Kosovo refugees arrive in LV

Tuesday, June 8, 1999 | 12:05 p.m.

To help Kosovo refugees ariving in Las Vegas, contact Catholic Charities of Southern Nevada. Cash donations should be directed to P.O. Box 2162, Las Vegas, NV 89125-2161. If you have items to be picked up, call 382-9781. If you want to drop something off, call 383-8387 for arrangements.

Eight Kosovo refugees arrived at McCarran International Airport Monday afternoon, the first of more than 150 that are expected to come to Las Vegas to escape the nightmare of a nation torn apart by war.

"It was a very bad situation. A normal human being couldn't live the way we lived the last 2 1/2 months," said Sabri Vllasa, speaking through interpreters.

A second group of refugees is expected today, according to Catholic Charities of Southern Nevada communications director Allan Johnson.

Catholic Charities is helping the refugees become self-sufficient and to assimilate into the American culture.

Estimates of how many Kosovars ultimately will come to America range from 20,000 to more than 80,000.

Vllasa, his wife, Halide, their sons Kreshnik, 8, and Kushtima, 7, and Vllasa's parents, Hamit and Sabile Vllasa, arrived at 5:30 p.m. on a United Airlines flight that also included Fadil Kurtaj and Sylejman Mustafa.

Less than 24 hours earlier the group had been among tens of thousands of refugees crammed into a camp in Macedonia where their possessions included one blanket and what Serb soldiers had allowed them to carry out of Kosovo when they fled.

NATO forces continue to bomb Yugoslavia, home to the Serb population that laid siege to neighboring Kosovo.

As the refugees stepped off the airplane, the exhausted travelers stepped into the bright lights of television cameras and experienced a fleeting moment as celebrities, though the somber expression on their faces didn't change as they were lead by officials through the crowd to a VIP lounge where they were given initial instructions.

Among the crowd welcoming the refugees to Las Vegas were representatives of Catholic Charities of Nevada -- which will help the refugees establish themselves here -- and several host families who have agreed to take in refugees for various periods of time.

"Fifty to 55 families have offered their homes," Redda Mehari, director of Catholic Charities Migration and Refugee Services, said.

The Vllasa family will stay with a host family and the two single men in the group will live in temporary apartments.

Ethnically, the Kosovars are Albanian. Their religion is Muslim.

Mehari said there is a small but active population of Albanians in Las Vegas.

Those who arrived yesterday were to attend an orientation this morning at the Catholic Charities headquarters.

"We will tell them what they can expect from us and what we expect of them," Mehari said.

The refugees are expected to follow a plan that will allow them to become self-sufficient within eight months.

Mehari noted that his organization routinely performs this service for immigrants.

"This is nothing new," he said.

Part of the plan includes an evaluation to determine if the refugees need counseling because of the trauma they have experienced. It also includes an assessment of the individuals to determine their skills and background.

The immigrants will receive a living allowance and medical coverage for eight months and additional help -- such as employment assistance and day care -- for 36 months.

Mehari said the organization routinely places 90 percent of the immigrants it aids in jobs within 90 days of their arrival.

Most Kosovar refugees coming to America are first going to Fort Dix, N.J., for weeks of orientation and to become acclimatized to America.

Mehari said the small contingent that arrived directly from Macedonia yesterday caught everyone by surprise.

Catholic Charities will spend weeks getting the refugees accustomed to the culture here, enroll them in English as a Second Language Classes and sponsor speakers such as education specialists and police officers who will talk to them about various issues they will face while in this country.

Vllasa, a carpenter by trade, said the goal of he and is family is to return to Kosovo as soon as possible.

His father was a firefighter. The other two male refugees were students, Kurtaj in medical school and Mustafa in a technical school.

Shpresa Hamza and Neat Shala, who work for Catholic Charities in Las Vegas, interpreted Vlasa's comments at a press conference in which the refugees sat bleary-eyed at a long table while reporters questioned them about the conditions they had just left behind.

The group left Macedonia with little more than the clothes on their backs.

Mehari said Catholic Charities will provide them with basic necessities until they are on their feet.

Vllasa said his family requested Austria or Germany as first choices for their destinations, but the United Nations High Commission for Refugees sent them to America.

"We were lucky," he said. "We never thought we would come here.

"We are happy to be chosen to come to America."

The organization will spend the next few days expediting the acquisition of work permits and other documents the refugees will need to begin a new life here.

Mehari said it is up to the individuals whether they choose to stay or return to their country.

If they decide to stay, they can become American citizens in five years.

The United States Catholic Conference, of which Catholic Charities is a part, has a contract with the federal government to help refugees and immigrants to become self-sufficient.

Mehari said there are about 10 national organizations with similar contracts, but the Catholic Conference is the largest.

He said 160 dioceses across the country participate in the refugee program, and the one in Southern Nevada is one of the most successful.

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