HOW YOU ARE HELPING

Youngsters, some barely of school age, help their families unload emergency supplies delivered to refugee camps on their homeland's border.

Thousands of children have filled the makeshift camps since being forced to flee the brutality in their own country.

Most are living in appalling conditions with limited food supplies and often only a blanket for warmth.

There has been an incredible response to The Argus And Leader UNICEF Kosovo Appeal, launched on April 7 to provide vital aid to those in need.

Cash is pouring in every day, with the money already being used to treat desperately ill youngsters. You have donated nearly £10,500 in just over a week.

Our photographs were taken at two refugee camps by 28-year-old aid worker Edward Carwardine.

Bexhill-based Edward, UNICEF's South East regional officer, flew out to Skopje in Macedonia on Saturday.

Edward, whose only previous field experience was two weeks spent in Sudan in March last year, was shocked by the suffering he found.

Speaking to the Argus from Macedonia, he said: "Nothing can prepare you for an emergency, and that is what this is. The conditions are terrible. People are living in what can only be described as squalor.

"The lucky ones have tents and sleeping bags. Some just have blankets. It rained at the beginning of the week and everywhere is very muddy.

"You feel very low when you see people like that. You try as hard as you can to detach yourself from what has happened, but it is almost impossible.

"The way to deal with it is accept that although you can't personally do anything to make their lives better, you can relay your stories home.

"When people know what is going on they can get together to see what can be done. It is a big step forward."

Edward is sending the Argus regular updates on his experiences and the way aid is being put to use.

One trip took him from Skopje to a camp at Bogane, with supplies including a pile of plastic footballs.

He wrote: "Within seconds of our arrival, our jeeps were besieged by a throng of children, ten deep, each desperate to take a ball.

"Shkurta Miftania, 14, was one of the lucky ones who got a ball of her own. But as is typical amongst children in these camps, her new toy was quickly shared with others as a game of volleyball was hastily organised.

"Shkurta had come from Vuqiterna in Kosovo, forced on to a train with her parents, four sisters and three brothers. All ten had spent two days in the mud at Blace Camp on the border before coming to Bogane, which now houses some 3,000 refugees.

"Her journey out of Kosovo had been painful - both physically and mentally - crammed into the corridor of the train for several hours, without food or water.

"'One woman had a baby right in front of me,' she told me. 'And it died right away. The woman was so scared, so frightened that the baby died. She couldn't save it.'

"Footballs are, of course, not the solution to everything. Our load of baby food was gratefully received. There is a good supply of adult food here, but the pureed baby food was ideal for children with diarrhoea or stomach complaints."

From Monday, UNICEF starts a child immunisation programme and readers' donations would pay for treatment for more than 1,100 youngsters.

The amount raised would also be enough to buy emergency health kits, complete with drug supply, to cover the needs of at least 10,000 children for one month.

The charity is now looking beyond the camps to care for up to 80,000 refugees staying with host families in Macedonia. Field reports suggest some families have taken in up to 20 people each.

Edward said: "People want to go home. That is the message you get time and time again. The question you ask yourself is, how can you make things better for them? It is very sad to hear them talk.

"But nearly every day we are taking out supplies. It is only because of the donations people are making locally that we are able to get them to those who need them most. We may be hundreds of miles away but it all makes a big difference."

Edward said that while many of the older children were aware of what was happening, a lot of youngsters simply knew they were not at home.

He said: "One of my first impressions was that these are incredibly strong people, doing the best they can.

"But they have been marched from their homes, put on to trains and taken to a strange country. They should not have to be in these conditions."

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.