Gypsies Still suffer lead poisoning in United Nations camp in Kosovo
source: http://www.savethesekids.com
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- tomas_o_carthaigh
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One of the last victims of the Balkan wars are a people of whom we hear very little about over the years, yet they are suffering in a camp where there is lead posioning and 89 are dead in the last 11 years, and every youth born suffers brain damage from the local lead mines. What does this have to do with the war?, you may ask... Why does the UN not get the Kosovar governement to sort it?
The camp they live in was made by the UN!
After the fighting dies down, Kosovo Roma refugees returned from Macedonia to Mitrovica, where they were housed in a schoolhouse, only to me moved at start of term to a camp in the shadow of the local leadworks. It was to be only for 45 days... it is now 11 years. Some were moved to the former French barracks (after being stationed there the French got a treatment programme for lead exposure) but the majority were left there along with new arrivals being deportees from Germany.
A site found in the old gypsy quarter was not suitable such is the fear after being burned out when the war ended. These people suffered worse than the Irish in the North of Ireland, yet did not retaliate with bombs and bullets. They done what God asks and turned the other cheek, bore their pain with dignity and silence.
Campaigns to get the UN to move them and get treatment are falling on deaf ears, with activists such as Paul Polansky, Bernard Sullivan and umpteen NGO'S active in the area.
My poem posted here focuses on a photo of three children, and how their lives are blighted by the lead poisoning, not caused by them choosing to camp in a dangerous area, or by the Kosovars or Serbs placing them there, but by the UN, that should be protecting them, that is ignoring their plight for the last 11 years.
http://www.savethesekids.com
The camp they live in was made by the UN!
After the fighting dies down, Kosovo Roma refugees returned from Macedonia to Mitrovica, where they were housed in a schoolhouse, only to me moved at start of term to a camp in the shadow of the local leadworks. It was to be only for 45 days... it is now 11 years. Some were moved to the former French barracks (after being stationed there the French got a treatment programme for lead exposure) but the majority were left there along with new arrivals being deportees from Germany.
A site found in the old gypsy quarter was not suitable such is the fear after being burned out when the war ended. These people suffered worse than the Irish in the North of Ireland, yet did not retaliate with bombs and bullets. They done what God asks and turned the other cheek, bore their pain with dignity and silence.
Campaigns to get the UN to move them and get treatment are falling on deaf ears, with activists such as Paul Polansky, Bernard Sullivan and umpteen NGO'S active in the area.
My poem posted here focuses on a photo of three children, and how their lives are blighted by the lead poisoning, not caused by them choosing to camp in a dangerous area, or by the Kosovars or Serbs placing them there, but by the UN, that should be protecting them, that is ignoring their plight for the last 11 years.
http://www.savethesekids.com
