulated throughout the region if peace is to hold."
She emphasized the role the United States with its history of diversity can play in modeling cooperation between various religious and ethnic groups.
"We all know that a permanent peace will not come easily to a place where neighbors have turned against neighbors and hatred among different groups have undermined the larger Bosnian community."
Clinton and Assistant Secretary of State Richard C. Holbrooke, who had accompanied the President to Bosnia earlier in the month, both spoke of his appreciation for the relief organizations and his meeting with personnel during that visit.
Holbrooke saluted the groups' commitment that had them working in Bosnia before the recent peace accord and that would have them continue that work after the international troops leave.
Lutgen commented afterward that the event at the White House was "a celebration of those church agencies that had really put a face to the tragedy in Bosnia."
That process made people aware of the problem in a personal way, he said, and in coming to know the people, "we demanded a peaceful resolution and became committed to it."
UMCOR has 75 people on staff in Bosnia, Lutgen said. The group is very diverse and includes 15 people from the United States and other countries and 60 people from the former Yugoslavia.
Continuing growth in the UMCOR efforts there may double or triple the staff working for recovery, reconciliation and rebuilding in Bosnia, Lutgen said.
An example cited by Carol Van Gorp are the three youth houses UMCOR has established in Zenica, Travnik and Novo Sarajevo, where school-age young people take classes in such fields as English, computers, art, dance and music.
In the United States for a few weeks, Van Gorp expressed the hope that four additional youth houses would be established this year. Her husband Dick is mission director in the former Yugoslavia.
Such projects offer opportunities for young people again to experience working beside others of different ethnic backgrounds as well as some hope for the future in terms of acquiring knowledge, she explained.
Rollins pointed out that local input is always sought in determining what is needed and what the priorities are. As much as possible, local staff and materials are made the foundation of each project with the expectation that what is built or created will continue after UMCOR moves on.
In a country where one in five marriages joined people of different religions, learning to work beside each other again is essential to long-term peace, Van Gorp said.
Bringing in 60 volunteers last year proved successful, she said. Already this year seven teams of 10 people each are scheduled, and, she added, "We would take up to 10 more teams."
An intervention project worth $1.7 million began in January in cooperation with International Orthodox Christian Charities, Lutgen said. It will address emergency refugee needs and resettlement.
Other efforts have included sending medical supplies, food and clothing. Lutgen recalled that winter clothes worth about $150,000 collected by the Oklahoma Annual Conference and an equal amount collected by New York Annual Conference comprised about two-fifths of a shipment sent to the area during the last months of 1995.
For about two years UMCOR has been involved in repairing housing, hospitals, schools and other structures essential to the resumption of community life.
In Gornji Vakuf, the U.S. Agency for International Development is providing $2 million in funding and UMCOR has given in-kind donations worth $2.1 million to repair municipal buildings, including schools and the water and sewer systems.
Grants have come from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees>, the U.S. Department of State, the World Council of Churches and many others.
Lutgen estimated that such grants and in-kind donations will have added $100 million to the budget administered by UMCOR during the 1993-96 quadrennium.
He pointed out that UMCOR is supported entirely by the "second-mile giving" of United Methodists through the One Great Hour of Sharing and Advance Specials.
January 30, 1996