At the end of January, Guy Tousignant, the Secretary-General of CARE International, and I visited Kosovo. Both Guy and I were enormously impressed by the international commitment of CARE in Kosovo. Eight of the CAREs that comprise CARE International have helped fund our $28 million program there. Some 350 of our 400 staff members in Kosovo are Kosovars; the remaining 50 come from 26 different countries and six continents. We have made important progress since a year ago, when just days after the cease-fire, CARE returned to work in Kosovo.

At that time, the United Nations divided Kosovo into five zones, and the UNHCR assigned CARE lead responsibility among nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) in the southeastern zone of Ferizaj. We faced the monumental task of helping returning refugees resume their lives and prepare for the oncoming winter. Our response included providing food to more than 100,000 people and distributing blankets and kitchen sets to families who had lost everything. A winterization program that provided plastic sheeting and lumber ensured that families were able to set up at least one "warm, dry" room in their damaged homes. An emergency heating program that distributed firewood for heating purposes complemented this. CARE also helped restart the agricultural sector, providing seeds for planting for farm families. Two health projects and a psychosocial training and support program supported efforts to normalize life in the war-torn province.

Our zone, which borders Macedonia, was especially infested with land mines and unexploded ordnance. To address these dangers, we called upon MineTech, a Zimbabwean mine action company, for help. MineTech checked for booby traps, mines and unexploded ordnance in every house in every village in which we work in the border area. Although they actually uprooted only 450 mines, their identification of minefields and safe areas has provided a minimal sense of security for tens of thousands of returning families. I am encouraged by, and tremendously proud of, how so many members of CARE International and staff from around the world have joined together and responded effectively to the humanitarian emergency in Kosovo. While the winter has not been easy, neither has it been the disaster many observers predicted. Major credit must be given to the incredible tenacity of the Kosovars themselves.

Our staff is now beginning to turn its attention to rehabilitation and longer-term development, and to focus on such issues as the rebuilding of health and education systems, development of small business and micro-finance, and increases in productivity among small farmers. The challenges before us remain great, and I am sure that CARE will be severely tested, but I am also sure that we have already made -- and will continue to make -- an important contribution to Kosovo's recovery.