Public Health

NORTH MITROVICA, Kosovo | No one seems to care about the gypsies.

Displaced by conflict and stranded by bureaucratic inertia, dozens of gypsy families remain on toxic land 10 years after they were relocated there by the United Nations after the Kosovo war.

Lead blackens the children's teeth, blanks out memories and stunts growth. Other symptoms of lead poisoning include aggressive behavior, nervousness, dizziness, vomiting and high fever. The children swing between bursts of nervous hyperactivity and fainting spells. Some have epileptic fits.

In 1999 following the NATO led bombing in the Kosovo region, the United Nations built resettlement camps for one of the wars overlooked people, the Roma. Two of these camps were built next to a toxic slagheap of 100 million tons of lead runoff. The hurriedly constructed barracks were also built with old painted lead boards. Today, ten years later, the people of Chesmin Lug and Osterrode camps continue to struggle with life and health.

Unless otherwise noted, photos and text credited to: Darren McCollester / Pulitzer Center

This week's poem by Kwame Dawes is entitled "Portmore."

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NORTH MITROVICA, Kosovo — Displaced by conflict and stranded by bureaucratic inertia, dozens of Roma families remain on toxic land 10 years after they were relocated there by the United Nations following the Kosovo war.

A Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative reporter writes about ‘hurdles to obtain meager funding or to overcome editors’ reluctance to support the stories’—and offers suggestions.

The little girl does not smile. She doesn't have the energy. Hopefully she will soon.

She is in a rehabilitation clinic in Jocotan, Chiquimula, a province in the far east of Guatemala, near to Honduras. Her name is Domitila, she is nine years old. Her body is emaciated, she is fragile. Patches of her hair are missing, the veins in her legs show through her skin. Her face has a perpetual look of sorrow – the muscles are too weak to change expression. Other children in her family were in similar shape, the nurse tells me.

J. Malcolm Garcia, for the Pulitzer Center. Photo by Darren McCollester

Report and photo by Darren McCollester, for the Pulitzer Center