Couple Provide Safe Haven for Family of 8 From Kosovo

Joan Martin spent part of her Friday morning explaining how to use the washing machine.

Then, gesticulating and pointing, she told her eight house guests how to operate the shower. Finally, desperate to find out if they ate meat, she resorted to mooing at them, which drew blank expressions and head shaking.

Whether that meant they did not eat cows or thought their host had gone around the bend, Martin could not tell. Her guests could not speak English, and she could not speak Albanian.

Martin, who runs a business locating rare China, could not be sure how well she was getting her message across. But nobody was complaining, least of all the eight members of the Vlashi family, who in one improbable, unexpected leap had gone from one of the world’s most dangerous places to sanctuary in one of the nation’s safest cities.

This was Day One of an anticipated three-month stay. Joan Martin and her husband Lloyd, who have three grown children, were hosting some of the first Kosovo refugees to come to the region. They are among four families in Los Angeles and Ventura counties taking in Albanians through the Jewish Federation in Los Angeles.

The Vlashis, who came here from Macedonia, were linked up with their American hosts after the Martins contacted the U.S. State Department to say they wanted to help a family.

Lloyd Martin is interested in getting to know his guests. He plans to start today by making them a pancake breakfast and then packing them into the car for a trip to the beach.

The 55-year-old marketing executive most wants to have some fun with the Kosovo family.

“You don’t have to know somebody to reach out,” he said.

Over the years, the Martins have opened their four-bedroom home to nine exchange students and scores of other people who just needed a place to stay or were vacationing in Southern California.

This was their first experience with war refugees.

Far from their war-ravaged homeland, the Albanian family made themselves at home in a scene that was ironically American.

Despite their somber faces, Nuhi and Marandia Vlashi seemed peaceful as they relaxed Friday morning. Nuhi watched the news, while his children shot pool, played basketball and petted the family horse.

It has been months since the family has known peace. Days after the Serbs took over their town near the Macedonian border, they fled Kosovo with six of their nine children. One of their sons is a soldier in the Kosovo army and the other two children are living safely in western Europe.

After leaving their home, the Vlashis stayed in houses and barns near the Macedonian border until they learned that a nephew, Hajrush Vlashi, in Los Angeles had arranged for them and 20 other relatives to come to Southern California.

Late Thursday night, the family arrived at Los Angeles International Airport, and saw their nephew for the first time in eight years.

“It was very emotional,” said Miriam Prum Hess, who oversees Jewish Federation’s refugee programs. “The refugees looked exhausted. I can only imagine how much of a blur it must be to them.”

But as far as the family has traveled, there is still a long way to go. They cannot speak English, have only the clothes on their backs and are half way around the world from everything they have known. The Vlashi parents are faced with questions of how to take care of their children when they aren’t even sure how they will take care of themselves.

“There are a tremendous amount of challenges,” Prum Hess said. “For any immigrant to leave as an adult is one of the hardest things an adult will be faced with.”

The Jewish Federation staff will offer counseling, clothes, health care, English classes and some spending money during their first three months in the United States. Counselors will help families put the kids in school and the adults to work.

The Jewish Federation, one of three local agencies which has agreed to help Kosovo refugees, is expecting to help as many as 70 Albanians get acclimated to Southern California life.

“The goal is to move them toward self-sufficiency as quickly as possible,” Prum Hess said.

But the Martins don’t seem to care how long their new friends stay. Lloyd is busy planning trips to see the new “Star Wars” movie and a day at Disneyland.

“We just love it when people come and visit us,” Lloyd said. “It’s more fun for me and Joan than for them.”

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