April 28, 1999

Texans return from Albanian mission
___By Ken Camp
___Texas Baptist Communications
___Twelve Texas Baptist Men volunteers dug latrines, distributed food and provided a compassionate Christian presence among the Kosovar refugees in Albania.
___The team, assembled in response to a request from the coordinator of refugee response for the Albanian Evangelical Association, left Dallas April 14.
___Working in cooperation with the Southern Baptist International Mission Board, the volunteers originally planned to set up refugee camps in Korca and train Albanian Christians how to operate them. But once they entered Albania April 16, their field of ministry expanded by several hundred miles.
___Although the volunteers' safe entry into Albania was in question when they left the United States, the Texas Baptists crossed the border without any problems. Others at the border crossing had possessions confiscated, but guards only glanced inside one Texan's suitcase before waving the group across, members said.
___Once in Albania, the volunteers were divided into three groups:
___ Four workers immediately were dispatched to Korca, south of the Macedonian border, distributing bread and cheese to many of the 3,000 refugees housed in a sports facility.
___ One three-man team developed a sanitation and personal hygiene system for refugees housed in Ereske, south of Korca near the border of Greece, where about 500 people were sheltered in a gymnasium.
___ Five volunteers initially worked in Shkoder, northwest of the capital city of Tirana and close to the Yugoslavian border.
___Team leader Gary Smith from Midway Road Baptist Church in Dallas reported that 1,000 refugees were housed in a high school gym with only two available toilets, and another 3,000 Korsovars were expec-ted there in a matter of days.
___Within a few days after arriving, team member Dick Hurst from First Baptist Church of Tyler sent a message to his wife that the Texans had built 40 latrines.
___All the Texans were due back in the States by April 26.
___A Texas Baptist medical team that was being assembled for service was called off after Albanian officials announced that Italy exclusively would provide health care services for the refugees.
___Texas Baptist Men Executive Director Jim Furgerson said his organization would continue to monitor the refugee situation.

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