After visiting Salvatore’s Refugee Camp in Bujanovac (Roma refugee from Kosovo), one of the main characteristics and realities I have observed is the considerable amount of children living there and the smile they carry with themselves despite the terribly insane conditions of the camp. Before arriving in the camp I thought the people would be dirty and would not be happy in receiving us in their community, which was actually not the case.
Two of my colleagues in Generator and me decided to visit the camp some weeks before and to carry out a small survey addressed to the young people in order to find out what the expectation of the young people are towards their future and also to know how their situation is and how they feel about that.The camp exist for 11 years and very few things have changed since then.
The questionnaires we had prepared in advance were distributed after our visit by the leader of the camp. We therefore don’t know who answered the questionnaires and we do not have some concrete information about their identity (such as their age for example). Considering the kind of answers given, and after assessing some of the results, we found out that some of the answers were almost the same for everyone, as if they answered all together and influenced eachother on their choices.
While we were walking and talking to the people we were constantly surrounded by joyful and happy children. We found out the needs for these children to be offered the chance to have professionals and volunteers who would organise all kind of interactive activities for them (indoors/outdoors; recreational/educative…). But we are also aware that the involvement of educative professionals and volunteers living and working in the area is primordial, both for securing a future for these children and for encouraging volunteerism in the region for the sake of the social and economic development of the region and for the integrationof the Roma minority in the society.
1- We don’t know exactly the total amount of questionaires which were distributed to the young peole of the camp. The thing we know is that we didn’t receive them all back and that we received an amount of 35 copies fulfilled
2- Since it was the leader of the camp who distributed the questionnaires, we cannot be sure that the young people who answered were all adolescents. It might have happened that some children under the age of 14 answered to the questionnaire which is not very appropriate for some of the questions asked.
3- All open questions such as “what would you like to eat?”, “what would you like to do in your free time?” were not given any or very few answers, especially when the question required some further explanation (“why?” question)
4- Surprisingly, and it might have something to do with the age of the interviewees as explained above, do not feel concerned or do not attach importance to the professional career. On the contrary a considerable degree of importance was given to family, friends, love, marriage and Roma traditions and culture.
5- The majority doesn’t go to school. This is a major problem which urgently needs to be tackled with the help of professionals and volunteers.
6- Two people said they would like to study in university. Will they ever have this opportunity? What can we do about that?
7- The majority likes to see volunteers and appreciates their help. But three of them feel ashamed because of their situation of vulnerability.
8- Girls usually feel safe in the camp and feel protected by their community. But a couple of them don’t feel safe. Why? We don’t have any explanation from them. According to their hygienic basic needs, they all agree in saying they don’t have enough basic hygienic products.
We were welcomed by the leader of the camp, a young 30 year old nice man who took us to different households during our 3 hours visit.
All the families and people we have met were pretty welcoming and happy to see us and to be able to talk about their problems and experiences as Roma refugees from Kosovo but especially as human beings which need basic living conditions.
Some NGOs such as Nexus and the Red Cross are constantly working there and helping with different issues, such as health care, food and education for the children. Nexus, for example, provides a room outside the camp for schooling.
The living conditions are a disaster. The housing is miserably made of the weakest materials existing; cardboards, plastic, metal, etc…
By warm weather, you can hardly walk there. There is no single tree and refreshment areas. By rainy and cold weather, even worse situation.
As we understood, the food is provided by either the Red Cross (bread) or by the inhabitants themselves, who work. But concretly we don’t know the products they get and by whom.
Some people living in Salvatore have very bad health conditions. One 30 year old man shared with us his health problems that he has for years but which is unknowed by the doctors. For this reason among others, he is not able to find any job in Serbia.
Besides, a young 16 year old girls shared with us her desire of becoming a hairdresser. But there is actually no vocational training or some other formal/informal education she can attend inside the camp or outside, in the city.
Unemployement among Roma refugees in Salvatore is incredibly high, and this situation will remain the same or even worse if no sustainable and quality education service is provided to young people who have a wish of becoming someone in the future.
Finally, no space for recreational activities for the children is provided. The children are the most vulnerable people of the camp, if you consider that some don’t even go to school. Going to school is undeniably crucial for the future of any child. But is not the only thing and probably as a first step to get integrated and grow up in an inclusive society is to get the chance to have diferent activities addressed to them under a continuous basis.
Concept of my project and its objectives:
- Inclusion of children, their wellbeing and interaction with other kids and professionals
- Encouraging volunteerism and activism development of the region in terms of minorities rights, protection and inclusion.
Objectives:
- To increase the selfconfidence of the Kids through educational and recreative activities.
- To decrease the feeling of discrimination
- To give them the opportunity to learn through extracuricular activities and to go to school through information to the parents and tutors.
- To achive a bigger number of young people and professionals in South Serbia who do volunteerism in their free time.
I would like to work on the inclusion of the children and their well-being in terms of education and interaction with other kids, professionals and volunteers who are deeply interested in contributing to a sustainable and durable change of the situation in order to provide them the opportunity to achieve a better future.
Another important part of this project is to encourage young people, but especially education professionals (teachers, educators, trainers, NGO representatives) to actively get involved in volunteering activities as an important incentive for their personal and professional commitment in their society. To make the citizens feel responsible for the development of their region, economically and socially speaking. Getting involved is a duty of any responsible citizen who wants to contribute to a positive change in their city, region or country.
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