Date: Fri 25-Jun-1999

Publication: Bee

Author: STEVEB

Quick Words:

Behluli-refugees

Full Text:

Refugees Are Settling In To Newtown

BY STEVE BIGHAM

Newtown residents are doing their part to ensure that a group of Yugoslavian

refugees are made to feel at home here in town.

The 13 refugees arrived in Newtown just over two weeks ago after fleeing their

war-torn homeland of Yugoslavia. They came to Newtown -- to stay with family

members Nasser and Hidajete Behluli -- straight off an all-night flight from

the Macedonian capital of Skopije.

While hostilities have ceased in Serbia and Kosovo, Newtown's newest residents

say they are here to stay. Life in their homeland will never be the same, and

as they watch CNN at night, they know they can never go back.

Meanwhile, life at the Behluli home on Hundred Acres Road is starting to

return to normal as the group prepares to move into two apartments in Sandy

Hook. Earlier this month, there were 17 people crammed into the two bedroom

house located on the farm of Robert and Judy Holmes.

"There was a lot of cooking to do the first couple of days, but then lots of

people starting bringing dinner and lunch over," Hidajete explained. "They'd

call and say, `Don't cook tonight, we'll bring dinner over.'"

Others have called to offer both furniture and clothing.

The ethnic Albanians were each given alien numbers upon arriving in the United

States so that they are eligible to work. One man is now employed in the lawn

care business, a second is painting and a third is now employed full time at

Edelman Teddy & Arthur Limited of Hawleyville, which also employs Nasser and

Hidajete.

Learning The Language

A major challenge for the new arrivals is learning how to speak English, so

Newtown resident Ellen Parrella is leading a group of Literary Volunteers who

are tutoring the family members three times a week at the Cyrenius Booth

Library. Newtown residents Pam Dimitro, Jane Golenbock, Darlene Jackson, Ilene

Dorenbosch and Joyce Paloian are the tutors, and Al Goodrich and Mary Mitchell

provide the transportation.

More than a year ago, Yugoslavian President Slobodan Milosevic launched a

crackdown on Kosovo in an effort to rout the Muslim Kosovo Liberation Army

(KLO) and disperse the region's population of ethnic Albanians. The Serbian

government's "ethnic cleansing" policy brought death and displacement to

hundreds of Kosovars. Under an agreement with NATO, Serbian forces have now

evacuated devastated Kosovo. NATO forces have since moved in and discovered

further atrocities -- torture chambers, mass graves and poisoned drinking

water sources.

Unlike many refugees who fled their homes in Kosovo, the Behluli family's

journey began several months ago when they fled their homes in Serbia, the

home state of President Milosevic. Many Albanians in Serbia had been rounded

up and forced to serve in the Serbian army. The family members headed for the

mountains and after a harrowing 20-hour journey, finally arrived in Macedonia

where they were taken in by strangers.

They made their way to the United States after receiving sponsorship from

Nasser and Hidajete Behluli.