COUPLE ACHES TO AID ALBANIAN REFUGEES.

Byline: Donna Huffaker Daily News Staff Writer

Loay and Hanadi Alnaji couldn't get to Albania so they're hoping ethnic Albanians will come to them.

The Fullerton residents were among the first Southern California residents to call Islamic Relief in Burbank, asking officials there to place them on a list of host families to care for Kosovar refugees.

``We see their suffering on the news every night and my wife would cry. It's like we were in a cage and couldn't do anything. We had to help. We had to do something,'' Loay Alnaji, 26, said Friday.

He and Hanadi, 25, who moved to Southern California from Jordan, wanted to do more than send money to the relief efforts. The Muslim couple wanted to fly to the Balkans and help the thousands of families driven from their homes by the Serbs. But because Alnaji is waiting for his green card application to be approved and his wife is not yet a resident, the couple were not allowed to travel overseas, he said.

So they did the next best thing.

The Alnajis offered to give up their one-bedroom apartment to a displaced family for as long as it takes. That means Loay Alnaji would move in with a friend and his wife would stay with a neighbor - a minor inconvenience, Loay said, compared to the hideous, life-altering experiences the refugees have endured.

The couple has been married just eight months.

``This is too big. You have to do something. So what if we live somewhere else for three or four months. I wish we could do more,'' he said.

At Islamic Relief's Burbank headquarters, Abdelsalam Serajudeen said area residents have been approved to host 50 families. Officials from the relief effort have requested that many families be flown to Southern California.

The first group of 20,000 Kosovar refugees expected to relocate to America arrived Wednesday at McGuire Air Force Base in New Jersey. The 453 people, mainly women, children and elderly ethnic Albanians, will be housed temporarily at the Fort Dix military base.

Serajudeen said the refugees will travel to New York, New Jersey and Washington, because those areas have a large number of residents of Albanian descent.

He does not know when the families will begin trickling into the Los Angeles area, he said.

``Southern California is very generous. A lot of people have been calling. Many are very willing to help,'' he said.

Loay Alnaji, who speaks English fluently, received his bachelor's degree from Yarmouk University in Jordan and earned a master's degree in computer science from California State University, Fresno. He and Hanadi are computer programmers at Capital Management Sciences in West Los Angeles. They will both take time off work when they adopt a family.

Host families' responsibilities include housing the refugees, helping them apply for Social Security, welfare and financial aid. They must also provide transportation.

Alnaji said he and his wife will pay the rent for the refugee family, whether they live in the Alnajis' apartment or an adjacent one.

``Money is not an issue,'' he said, noting the couple will borrow money if they have to.