Kosovo Emergency: UMCOR's Response

The United Methodist Committee on Relief (UMCOR) began work in Macedonia in May 1999, providing humanitarian assistance to refugees who had fled the conflict in Kosovo. Early projects provided mainly emergency relief. Today UMCOR's programs in Kosovo aim to contribute to the peaceful and democratic development of the province. In the Mitrovica region of northern Kosovo, UMCOR runs shelter rehabilitation and agricultural, social, and community development programs that have helped families to meet their housing, economic and psychosocial needs.

Please give UMCOR Advance #333405. Please designate "Kosovo Emergency" in the memo line of your check, written to the United Methodist Committee on Relief. Give through a local United Methodist church or mail contributions to: UMCOR, 475 Riverside Dr., Room 330, New York, NY 10115. Call 1-800-554-8583 to make a credit card donation. The generous giving of United Methodists to the One Great Hour of Sharing supplements the cost of Advance gifts.

Photo: Members of the Beqiri family unload new roofing tiles to repair their home in the village of Bare near Mitrovica in Kosovo. The tiles were provided by the United Methodist Committee on Relief through a self-help program in which the agency provides the materials and families provide the labor. Credit: UMNS photo by Mike DuBose, 10/5/99.

News and Background

• UMCOR/Kosovo: Current Programs.
• Working Together to End Human Trafficking in Kosovo, UMCOR, May 10, 2005
• UMCOR and Dilemmas in Aid by Guy Hovey, New World Outlook, November-December 2004.
• UMCOR Responds in Europe, Middle East, UMNS, March 29, 2004.
• "There Is Always a Way": No Team for This Individual Volunteer in Mission, Michelle Harvey Erpenbach, March 16, 2004
• UMCOR Hotline, March 23, 2004
• News Archives 1999-2000.

Ongoing News

• Relief Web, United Nations (Balkans) ReliefWeb is a project of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).
• UN Interim Mission in Kosovo.
• Yahoo's Full Coverage: Kosovo Crisis.
• Yahoo's Full Coverage: Macedonia.

Photos and Multimedia

• Online Video: Kosovo Burning: Out of the Ashes. The contribution of UMCOR to the reconstruction of Kosovo. 14 minutes. RealVideo^tm: 28k/56k or ISDN/LAN |
• Kosovo Photographs Reproduction Rights Information.
• At Camp Radusha: A Photo Essay, April 14, 1999.
• Kosovar refugees in Macedonia, taken April 3 by Action by Churches Together (ACT).
• Portraits of Refugees, Photographs from Macedonia by Action by Churches Together, April 1999.
• Mothers and Children, Action by Churches Together, April 1999.

Maps and Timelines

• Central Balkans 1999, 85K.
• Yugoslavia 1999 (republics of Montenegro and Serbia and province of Kosovo), 41K.
• Kosovo Maps 1999 (Washington Post). Shows important energy resources in Kosovo, including power plants and coal mines. Serbs consider Kosovo the center of their civilization; this maps also shows some of historic and religious sites.
• Timeline: The Balkans 1940s to 1999 (Washington Post).