Belgrade is on the main route for refugees who use the ‘Balkan route’ : from (mostly) Syria they travel through Turkey to Greece and then via Macedonia they arrive here in the capital of Serbia: Beograd (=Belgrade). Belgrade is not their final destination (otherwise they would have stayed in Turkey or Greece): we all know their end goal is Western-Europe (Germany, Sweden, the Netherlands etc. ), see the map below for an overview.
Belgrade has been flooded since months with refugees who stay in the park (ironically called ‘Bristol’) next to the railway and bus station, which you can see below:
It is sad to see people like this in the park and every time I passed it, I see more and more people. I couldn’t stand it any more to do nothing so I was happy that the Belgrade Foreigner’s club on Facebook started an action together with Refugee Aid Serbia to coordinate help for the children, women and men who end up here in the park. Thanks to them I could start helping a couple of hours per week to distribute clothes, drinks and food to the people together with other foreigners living in Belgrade and of course the ‘local’ Serbs.
It is good to help and I felt happy when I saw the grateful faces of the people whom we provided limited help. When misery is so close you can hide or you can act: I am happy I acted and will continue to act together with the other foreigners here and the Serbs of course, because I believe that nobody deserves to run away from war and to stay in the park in these conditions, especially not the children… no matter what kind of politics or criticism there is around this ‘ subject’….
