Paying To Live In Squalor
Even as new refugee camps are being built, overcrowding and general mass confusion have forced some refugees to pay not only with sweat and frustration, but also with cash, CBS News Correspondent Russ Mitchell reports from Tirana, Albania.
Refugee Demilee Azan said, "For one week, I went to find a place in the camps and I couldnÂ't. ThatÂ's why I am here."
Azan is one of 16,000 refugees now living in private homes in the village of Skallnoor, a place where families have to pay $50 to $150 a month to live in a room with as many as 25 people.
Kosovar refugees are turned away from camps and come to live in villages because they have no other choice.
Conditions inside the small rooms of the houses are cramped and ripe for the spread of disease among the families living inside.
At Skallnoor, there is food and medical care, but the homeowners provide little, if any, support. Additionally, ethnic Albanian children living in the villages canÂ't attend school classes until the Albanian children leave the small school buildings for the summer.
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| Kosovar refugees |
U.S. Army Sgt. George Nastvig said, "They run the gamut from being very well-organized to being in a state of total disarray."
Most refugees are not only dealing with reality, theyÂ're also coping with uncertainty.
One woman said she thinks the Serbs may have killed her husband.
Another woman, who already lost one child and has five with her at Skallnoor, said, "We donÂ't know where to go. We donÂ't know where to stay. WeÂ're just surviving."
Refugees approach complete strangers and, desperate for information, try to engage them in conversation.
One refugee approached a CBS News crew because he knew they had "satellite technology" and believed they could help find his brother.
Meanwhile, as the number of Kosovar refugees in Albania exceeds 400,000, some are concerned that the international aid effort is failing.
Philip Bloomer of Oxfam International, a group of 11 autonomous non-government organizations, told CBS This Morning that urgent action is needed to avoid widespread epidemics.
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| Phillip Bloomer of Oxfam Intenational |
Bloomer said the main effort must be in creating new camps that provide space and supplies that people need for their basic rights to be upheld.
"If the essential conditions of security are not met, this humanitarian mission will have to continue throughout the winter," Bloomer said. "Tents are going to be inhumane accommodation for the refugees in a Balkan winter. There is no way people will be able to live there."
Even in May, government officials are very concerned about "winterizing" refugee camps, indicating a lack of optimism for a quick end to the refugee crisis.