Both in Mitrovica and Pristina, the Kosovo capital, some of the region's most needy residents are former refugees who are still displaced or homeless. They lost jobs either before or after the war and lost their homes in the Serb burning campaigns. After the war, thousands of them migrated to the cities in search of a new home and work. As a result, Pristina's population has doubled to more than half a million since the end of the Kosovo conflict. But the dusty, industrial capital bustles only with the activities of the U.N., NATO and nonprofit organizations that are here to help.
Utilities are chronically in short supply.
Blackouts occur regularly and water is frequently cut off. Factories that didn't shut down as a result of sanctions and economic collapse were closed or bombed during the war. There simply is no work, and the ailing city can't support such a big population. Red Cross soup kitchens are filling the needs of the most desperate members of the population. The elderly, unemployed, single moms and farmers whose fields were mined or damaged during the conflict make up most of the beneficiaries.