>From: waty@gn.apc.org (sian & ippy)
>*******************
>WATFY KOSOVA APPEAL - Update July 1999
>*******************
>
>The mainstream media images of Kosovan women have shown us women refugees
>as passive recipients of aid or as victims of violence, rape and trauma.
>They haven't shown us how many women's groups from Kosova - themselves
>refugees - have been organising and working in the refugee camps
WATFY has been sending financial donations to two of these women's groups -
>Motrat Qiriazi and the Centre for the Protection for Women and Children -
>to support their work with refugees in Macedonia.
>Now that the bombing is over,these women's groups continue to need our
>support as they and other refugees are return to damaged or destroyed
>homes, to families bereaved by war, to a completely destroyed
>infrastructure, and a very uneasy "peace". Women's groups face a massive
>task in both continuing their work with women and children traumatised and
>damaged by the war and in helping to build a real peace in Kosova. and we
>know that it will become increasingly difficult to raise funds now that the war is over.
As Vjosa Dobruna, co-ordinator of the Centre for the Protection for Women
>and Children wrote to us, "I am sure that there is going to be little help
>in addressing women's issues, so we have to work fast. I know that
>priorities are shelter and food, but we have to work in both levels, and
>develop a woman's concept of development of our society."
>Could you please forward this appeal as widely as possible, so that we
>can help these women to ensure that women in Kosova can rebuild their lives,
>their homes, and a real peace.
>
>*******************
>The Kosovar Centre for Protection for Women and Children
>*******************
>
>The Kosovar Centre for Protection for Women and Children was set up
in
>1994
>as a community clinic. The Centre also worked extensively with
>Kosovans
>displaced by Serbian military and police aggression,following the
>Drenica
>massacre in 1998.
>Their premises in Pristina were destroyed by Serb forces in March
>1999, and
>the women set up a new Women's Centre in Tetova, Macedonia providing
>medical services, counselling and legal support.
>
>In collaboration with a local Macedonian women's group, the "Women's
>Centre
>- Tetova" provided a women's and children's health centre,
>counselling,
>legal and human rights advice to refugees. They are also worked in
>the
>camps with women, and with groups of children, encouraging them talk
>about
>their experiences, mounting an exhibition of paintings by children
>from the
>camps. Now that refugees are returning, the Kosovan women are moving
>back
>to Pristina to rebuild their centre, and to set up new women's
>centres
>throughout Kosova. The Centre in Tetova will be run by local women,
>and act
>as a bridge betwen the two communities.
>
>
>*******************
>Motrat Qiriazi
>*******************
>
>Motrat Qiriazi (Qiriazi Sisters) was founded in Pristina in 1994 as
>an
>education project for women and girls in rural areas of Kosovo.
Their
>work
>included income generation projects, education projects for young
>women and
>women's health care work and advocacy. In March 1999, women from the
>group
>were forced to leave Pristina by Serb forces. Motrat Qiriazi
>continued
>their work in Cegrane refugee camp, near Tetova in Macedonia where
>they
>organized a tent where women could meet. Their activities have
>included
>setting up a girls' group, a women's group, daily meetings of local
>coordinators, film and photography workshops, English lessons, and -
>twice
>a week - visiting hairdressers working the tent.
>They have also been providing refugees with aid, training local
women,
>and
>assisting refugees to get home.
>
>A woman who visited the Motrat Qiriazi project wrote:
>
>"The girls are laughing. It is so hot in the [women's] tent. Then
>they
>start singing. A song of Drenica and Kosovo is a favorite one. At
the
>end
>there is tape player (with batteries). Dancing is beginning while
>Albanian
>folk music is playing. In the middle of the day, in the middle of
the
>tent,
>with no space to move, the girls without adresses, whose parents
were
>forced to throw their identity cards into plastic bags when in May
>they
>were deported to the border, with Serbian police as an escort, the
>girls
>who are longing for their homes, the girls who were hungry and
>threatened
>for days, the girls exhausted from being displaced from their lives,
>like
>many other girls from Croatia or Bosnia or Palestine, here they are,
>they
>survived and they are dancing".
>
>*******************
>Medica Kosova
>*******************
>
>WATFY has also supported Medica Kosova, a partnership between Medica
>Mondiale and Albanian and Kosovan women's organisations. Medica
Kosova
>has
>been working in Albania to provide support for women traumatised by
>rape
>and other acts of violence in Kosova.
>Working with the Tirana Counselling Centre for Women and Girls,
Medica
>have
>trained Albanian and Kosovan women in appropriate, gender-sensitive,
>medical and psycho-social responses to rape and other forms of war
>trauma.
>Training has beeen provided by Bosnian women from the Medica Women's
>Therapy Centre in Zenica, central Bosnia.
>Medica have faced real problems in establishing tent-based clinics
in
>refugee camps in Albania, and until recently had only been able to
>work in
>one centre.
>They have also now obtained and equipped a Mobile Clinic. Like the
>other
>groups, Medica are now planning to relocate to Kosova.
>
>*******************
>Suncokret - Balkan Sunflowers
>*******************
>
>WATFY has also sent a donation to Balkan Sunflowers to assist them
>with
>their work at Way-Stations, set up to provide returning refugees
with
>a
>safe place to stop overnight on their way home. Balkan Sunflowers
have
>been
>providing activities for refugee children, resources for refugee
>families
>and distributing Mine-Awareness information to returning refugees.
>
>*******************
>Women in Black and other women's organisations in Serbia
>*******************
>
>WATFY has supported anti-war women's organisations in Serbia for
many
>years, providing financial donations and humanitarian aid for
refugees
>with
>whom they work. We are currently responding to an appeal from the
SOS
>Hotline for Women and Children who set up a "fear" help-line to
>provide
>counselling and support to women during the NATO bombing. Now that
the
>war
>is over, they face increasing calls from women experiencing domestic
>violence from men returning from the war; the destruction of roads,
>bridges
>and transport networks also means increased transport costs for SOS
>volunteers.
>
>*******************
>WATFY
>*******************
>
>Women's Aid to former Yugoslavia was founded in 1992 in response to
>the
>wars in Croatia and Bosnia. We are a humanitarian organisation
>prioritising
>the needs of women refugees, working in conjunction with
>locally-based
>women's and refugee organisations. WATFY has worked in Bosnia,
>Croatia,
>Serbia and Slovenija delivering appropriate humanitarian aid to
>refugees
>and displaced people, irrespective of nationality, ethnicity or
>religion.
>We also provide funding and other resources in response to requests
>from
>our partners. WATFY also supports women's, peace and anti-war groups
>in the
>region.
>
>For further information, details of aid needed, appeal leaflets &
>posters
>or a copy of our latest report, contact us at the address below.
>
>*******************
>HOW TO DONATE
>*******************
>Please send cheques made out to WATFY (Women's Aid to Former
>Yugoslavia)
>20 Tennyson Road Portswood Southampton S017 2GW
>Cash and cheques can also be paid into the WATFY account:
>TSB Bank, 92-94 Above Bar Street, Southampton, England
>Sort code 77-95-34; Account number: 00914268
>
>Please advise us of payments made to our bank account, so that we
can
>send
>you reports and updates. If you want your donation to go
specifically
>to
>one of the organisations described, please let us know.
>
>*************
>
>
>
>WATFY
>Women's Aid to former Yugoslavia
>20 Tennyson Road
>Portswood
>Southampton
>SO17 2GW
>Britain
>
>Tel: +1703 551094
>Fax: +1703 554434
>E-mail: waty@gn.apc.org
>
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"Now, when I get back here, I expect to find all of you marching
through the
streets with great bunches of wild flowers in your arms." Kenneth
Patchen.
Email: jane@gn.apc.org