Offers pour in to help Kosovo refugee family BY LIZ SZABO

Jan. 21, 2000

NEWPORT NEWS _ Readers across Hampton Roads are volunteering to help a family of Kosovo Albanian refugees whose story was told Thursday in The Virginian-Pilot.

The Halili family, who have five small children, survived the horrors of war in Kosovo but have struggled to adjust to their new home since arriving in Newport News in August. They live in a small, two-bedroom apartment and receive about $200 a month in food stamps, according to the father, Kurtesh. Two weeks ago he underwent cancer surgery, and he is temporarily unable to work.

"There aren't any tears left in this body," Ann Ankeney of Virginia Beach said after reading the newspaper. Ankeney, a retired schoolteacher, wants to donate books and puzzles to the children. "When I saw a picture of the living room, I didn't see a single toy or stuffed animal."

A local retailer said he wants to provide the family with mattresses. A homemaker wants to donate bunk beds for the family, who now sleep on mattresses on the floor.

A pediatric nurse hopes to help provide home health care. The Halili children are being given medicine to prevent tuberculosis, a contagious disease to which they were exposed in a Macedonian refugee camp.

An Albanian-American man who looked up the Halilis in the telephone directory early Thursday morning said he hopes to volunteer as a translator. The man, who did not wish his name to be published, said he will try to arrange for help from fellow Albanian-speakers in Milwaukee and Chicago, where a large number of immigrants from that country have settled.

Glynn Urban said the family's plight made her feel guilty about her own material goods.

"It made me sick and sad," said Urban, who hopes to donate money or goods. "I'm looking around my house and complaining about what I want, what I want. I have more than enough. If a lot of people are calling, maybe we could all get something together."

Maria Pasnik, originally from Poland, said that her sons, ages 12 and 14, hope to organize a clothing drive to help the Halilis through their school, Deep Creek High School in Chesapeake. She hopes that her employer will pitch in, too.

"It's unbelievable the conditions they live in," Pasnik said. "Both my boys read the story and said, `Let's take them here and take them to FunScape.' "

Only one person who called the newspaper said she had no sympathy for the family, saying they are expecting too much. Many Americans live in worse conditions, she said.

Cher Orlanda, a hairdresser, said she would like to donate her talents, too.

"It's not much," Orlanda said, "but I thought I could give the kids haircuts and it might improve their self-esteem."

The Norfolk office of Refugee and Immigration Services of the Catholic Diocese of Richmond, which brought the family to Newport News, could not be reached for comment.

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