September 11, 2000

Texas woman offers listening ear to grieving Kosovars
___By Ken Camp
___Texas Baptist Communications
___For Debbie Rouse, answering God's call to care for the widowed and fatherless meant moving to war-torn Kosovo.
___Rouse, a member of Midway Road Baptist Church in Dallas, initially journeyed to

WIDOWS from the Kosovo village of Quska, near Peje, display photos of the husbands and sons they lost to warfare. The elderly man pictured is the only adult male left in the village.

Albania in the summer of 1999 for a short-term mission trip, helping with the Texas Baptist Men relief effort among Kosovar refugees.
___"God burdened my heart last year for the women and children of Kosovo," she said.
___When the refugees returned to their bombed out homes in Kosovo, Rouse relocated with them to the Baptist Center in Peje, operated by the Southern Baptist International Mission Board.
___She worked as a Texas Baptist Men volunteer from last October until mid-August, helping missionaries with food distribution, teaching English to children using Bible stories and "Jesus songs," and ministering among grieving women who lost sons and husbands in the war.
___She worked with Baptists from Texas, Tennessee and Georgia and joined with the European Baptist Convention and others in providing food, clothing, shelter, wood-burning stoves and more than 38,000 blankets to help the Kosovars through a bitterly cold winter. Texas Baptist Men sent several teams to rebuild or put roofs back on houses.
___Baptists were not alone in offering relief to the Kosovars, Rouse noted. Other non-governmental organizations also provided emergency humanitarian aid.
___"The people in Kosovo said, 'The difference in what the Baptists did is that they came

DEBBIE ROUSE of Dallas (left) works with other Texas Baptist volunteers in leading a Vacation Bible School in Peje, Kosovo.

and listened to us.' That's what they needed more than anything. They needed to tell their story," Rouse said.
___For more than 10 months, she listened to their stories. As she earned their respect and friendship, she in turn shared with them the story of Jesus.
___"The women would bring out pictures of the sons and husbands they had lost. We just loved on them and cried together," she said.
___In addition to helping missionaries with food distribution, Rouse put together gift bags especially for women. Along with lotions and feminine hygiene items, each kit she assembled and delivered also included a Bible and Christian literature.
___Rouse remembered one woman who told her, "I have the Koran in my living room, but I keep the Bible in my bedroom. I read it at night when I cannot sleep, and that is often. It gives me so much comfort."
___In the past year, a small but strong Christian community has begun to grow in Peje, Rouse noted.
___One member of that community is Esat, a former Olympic athlete who worked alongside Texas Baptist Men in Albania providing refugee relief but was resolute in maintaining his identity as a Muslim.
___Though his wife is still a follower of Islam, Esat is now a leader of the church at Peje. When Baptist volunteers put a new roof on his bombed-out home, he in turn gave the house to the church so volunteer teams would have lodging.
___Rouse shared a prayer list from a recent service at the Baptist Center in Peje in which Esat's request was "that we can have more believers from my town (and) that they will see the light."

DEBBIE ROUSE of Dallas leads outdoor activities for Kosovar children.

___Another church member's request was "that my husband will find a job and I can build my house because I am living in a basement."
___As the rebuilding effort continued over the past year, later volunteer Texas Baptist teams also helped Rouse lead a Vacation Bible School and built an outdoor basketball court for the local elementary school.
___On the first day of Vacation Bible School, 42 children ages 6 to 12 attended. By Friday morning, 120 children were present, and a total of 140 children attended at some point during the five-day Bible school.
___Rouse told about her work during the annual Cedars of Lebanon prayer retreat at Mount Lebanon Baptist Encampment over Labor Day weekend. She also displayed paintings the children completed in Vacation Bible School.
___The joyful, sunny pictures painted in bright primary colors were in stark contrast to some of the dark and somber pictures the children had drawn a few months earlier, she noted.
___Rouse showed a photo of one 6-year-old, Saida Skenderi, who wrote a note saying: "I like to go to school and to play with my friends. I want to thank the people who gave me books, crayons and the rest things (provided by Samaritan's Purse). I love all people and children of the world. I would like to have happy childhood. I want to learn to speak English. I believe in God and I love Jesus."
___

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