Welcome, and thank you for taking the time to read this page.

My name is Kastriot Dodaj and I have been looking after for the Jesuit Refugee Service (the JRS) the Children who are victims of landmine explosions in Kosovo since 2005. Originally there were about 350 in the project aged from 4 to about 15, many of whom were suffering mainly from shock but after about a year’s support, the group was reduced in numbers to 55, all of whom had suffered severe accidents. They all needed at least one, and in a number of cases two, prosthetics, frequent medical attention and much rehabilitation therapy.

Initially, Eagle Aid, who have been involved from the outset in 2002, gave humanitarian support, providing winter food parcels for the young people’s families, especially those where their Father had been killed in the fighting. They also provided winter firewood for the least well-off families. From the outset, they provided ‘bus passes’ to encourage the most severely injured to resume their primary education. After about 5 years, the JRS instigated a Summer Camp at Lake Ochrid, in Macedonia, which I have organised each year. The aim is to bring the young people together and to help them to understand that there are others worse off than themselves. Eagle Aid was delighted to pay for the costs involved in these camps and they have continued to finance them each year since.

As the victims have grown older, the need for student bursaries became evident, as the students entered their ‘teens’ and needed to leave home and stay in ‘digs’ to go to secondary schools and later still, universities. The cost of these benefits varied as the rates of exchange fluctuated, but now, Eagle Aid provides €18,500 or about £16,800 a year, divided between the Summer Camp – 45% - and Student Grants – 55%.

We were very fortunate to benefit from the sponsored Cycle Tour organised by Dr Dominique Byrne in 2007, which paid for last year’s costs and the current year’s as well, but, we need to raise some £7,600 now, to pay for next year’s Summer Camp. 

Your donations towards these costs would be greatly appreciated; look at the photographs shown here. These are some of the courageous young people we are seeking to help.

Thank you for your ongoing support.

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