COMMITTED TO KOSOVARS; ISLAMIC RELIEF COORDINATING AID TO REFUGEES IN SOUTHLAND.

Byline: Donna Huffaker Daily News Staff Writer

Armed with crayons, toy cars and a check for $250, a representative from Burbank's Islamic Relief greeted a family of Kosovo refugees Tuesday and offered to help them ease the pain of leaving their homeland.

While $250 can barely feed and clothe a family of four, the relief agency's Abdel Salam said later this week that he will supplement the check with gift certificates from grocery, department and toy stores.

``We're doing everything we can and we need to do more,'' he said from the agency's Burbank headquarters.

Salem drove to Downey on Tuesday where two boys, ages 1 and 2, and their parents are adjusting to life in a one-bedroom apartment in a new country. The Kosovar family is staying with cousins Muzafar and Nafija Djokovic.

Her cousins looked tired and distraught, Djokovic said, noting the 2-year-old had told her ``the (Serbian) army burned our house.'' As the family waited to board the plane from Albania to the United States, the toddler exclaimed, ``NATO,'' Djokovic said.

Since Monday, five refugee families have been referred to Islamic Relief from St. Anslem's Cross Cultural Community Center, Salam said. They've been placed with relatives in Downey, Riverside, Pomona and Los Angeles. By today, the agency will be placing refugees into homes of host families who do not have relatives in the country, he said.

The amount of money each family receives depends on its circumstances, Salam said. For example, a refugee staying with relatives in Riverside is seven months pregnant and has two small children. She and her husband need a crib, baby clothes and money for medical care, he said. For them, the relief agency also is paying the apartment's $750 rent.

Until refugees began arriving in the States earlier this month, all the money donated to Islamic Relief had been sent to the agency's branch office in Albania, where campsites have been erected for the ocean of people fleeing Kosovo. Donations that come into the office now are going toward the families being housed in the Los Angeles area, he said.

Worldwide, the agency has raised about $1 million.

Salam encouraged people to purchase gift certificates from stores like J.C. Penney, Sears, Toys `R' Us and Wal-Mart because many of the families possess only the clothes they wore into the country. Furniture, beds and blankets are badly needed, he said.

``These people can't afford to suffer anymore,'' he said.

Back at Djokovic's apartment in Downey, the 34-year-old resident said she and her family plan to stay in California as long as their country is unsafe and overrun by Serbians. And if that extended stay cramps her and her husband's life, so be it, she said.

``They're sleeping on floors, but they are safe,'' Djokovic said.

To make donations to Burbank Islamic Relief, send checks to PO Box 6098, Burbank, CA 91510.

CAPTION(S):

photo

PHOTO Abdel Salam of Islamic Relief is involved with acquainting refugees from Kosovo with their new environment.

Tom Mendoza/Daily News