Serbia: Refugee and Asylum Seeker Support

Serbia Daily Report – February 23, 2016

February 23, 2016

 

Daily Report:     Date – 02/23/16     Time Worked – 5:10-9:00     Location – Train from Preševo to Niš

 

Team Members – 9
  • Dejan Dolašević – Medical Worker
  • Ljubomir Čolić – Medical Worker
  • Stefan Milutinović – Psychologist
  • Sanja Popov – Psychologist
  • Miloš Tomaš – Social Worker
  • Ivana Matejić – Social Worker
  • Marija Ghabin – Translator (Arabic Language)
  • Suzana Ghabin – Translator (Arabic Language)
  • Senda Boukadida – Translator (Arabic Language)

Project Beneficiaries

Number Served

Type of Intervention

Male Children 0-5 2 Medical interventions and treatment: checking body temperature, providing treatment for nose congestion, lowering fever, treating ear pain and sore throats.
 
Humanitarian aid: providing water for preparing meals for babies, separation of mothers and children in need from other refugees
Female Children 0-5 11 Humanitarian aid: providing water
Male Children 6-16 10 Humanitarian aid: providing water
Female Children 6-16 20 Medical interventions: one girl (6 years old) has problems with therapy prescribed for cold, she was vomiting after taking medication (antibiotics) 
 
Humanitarian aid: providing water
Male Youth 17-30 35 Medical interventions: one boy (18 years old) has a high fever – we gave him a therapy; we had a boy with cold and pain in ears and we prescribed him medication for cold and fever
 
Humanitarian aid: providing information about trip; we had conversations with group of 5 men about their experience during their trip through Turkey and Greece, they write that in our train dairy
Female Youth 17-30 54 Humanitarian aid: providing water, giving them information about route to Germany
 
Providing information about trip and about One Step Center in Šid and about process of entering in Croatia or EU
Male Adults 31-60 19 Humanitarian aid: providing water and giving information about route to Germany and about One Stop Center in Sid
Female Adults 31-60 14 Humanitarian aid: providing special needs for pregnant woman, medical examination and counseling, providing water and medication for pain in throat
 
Providing information about trip and about One Step Center in Šid and about process of entering in Croatia or EU
Male Adults 61+ 1 Providing information about trip and about One Step Center in Šid and about process of entering in Croatia or EU
Female Adults 61+ 2 Humanitarian aid: providing water

 

Questions the Project Beneficiares Asked:
  • Do you have water?
  • Why are you helping us?
  • Where is the toilet?
  • Why is the train so full?
  • Why does the train no have a place for everybody?

 

Brief Narrative Describing What a Shift Working is Like

Today we were waiting for information about the train. The man from the railway station told us that the train is in Preševo, but only 100 tickets were sold at that moment. Around 3:30 we were informed that the train will depart after 4:00 with around 150 refugees. We prepared and went to Preševo.
 
We arrived at Preševo at 4:10. There were 168 refugees in the train, 123 adult men and women, 32 children and 13 babies. There was patrol of two border police officers and two railway officers in the train. They were traveling with us.
 
When the train departed, one team member got a call about a guy who jumped onto the outside of the train on the last wagon. We cooperated with police and they stopped the train immediately. Psychologist and translator went with police to check the last wagon. When they went out, the guy started to run away. Translator told him to stop and enter the train. We got him in our wagon where the police took conversation with him. The boy is from Morocco and he didn’t have money or any documents. Translators helped police take information about him. At the station in Bujanovac he left the train where police patrol took him and returned him to One Stop Center in Preševo, where he can ask for asylum.
 
This time, we had enough space for work, because the full capacity of train is 350 seats and there were only 168 refugees. They had enough space for sleeping. We started from first wagon and talked with each family or passenger. We did medical examinations for babies first. Interventions consisted mainly of treating respiratory tract infections, counseling and providing help for pregnant women.
 
All refugees had packages of food that the organization Care gave us the previous day to share. They had enough time to pass out the packages before the train departure.
 
This time we had enough space and time for each child to play and talk with their parents. Also we were playing cards with one group of men from Damascus. After that, they told us their story about their trip across Turkey and other countries on Balkan route. We started to make a train diary in which refugees can write their stories about war, traveling, family, people in transit countries and their hope about new life in Europe. No one refused assistance the whole trip.

In cooperation with the train driver we checked the lights in toilets. We took a bulb that we try to find and buy, so in every train there will now be light in toilets. The train driver gave us the contact of a company that is repairing the trains so we can check with them about the bulbs. That company is Depo Zemun – “Nega kola”. 

Background

RMF has been responding to the refugee crisis in Serbia since January 2016, by providing comprehensive protection and medical services, including emergency triage, to persons of concern. Our teams work in and around the Belgrade city center and at Obrenovac Transit and Reception Centre, the second largest refugee camp in Serbia. We operate 3:00 PM to 10:00 PM five days a week at our mobile medical clinic located in Obrenovac, with a second medical team providing referrals for secondary and tertiary care institutions. From 2017 to 2018, we also provided services near the border with Croatia, operating the medical clinic at Adaševci Transit Centre from 4:00 PM to 12:00 AM, seven days a week.

Additional programs include a mobile dental clinic at Obrenovac Transit and Reception Centre—the first of its kind in Serbia—providing dental care for migrants, who previously only had access to emergency interventions. RMF Balkans also distributes hygiene kits at six camps throughout Serbia to help improve personal hygiene and prevent the spread of infectious diseases. To improve the residents’ quality of life, RMF renovated Obrenovac Transit and Reception Centre in 2018 and continues to maintain and use the renovated facilities to conduct cultural and empowerment activities.

Objectives

  • Provide comprehensive protection and assistance response
  • Provide material assistance and information
  • Provide psychosocial support
  • Provide translation and cultural mediation services
  • Support existing medical institutions with capacity and mobility
  • Establish an information dissemination hotline