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What it’s really like in the Serbian refugee camps
I have been down to see the refugees and migrants here in Belgrade three times now. Each time with a different level of depth and different insights.
Yesterday I shared my experience about meeting a gay refugee from Iraq while here in Serbia. But GSN also wanted me to share the wider picture I had discovered.
What I have seen has surprised me. What I have seen has left me more informed. What I write here is based on my own eyes, my own contact, my own conversations.
Serbia has many refugees and migrants. In volume it is a flood of people. Many are genuinely fleeing war and conflict: I have met Syrians, Egyptians, Eritreans, Iraqis and Afghanis. But this is a diaspora of the near Middle East and North Africa – all seeking a better life, free from tyranny, free from threats and free from oppression.
Everyone asks why there are so many young men? And they are young, typically between the ages of 13 to 35, I would say.
I now know that for many the money to flee was raised by their families and they were pushed to go – as they are seen as having the best hope of getting work and setting up home.
They are the first stage of getting their families out and making home for women and children who can follow later. Some have already lost everything and are alone in the world. Others have family scattered across the world.
Some ask why don’t they stay and fight? The simple truth is their parents, their families have begged them to get out and to see if somewhere in the world will take them and let them be the people they were born to be.
I met one person whose father had been a live-in home help to a British family for many years in Egypt. He had tended the English graves in lower Egypt. Now persecution and threats against Egyptian Christians has forced his family to leave.
They have no contacts in England as the family they worked for had lived and died in Egypt during the end of our colonial era. If you are British, like me, perhaps we might reflect on our own legacy around the world and remember why we are a destination of dreams, of choice and why people risk everything to get to Britain.
But back to Serbia and the temporary camp in Belgrade. Tents have been provided by residents and by the Serbian Army. You share a tent with your fellow travellers, at least four to a tent. They are cramped and tight spaces.
NGO and resident groups have been providing some food, there is invariably an ambulance and a small medical team to provide help and guidance and a check-up. The water fountains are running and portable toilets have been provided.
These people have not been sidelined to the fringes of the city, this is next to the main bus station and railway terminus here in city center.
It is fairly depressing, it is not as clean as it should be, but I felt no fear as I walked through and spoke to people.
What is upsetting is how directionless the young people are. They don’t speak easily, they are nervous, I sense their trust is shattered. They may be in groups but they are not close to those they are traveling with. They have been thrown together merely by the shared endeavor of ‘getting out’.
I would not have the courage to set out on the journey they have done, unless driven by fear or extreme need. I would not wish anyone to live as they do.
They do not know where they are going or what lies ahead and many are losing hope and frankly don’t care.
On the up-side the Serbian government, not known for its compassion, has handled this situation well with direct facilities and assistance for the people themselves.
I wonder if others further west would do the same. I’m sure in the UK we would be calculating the cost of the tents, the toilets, the healthcare and complaining about the state of the camp rather than understanding the journey, the trauma and addressing the future.
The Balkans does not have a strong economy, getting a job is not easy and while in Serbia they know they are not in the EU and that is a direct ambition of most of these people.
Refugees or migrants? Well whilst the troubles in the Middle East and across North Africa are as they are, I find myself thinking who cares? And to those who say they are young healthy men, they should have stayed and worked and fought, then come with me next time.
I have looked, visited and cried far too often over the last few days to take the tabloid nonsense about these people. If you are complaining about this wave or migrants and what they may mean to you, then understand their story. Ask if you would you put your son through this in order to escape and give some hope to your family and your future?
Ed Fordham is a campaigner for the Liberal Democrats in the UK and for LGBTI rights.
The post What it’s really like in the Serbian refugee camps appeared first on Gay Star News.
Ed Fordham
www.gaystarnews.com/article/what-its-really-like-in-the-serbian-refugee-camps/
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