Taylor Wettach in Kosovo: Muscatine Project

In 2003 the Muscatine (Iowa) Children’s and Youth Choirs initiated an exchange program with youth in war-torn Gjakovë, Kosovo. The Kosovar youth participate in the Kosovo Children’s Music Initiative, which is sponsored by the Shropshire Music Foundation. In 2004, 12 youths from Gjakovë spent two weeks in and around Muscatine. On July 25, 2005, 32 Muscatine residents including choir members departed for a two-week journey to Gjakovë, Kosovo. This is our story:
"I’ve been helping with the medical screenings here. I had been somewhat prepared for medical work from the information I had received from my father, Dr. Wettach, but nothing could fully prepare me for assisting with the medical screenings in the camps. These poor, yet alive people, are so desperate and needing of help. Considering the hard lives of the people in the camps, this is understandable. Though we strive to help these people sometimes there are set-backs; we may not have the right type of medicine or not enough. But even through these minor set-backs there are great successes; a child with bad allergies getting weeks of medication, or a dehydrated baby receiving enough electrolyte fluid to last her at least until she can be brought to the hospital.

Though these successes may seem minor to many privileged Americans, the look of thanks and happiness on that mother’s or child’s face is enough to make it a wonderful and beautiful success. This in turn, it makes what we are doing here in Kosovo such a wonderful and beautiful experience for me." (Taylor Wettach)[ Read it all at Muscatine-Kosovo-Project on BlogSpot ]