Vjosa Macula, Programme Manager, Federation Office in Kosovo
Beautiful, shiny, dark brown eyes are peeking from behind Mirela’s mother and immediately capture the attention of the Red Cross volunteers visiting this flood-affected family. They are there to deliver some emergency aid and monitor the situation of the people affected by the recent floods in Kosovo.
After a little while and some shy smiles, three-year-old Mirela starts to tell what happened. “I saw the water entering our house. I didn’t know what to do. I just ran and called my mother. I was crying. I was afraid, very afraid.” Mirela lives with her parents in a village called Shkabaj/Orlovic in Kosovo. With one younger sister and a baby due to be born in a few months, she is the oldest child in the family.
On 26 November, Mirela and her family had to be evacuated when floods caused by heavy rains and snow submerged their small, old house. She had to be carried out by a police officer since the water level was too high for her to walk on her own. Many villages and towns across Kosovo were affected by the rising waters when several rivers broke their banks and thousands of people had to leave their homes.
Mirela’s family went to stay with relatives in another town in Kosovo. When the water levels went down they came back to look at the devastation the flooding had left behind: their house and the few belongings they own were completely soaked and spoilt. Her mother has tried to clean and dry out all of their clothes, bedding, blankets and some furniture, but it is near impossible to do with current sub-zero temperatures. Many of the evacuees will only be able to return home once the firewood for heating has dried out.
The family is thankful for the relief items they have received from the Red Cross, which is the only organization which has provided assistance to vulnerable people affected by the floods. Since returning home, Mirela has been sleeping in the baby cradle, which was one of the few items that remained dry, while her parents and her little sister are sleeping on the mattresses and blankets provided by the Red Cross, together with a family food parcel, hygiene articles and drinking water.
To date, the Red Cross has helped more than 450 families (some 2,200 people) and participated in needs assessments. On 28 November, the International Federation released more than 120,000 Swiss francs from its Disaster Emergency Relief Fund, to support the Red Cross operation which is meant to distribute food and relief goods to 714 families (3,500 people) over the next four months.
Mirela’s family is one of many thousands living on a very small social assistance income from month to month. Many more families, who need assistance, are not eligible due to highly restrictive criteria. Mirela’s father goes out every morning in order to find some work, but with an unemployment rate around 50 per cent in Kosovo, it is difficult to find a job that would allow him to buy sufficient food for his family. The fate of this family is just one example for the situation of so many in Kosovo which, eight years after the conflict, still suffers from a socio-economic crisis.
According to the UNDP, poverty still represents a serious challenge for Kosovo. According to their Second MDG Report on Kosovo (2007), 44 % of the population is living in poverty and an additional 14 per cent in extreme poverty, making Kosovo the poorest society in the Western Balkans. Over the year, the situation of vulnerable people in Kosovo has gotten even worse due to a significant increase in the prices of staples such as bread, flour, vegetables and cooking oil.
The International Federation and other components from within the Red Cross Red Crescent Movement have been supporting the local Red Cross units to assist the most vulnerable, not only during the floods, but also during the cold winter months. "A large part of the population lives in very difficult conditions," states Gunther Pratz, Head of the Federation’s Office in Kosovo. "It has been a priority for the Movement to mobilize resources and volunteers and assist the most vulnerable families during these times, but it is increasingly difficult to find the required resources.”
To try and meet this challenge, the Red Cross Red Crescent Movement has joined forces and is currently providing relief assistance which includes food, clothes, and firewood for heating, to more than 5,000 families in Kosovo.