HUMANITARIAN AID FROM THE SERBIAN COMMUNITY IN VANCOUVER

Posetite stranicu sa Srpskom verzijom ovog teksta.

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Last month, we marked the sad anniversary of the bombing of Yugoslavia. During the 78 days we gathered to protest this barbaric act, many of us donated funds and gathered medical aid to help people in Serbia. Afterwards, throughout the year, we organized the sending of this humanitarian aid back home. We would like to inform you of the help that was sent to Serbia because of your generous donations.

During the past year, the Serbian community in Vancouver collected over $110,000 CAD and a large amount of medical supplies. From May to December 1999, we sent five shipments of humanitarian aid to Yugoslavia.

THE FIRST SHIPMENT arrived at the Serbian Red Cross on 28. May 1999, escorted by Sanja Savic-Kallesoe. The shipment consisted of medical supplies bought with monetary donations, valued at $30,933.89 CAD, and a smaller amount of medications obtained from local doctors.

THE SECOND SHIPMENT arrived at the collection Center for Humanitarian Aid, MEDIFARM, Beograd, on 10. July 1999. It was escorted by Lazar Ilic. The shipment consisted of medical supplies valued at $20,936.13 CAD, and a large amount of medications and supplies donated by local doctors and hospitals.

First and second shipment were distributed to the following medical institutions:

• Clinical Center Zemun;
• Children Hospital, Tirsova, Beograd;
• Institute for Mother and Child, Novi Beograd;
• Medical Center "Dr. Simonovic", Sombor;
• Clinical Center "Dr. Mihailo Ilic", Kragujevac;
• Dental Clinic - Maxillofacial Surgery, Nis;
• Military Medical Academy: General Clinic, Maxillofacial Clinic, and Dental Clinic, Beograd;
• Medical Center - Surgery, Krusevac;
• Medical Center - Surgery, Leskovac.

THE THIRD SHIPMENT with medications and medical supplies was delivered to Belgrade by Milica Marsten on August 10, 1999. The shipment consisted of two aspirators for children, which were delivered to the Children Clinic in Tirsova, Beograd, and 10,000 antibiotics that were obtained as donations from Novopharm Limited and were given to the Episcopal Raskoprizrenskom Mr. Artemiju, in Belgrade Patriarchy.

Part of THE FOURTH SHIPMENT, which consisted of donated medications and medical supplies for the Regional Hospital in Novi Sad, arrived at MEDIFRAM on December 8, 1999. The shipment also contained a GAMMED IV Surgical Probe instrument valued at $28,498.86 CAD. It was delivered to the Cancer Institute in Sremska Kamenica on December 6, 1999. Donation of 500 DM was given to the Elementary School Begec for St. Nicola's Day presents for the kids. This shipment was escorted by Lazar Ilic.

The main portion of THE FIFTH SHIPMENT was collected for the Serbs who remained in Kosovo after the NATO occupation of Kosovo and Metohija. In the beginning of December, 1999, Sladjana and Radovan Markovic carried the shipment to Lipljan. It contained monetary donations and medicine. With the monetary funds we bought: hygiene kits for 3,000 people, valued at 16,000 DM; water pump for the Elementary School in Lepina, valued at 500 DM; medical supplies for the Clinic in Lipljan (an EKG instrument and an instrument for measuring levels of sugar), valued at 6,000 DM. In addition, monetary help was given to the war invalids and to the families who lost family members in the war (6,500 DM). 500 DM was given to the Church in Lipljan for Christmas presents to be delivered to Serbian kids. Medical supplies valued at 5,000 DM were delivered to the Institute for Mother and Child, Novi Beograd. Part of the donations used to finance the fifth shipment were collected during the Dinners to Help Kosovo Serbs, which were organized on October 16, 1999 by the Serbian Orthodox Church "St. Archangel Michael", and on November 13, 1999 by the "St. Sava" Serbian Orthodox Church.

Monetary donations were collected through the Medical Aid Find, "St. Sava" Serbian Orthodox Church, and through the Humanitarian Fund of the Serbian Orthodox Church "St. Michael Archangel", in Vancouver. The Medical Aid Fund Group was formed in April 1999. The members were: Milica Marsten, Snezana Mitrovic-Minic, Nada Nesin, Ana Ristic, Svjetlana Ruzic, Duska Stamenkovic, Goran Stanisavljevic, Sanja Savic-Kallesoe, and Ljiljana Trajkovic. A detailed financial report, documents confirming the receipt of the shipments by medical institutions, thank you letters from medical doctors and Community Centers, have been given to the Serbian Orthodox Churches "St. Sava" and "St. Archangel Michael".

We thank all donators and the Serbian Orthodox Churches "Sv. Sava" and "St. Archangel Michael" for their help and collaboration.

For the Medical Aid Fund Group,
Ljiljana Trajkovic
Vancouver
April 2000.

CERTIFICATES

Mi nemamo nacina da Vam zahvalimo, sem da jos vise ulozimo truda i napora da deci pomognemo, i jedino da Vam kazemo HVALA. Hvala u ime dece kojima pomazete da se sto pre vrate u najtoplije okrilje - okrilje svoga roditeljskog doma, hvala u ime njihovih roditelja kojima vracate decu zdravu i srecnu, i na kraju hvala u ime osoblja Decje klinike, jer im dajete snagu da u ovim tako teskim vremenima istraju u svom humanom i tako toplom ljudskom pozivu kojim se bave.

Primite zahvalnost i u moje licno ime, u moje ime prvenstveno kao direktora ove ustanovem kao roditelja i kao coveka.
Dusan Scepanovic, M.D. Ph.D. Prof. of Ped. Surgery
Univerzitetska decja klinika
U Beogradu,
Avgust 1999. godine.