On a Chicago radio station this morning, it was announced that sanitary conditions are now so bad at refugee areas that they are being referred to by the military and aid personnel as "Camp Diarrhea."

People are collapsing at the rate of one for every three to four minutes.

They reported an image of a formerly affluent Kosovar woman, still wearing her expensive fur coat, standing ankle-deep in "mud" consisting of human waste.

CNN now reports that the Red Cross and other aid agencies have been purposely hampered by the Macedonian government, and was initially *not allowed to reach the refugees* for days, while they had no food or water. The aid is still being intentionally delayed by that government.

It is reported that Macedonia does not want the refugees to become "too comfortable." They don't want the Kosovars to stay in their country, and will allow only the bare minimum of food to be distributed.

The news agencies show the local police forces keeping the people rounded up and crowded together, and not allowing them to move out of those areas.

In spite of the frustrations regarding the aid situation, I think Prepared will not mind if I reprint his posting of a few days ago.

Mabel

******************************

Hi Everybody,

I think this Kosovo adventure is misconceived, and the domestic propaganda effort is a pantload. But regardless of where we stand on the invasion of Serbia, we can all agree there are people who are undergoing some serious trauma right now, people who never wanted nor did anyone any harm. They're going out of the frying pan and into the fire. I'm not exactly a philanthropist, but I'm going to give till it hurts this time (granted, I have a low threshold for financial pain). I think if we all give a little, we can help these people get through this. Even if we only help one child, it will be worth it.

Here's a list of organizations that are helping. Pick one you feel comfortable with, and donate what you can:

Groups accepting contributions to aid Kosovo refugees:

American Jewish Joint Distributions Committee. 711 3rd Ave., 10th floor New York,NY 10017 212.885.0832 212.885.0889

American Red Cross International response fund. PO Box 37243 Washington, DC 20013 800.HELP-NOW

Spanish 800.257.7575 www.redcross.org

American Refugee Committee 2344 Nicollet ave. S. Suite 350 Minneapolis, MN 55404 800.875.7060

AmeriCares 161 Cherry St. New Canaan, CT 06840 800.486.HELP

Baptist World Aid 6733 Curran St. McClean, VA 22101 703.790.8980 www.bwanet.org

CARE 151 Ellis St. NE Atlanta, GA 30303-2426 800.521.2273 www.care.org

Catholic Relief Services PO Box17090 Baltimore, MD 21203-7090 800.736.3467 www.catholicrelief.org

Church World Service 28606 Phillips St. PO Box 968 Elkhart, IN 46515 800.2971516 ext 222

Direct Relief International 27 S. La Patera Lane Santa Barbara, CA 93117 800.676.1638

Doctors Without Borders/MSF 6 East 39th St., 8th Floor New York, NY10016 888.392.0392 www.dwb.org

Doctors of the World 375 West Broadway Fourth Floor New York, NY 10012 888.817.4357 www.doctorsoftheworld.org

Feed the Children PO Box 36 Oklahoma City, OK 73101 800.328.2122

Food for the Hungry International 7729 East Greenway Rd. Scottsdale, AZ 85260 800.2.HUNGRY www.fh.org

International Aid Inc. 17011 West Hickory St. String Lake, MI 49456 800.968.7490 www.internationalaid.org

International Medical Corps 11500 West Olympic Blvd. Suite 506 Los Angeles, CA 90064 800.481.4462 www.imc-la.org

International Orthodox Christian Charities PO Box 630225 Baltimore, MD21263-0225 877.803.4622 www.iocc.org

International Rescue Committee 122 East 42nd St. New York, NY 10017 877-refugee www.intrescom.org

Lutheran World Relief ChurchStreet Station PO Box 6186 New York, NY 10277-1738 800.597.5972

MAP International 2200 Glynco Pakway PO Box 215000 Brunswick, GA 31521-5000 800.225.8550 www.map.org

Mercy Corps International PO Box 9 Portland OR 97207 800.852.2100 www.mercycorps.org

Oxfam America Kosovo Relief Fund 26 West St. Boston, MA 02111 800.77OXFAM

Save the Children Federation PO Box 975 54 Wilton Rd. Westport, CT 06880 800.243.5075 www.savethechildren.org

Salvation Army World Service Office PO Box 269 Alexandria, VA 22313 707.684.5528

U.S. Commitee for UNICEF 333 East 38th St. New York, NY 10016 800.FOR.KIDS www.unicefusa.org

World Concern 19303 Fremont Ave.N. Seattle WA 98133 800.755.5022 www.worldconcern.org

World Relief, Dept. 3. PO Box WRC Wheaton, IL 60189 800.535.5433 www.wr.org

World Vision PO Box 9716 FederalWay, WA 98063 888.511.6423 www.worldvision.org

-- Prepared (helping@refugees.now), April 02, 1999

-- mabel (mabel_louise@yahoo.com), April 06, 1999

Answers

One of the first things I thought of when looking at the miles of crowded people was "how does one find a spot to take care of business?" You'd have to walk miles just to get out of the immediate crowd. Thanks for the list repost.

-- Shelia (Shelia@active-stream.com), April 06, 1999.

Next year here in the U.S., if there are large numbers of places without potable (drinkable) water for extended periods of time, we may have people dropping by the hundreds from diahrea also.

When was the last time you heard anything about the status of drinkable water and Y2K?!

Sincerely, Apple

-- Apple (villarta@itsnet.com), April 06, 1999.

Yes, Apple, water on my mind for the last year. In my little corner of the world, the "powers that be", are alternately happy faced and ostrich-like in regards to water delivery systems. The closest they get to honesty is when they say, sotto voce, that as long as the electricity stays on we'll be just fine. My little corner is in S. California, part of the so-called Cadillac Desert where populations will fail to thrive/survive if the intricate water delivery system fails. What is the guideline, the hierarchy of basic needs? 4 minutes without air - 4 days without water - 4 weeks without food? I don't remember it exactly, but close in the memory.

"All day I've faced the barren waste without the taste of water. Cool water, (water, water)." -from a Kingston Trio song that haunts from my childhood.

-- Donna Barthuley (moment@pacbell.net), April 06, 1999.

Donna,

just out of curiosity, do you know of any place that documents the nontechnological carrying capacity of an area - especially the desert areas of the South West? I don't think I've ever actually seen that sort of info, but it's gotta be out there somewhere.

hmm...

Arlin

-- Arlin H. Adams (ahadams@ix.netcom.com), April 06, 1999.

Arlin, I cannot point you. I should be able to and I can't. All I know for sure is that my nameless city in Orange County, CA, gets 75% of it's water from local deep wells, and 25% from the Metropolitan Water District, which, of course, gets all of it's water from the Colorado River and what they continue to rob from the North. My so-called city officials tell me that they have auxillary power to pump from city reservoirs for 3-4 days and can supply the city residents from the reservoirs. They do not talk about the transfer of the water from the wells (watering more than one city) to keep the reservoir level up, nor do they talk with any credibility about that illusive 25% from the MWD.

A search on the words, CA, metropolitan water district, Orange County Water District,...might garner some numbers. Not sure...Sorry Arlin.

As I type we are getting one of our few heavy rains this year. The water collectors are poised, so's I can use the water for irrigation. I go through the collected stuff too fast, and need to get a couple more sections of gutter and a couple 55 gallon drums for under the new downspouts.

Sighing, and remembering growing up in a house with its own well.

-- Donna Barthuley (moment@pacbell.net), April 06, 1999.

 Donna

Here is a relevant site for Water in California

California State Water Resources Control Board,

Good luck

-- Brian (imager@ampsc.com), April 06, 1999.

Thanks Brian....leave it to the Yourdonites...I always know, someone will have a link. :-) Be well!

-- Donna Barthuley (moment@pacbell.net), April 06, 1999.

I tried to post this info. awhile back but it wasn't well received at that time; I understand that maybe my presentation was too irreverant, but actually this book deals with primitive latrine activity that anyone may have to face, so I'll try again,and I am not connected in anyway to the author, printer, etc... There are 7 chapters dealing with a broad range of issues, including diarrhea. ..........."How to Shit in the Woods" by Kathleen Meyer, Tenspeed Press,Box 7123 Berkeley, Ca. 94707 800-841-book

-- KoFE (yout@town.USA), April 06, 1999.

Why do you all care so much about the Albanians, when meanwhile back at the Iraq thing, 500,000(thats 5 zeroes) Iraqies have died directly attributed to U.S. imposed sanctions? I'm not trying to trol you folks I'm just amazed at the selective sensitivity I'm reading.

-- R. Wright (blaklodg@aol.com), April 07, 1999.