Profile of a Refugee: Ahmed

At the age of 19, Ahmed was a promising university student from an affluent family.
At the age of 22, Ahmed is now a refugee sleeping on a concrete floor behind a bus station.

This is Ahmed.

He fluently speaks Farsi, Arabic, Urdu, French, English, and is learning Serbian. However, he didn't want to tell me what he was studying before he fled Iran because he hopes to continue his studies when he becomes settled.

When I asked him where it was that he wanted to 'settle', he answered, "Anywhere that will take me; France, Italy, maybe even Serbia." Throwing in a charmingly cheeky smile at the end of his response, one that could have radiated positivity even in the dreariest of conditions.

He invited me into the second warehouse building, where he was staying with his "brothers", and explained to me that these are people from all walks of life: "An Afghani doctor sleeps next to a Pakistani shop keeper, and cooks dinner with a Syrian lawyer." They put politics and nationalism aside for the sake of survival.

These boys were cooking chicken, barely enough for the four of them, and they invited Ahmed and I to join.

However, Ahmed says this isn't always the case when "tribalism and classism", as it's been coined several times, come into play. There have been instances, in other warehouse buildings, where people refused to sit around the fire with someone who is of a different nationality or social class. One young boy, who told Ahmed he was 13 years old, sported a bandage on his head from "a fight with a brother."

There that word is again: Brother. Ahmed comes from a relatively large family, with four sisters and two brothers, none of whom are with him. Yet, this experience has created such a bond with some people, that they consider each other a renewed family now.

For instance, Ahmed had plenty of chances to continue his journey further into Europe, yet has remained in Serbia for 3 months. He says that many refugees in the warehouses don't speak English or Serbian, and he fears that someone may take advantage of them if he leaves. Especially the underage children who are too afraid to go to the camps, because they believe them to be "closed camps," meaning that they won't be able to get out later and keep moving throughout Europe.

These types of camps do exist, in part, but they are predominant in EU countries, which Serbia is not. Therefore, all of Serbia's camps are voluntary and, unlike its EU neighbours, Serbia can not force refugees to enter the camps.

Another they don't want to go to camps is because most of them came alone, and they think that camps are more geared towards families and women; which, in some part, is true. This is the reason Ahmed gave for not going into a camp. He believes that if he enters a camp, he will be taking resources that could have been used by a woman or child. Which Ahmed believes would be a waste because he can provide for himself outside the camps, and they can't.

Ahmed reiterated, several times, that he doesn't want to leave his new family behind, since he has already lost his first one to war.

Let's Talk About Life

My security from the Ministry finally got approval to accompany me to one of the warehouses that has been continuously mentioned in the foreign press with regard to refugees in Belgrade.

This week has been memorable and emotional, to say the least. I feel so much at once, yet when confronted with the need to verbalize it all, I am stunned speechless.

The photos speak for themselves...

The building is located behind the Belgrade's main bus station.

One of the many graffiti covered walls on one of the buildings.
There was graffiti with Arabic and Latin letters.

As I was taking pictures of the outside, a group of young men invited us into the building.
The roof is pierced with holes that do little to protect from the elements. It rained later that same day.

A man was taking his turn washing his face with the communal multi-purpose water.

Another man shaves his face near a makeshift fire of wood they collected from around the city.

A young boy stands beside the fire where he is making lunch/dinner for everyone.
 When I asked him what was inside the bowl, with a smile he replied, "Water and rice."
That was going to serve as lunch and dinner for everyone in the warehouse that day.

I had intended to stay for only a hour or two, max. Yet, I spent close to six hours speaking with the people, as they showed me their living quarters and attempted to verbalize their experiences. It was getting dark by the time I left and the ambient was quickly becoming eerie due to the accumulating smog from numerous fires as the temperature began to drop.

Not one person that I met was rude, unwelcoming, or in any way abrasive. Everyone approached me with a smile on their face and even invited me to share what little dinner they had!

In the coming posts I look forward to sharing with all of you some of the astounding stories that I have gotten a chance to hear and experience.

My security's face has been blurred to conceal his identity due to his active duty status.

More Lives Lost to the Sea

A growing number of refugees are turning to the sea in hopes of leaving war-torn homelands as soon as possible and in fear that increasingly restrictive land borders will not allow them to pass. In these times of desperation, smugglers seem like their only hope.

The refugees currently in Serbia, who did not walk the entire distance, arrived in some part by boat, with routes being arranged by smugglers in Turkey, Egypt, Libya, or Lebanon. Turkey seems to be the most common path to Bulgaria or Romania, and advancing the rest of the way to Serbia on foot.

However, not everyone is fortunate enough to reach the shore.

A few days ago, a shipwrecked raft, with no engine, was discovered off the coast of Libya. When emergency response reached the stricken boat, there were numerous dead bodies inside. But the horror didn't stop there. As those bodies were pulled ashore, the emergency team realized that the beach was covered in corpses. Seventy-four in total.

Photo courtesy of @IFRC_MENA twitter.

Flavio Di Giacomo, a spokesperson for the International Organization for Migration in Rome, said that the rubber boat left Libya for Italy on Saturday and has been drifting in the water for several days. The nationalities of the people onboard is still unknown, as the coastal town of Zawiya, where the bodies were found, is an international smuggling hub that has only grown since major fighting broke out in Syria.

"It's really strange that smugglers would take off the engine," he said. "They are becoming increasingly cruel."

There are still bodies in the water, floating deeper into the Mediterranean due to the rough winter weather. The type of dingy that was recovered could hold 120 people, but smuggling ships are typically hazardously overcrowded, meaning that as many as 200 people could have been aboard when it capsized, and the death toll is expected to rise.

When I reached out to Mr. Di Giacomo's office in regards to the smugglers, a representative said, "More people just means more business for them. Lives have a dollar sign."

These flimsy, overpacked, and (now) engineless rafts have taken over 5,000 lives in 2016 alone, that's one out of every seventy-three who try to cross.

One out of every 73. Thinking of this number, it was hard for me to walk down the street today. Knowing that at least one of us on that sidewalk wouldn't have made it in that situation...

Photo courtesy of @IFRC_MENA twitter.

"Zadušnice"

Today was a celebration in Serbia called Zadušnice, during which families visit the graves of their predecessors, similar to the way All Soul's Day is celebrated in Sweden. Many families even bring food and picnic "with" their ancestors. The tradition of Zadušnice is one that has transcended religious barriers and a changing political climate, for centuries.

Walking through the graveyard you can see markers of the country's history. Graves with communist stars rest next to ones with Orthodox or Catholic crosses; at times there are graves with both a political and religious icon. Portraits and engravings on headstones tell stories of people who came to Serbia as immigrants as far back as the 1800s.

Me pointing to a Communist star on top of a metal mausoleum.

Present day immigrants, however, were amidst the masses in the crowded cemetery. Some selling candles and flowers, others offering to clean the graves or mausoleums in return for a tip. This picture below is of a family who had just given 300 dinars (the equivalent of just under $3) and a sandwich to the woman (donned in a hijab) who was willing to clean the family's grave before they set out their meal and flowers.

When I asked Nadja, the blonde woman in the picture, why she had given the woman a sandwich in addition to the money, her answer struck a chord with me. It was simple, yet verbalized human kindness: "Under different circumstances, that could have been me."

Introduction

Hello all, and welcome to my blog!

My name is Nina Čović, and I am a senior at BASIS Phoenix High School. This blog will be dedicated to the Senior Research Project that I am conducting during my final trimester of high school, "The Refugees of Serbia: How the Government & Independent Organizations Are Working to Aide the Recent Migrant Influx". I am very excited for the opportunity to delve into this subject during my 10 week internship with Tomislav Djordjević at the Ministry of Defense, of the Republic of Serbia, in Eastern Europe, and I hope that you will join me on this journey!

Everyone has seen news about the masses of refugees fleeing from the SW Asian region, referred to as the "Middle East". Whether it's in the form of political op-eds, economic projections, or striking photographs. When coming across these, I always felt that there was more to the story than merely what I was reading. It felt wrong to read about human beings as statistics and generalizations. That is where my research project comes in!

My project aims to explore through which avenues and to what extent the Serbian government and independent organizations are working to aid the refugees in their efforts to continue their journeys further into Europe. The top issue every country has raised is national security, in the face of possible religious radicalization of incoming migrants; this is how my internship with the Ministry of Defense will address the governmental point of view within my project. The independent bodies I intend to involve in my research are The United Nations Refugee Agency, The Red Cross of Serbia, as well as journalists and private citizens.

You can view my project proposal here.

I am extremely passionate about human rights and international diplomatic relations, therefore the hands on experience that I will be gaining during my project is greatly beneficial for my intended major (International Relations), and future career paths.

I hope that you will follow along!

The crest of the Ministry of Defense, Republic of Serbia.