The war in Yugoslavia may be over, but the long journey back to life as the Kosovars once knew it is just beginning.

Thousands of refugees packed into tent camps, abandoned buildings, or taken in by openhearted Albanian families, are looking at survival and daily existence, not a life of normalcy.

Just back from a survey trip to several refugee sites in Albania is a three-member team from Operation Mobilization, a Christian missionary organization with its United States headquarters in Tyrone. Headed by Graham Wells, chief operating officer for OM, the group found crowded camps of people, many of whom were just shell-shocked.

“They are just trying to comprehend their sense of loss and being in another country,” Wells explained. “I've never seen anything like it; such a migration of people.

“It's far from over; even if the Serbs left today,” Wells continued. “The majority of refugees are women and young children, and old men. If their homes were burned to the ground, they have no place to go.” He also expressed concern over the potential for conflict between the warring factions seeking revenge. “Unless people's hearts are changed, animosity will continue,”

Wells said the six-day visit helped OM assess the needs of refugees in cities like Durres, on the coast about an hour from the Albanian capital of Tirana, where OM has a staffed mission. The organization has collaborated with local churches and other relief agencies to distribute food and supplies to thousands daily. OM also has staffed sites in Berat, Lushnje and Polican in Albania.

An unused bread factory in Durres was turned over to OM to shelter 400 refugees and serve as a food distribution center. Prior to that, the workers organized a “traveling soup kitchen,” Wells explained, seeking out refugees without any shelter. “Refugees are arriving all the time, trying to find somewhere to stay,” he said.

“The Albanians have done incredibly well,” Wells said of their effort to help the refugees. “You have to admire them for just their heart.” Despite an unemployment rate of more than 50 percent and an Albanian average salary of $90 per month, it's not unheard of for a family of five to house one or two refugee families.

While the huge international relief agencies provide the refugees with material needs, OM also is ministering to their emotional and spiritual needs. “We are there to care for them, show them love and help them to get over the trauma,” Wells said. “We can talk with them and provide the gospel.”

Many of OM's workers have been in Albania for number of years and have learned the culture and language. ”What an opportunity to show the love of Christ and share our faith with them,” Wells noted.

While OM is in for the long rehabilitative haul in Albania, Wells pointed out that “Westerners have short-term memories... they react crisis to crisis.”

If the peace treaty signed this week holds, CNN's images of children with tear-stained faces and rows of tents inhabited by vacant-looking men and women will soon be history, replaced with clips of new victims from a natural disaster or political uprising.

Wells said workers can purchase food locally and obtain goods from Europe. “Financial gifts are most effective,” said Todd Laba, OM's director of developmental systems. He said a lot of well-meaning Americans want to send supplies abroad, not realizing the cost of transportation. “You can pay $1,000 for the product here and $3,000 to get it there,” he said.

His most vivid impression of traveling to Albania was the greyness and desolation of the countryside. “It mirrors what the people are feeling; hopefully that's changing,” he said.

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