Ivana Beatovic, from Zagreb, Croatia, on working with refugees on the Croatian-Slovenian border, with the group Are You Syrious?. Ivana has a Master’s Degree in Sociology and History and is the mother of two young girls. She works as a Marketing Specialist in a bank and runs a private business (a self-service laundry).
1) Introduction: Where are you from? What motivated you to volunteer?
I’ve been following situation in Syria and Iraq for the last few years, just watching news about terrible things going on there and how people are suffering in the war zone, reports on the massacre of civilians.
I remember watching on TV the slaughter of Yazidi in Sinjar committed by ISIL. I could not stop crying. How is this possible? Why doesn’t someone do something to help these people? Is it possible that in 21st century we are letting this happen? Then, in 2015, refugees started coming to Europe through Greece, Macedonia, Serbia, Hungary…. Again, we are watching horrible scenes of thousands of people, including many children, walking on foot for miles through harsh weather conditions without food and water. I got in contact with a small group of people called Are you Syrious?, who were collecting aid for refugees and sending it to Serbia and Hungary. I got involved by donating goods and money to the Are you Syrious? initiative. When Hungarians closed the border, refugees started to cross over the Croatian border. Soon they were in my hometown, Zagreb. It was my responsibility to help! I believe it’s the responsibility of each one of us to help others in need! If you are able to help it’s something that you must do. And you don’t need any kind of motivation. It’s just something you do…like when you are hungry you eat, when you are thirsty you drink…helping others is the same thing.
2) What have you been doing as a field volunteer? What are the tasks and activities that have been useful and necessary?
As a field volunteer, I ‘m working on the Croatian-Slovenian border (Bregana, Brežice, Rigonce, Ključ Dobova). Some of these places were/are organized camps (like Dobova) and some are just meadows under the open air without shelter and assistance. So what you do when you first get there is to try to see how many people are there, what they need the most and what you can do to help them. It’s very simple… you distribute food and water, take people to the doctor’s tent, and distribute warm clothes to the people that don’t have proper clothes. Many come with worn and/or broken shoes. Many have flip-flops and socks instead of winter shoes. It’s especially hard to see children in the freezing temperatures without jackets, hats, gloves and most of all with broken shoes or no shoes at all! Most of the time they have to wait for hours in the lines… lines for registration, lines for the train, lines for the bus, lines for food… lines under the open sky… in the rain, in the snow….
We also help people by carrying their babies, small children, their bags, helping older people to walk.
You help mothers to change diapers, to feed babies, you play with the kids and try to make them smile.
And another thing that is very important is that you talk to them, at least to the ones that speak English, give them information about where they are, where they will go next, what they can expect. Information is very important to them, because many times they even don’t know in which country they are. Police and officials don’t give them any information. They treat them without any dignity. The police are constantly yelling, STOP, WAIT, BACK OFF… They are pushing people, small children that can barely walk. So it’s up to us volunteers to show them that we care, that we respect them as humans!
3) What did you see or learn about the refugee situation during this experience? What should the world know? What would surprise people?
These people are not a threat! They are running away because their lives and the lives of their children were in danger. They had normal lives just like you and me… And all of the sudden they lost everything…. Their house was destroyed, they witnessed the torture and brutal murder of their family members. These people are just trying to get to a place where they can have normal lives and where their children can have a future. These people did not choose to leave their homes. If you ask them where they would like to be the most the answer is back home. They are not terrorists, they are running away from terrorists!!
4) Any specific story you’d like to share about a particular experience/event or specific refugee individual or family you met or worked with?
Another night in Dobova, Slovenia … this time I had the “opportunity” to go through the entire process that refugees have to go through after their arrival at the camp. When people get off the bus, the first stop is the line, where they receive food and water. We volunteers are always trying to detect vulnerable groups and help them carry children, bags and so on. So, this time I gave a hand to a woman carrying a 10-month-old child and two bags. I took a child from her hands and one bag in order to help. She continued to walk with me together with two small children (2 and 3 years) who were also loaded with bags and a husband who was holding the remaining bags. The child in my arms is watching me with his big black eyes, I sing him some baby song. Taking a look at his feet… no shoes, only thermal socks. The temperature is -5 degrees. Instead of a winter jacket he has a thick sweater, but not thick enough. I’m unzipping my jacket and putting his legs under it to warm him up least a little bit. The other two children are stumbling under the weight of heavy bags that they are carrying.
We walk towards the policemen and soldiers, and I pray to God that they raise their right hand, pointing towards the registration line, and not the left hand, pointing towards the big, stuffy tent where already hundreds of people and small children are squeezed and waiting behind metal fences … Yeees !!! The right hand is in the air!! We are going directly to the registration line. Her husband has to go in the line for men. Women, children, and me with the baby in my arms go to the other line. They are scared that they will be separated. I explain to them not to worry, they will get back together as soon as they pass the checking point. We are waiting in line with others, the baby in my arms is looking at me, then he is looking at the high lights above our heads. He is not crying like most of the other children in the line. His 2.5-year-old brother is in front of my feet, and their mother is holding the hand of the third brother.
At one point the crowd starts pushing. Those behind us are pushing forward, police are pushing back those who are in the front line … we are somewhere in the middle and we are squeezed from all sides. The child in front of me almost felt under my feet. I’m trying to free one hand so that I can protect the baby in my arms. Now he, like all other children, is frantically crying. We are standing in the line for around 20-30 minutes. My arms hurt from carrying the baby. I wonder how these women stood in all the lines that they had to pass with children and bags in their arms? The policeman is shouting at us (my yellow vest is not helping me here) BACK, BACK … Those that don’t speak English are yelling in Slovenian and pushing us back. I feel like a cow in the herd…
Finally, it’s our turn. We are entering where police are going through bags, checking, pockets, one of them tells me to raise the child from my arms so they can search him. They are done. The policeman is shouting … GO, GO and pointing his hand toward the exit. I tell them that we have to wait for her husband who has not yet come … no waiting, go out! He says. You will meet him outside and he is pushing us out….. luckily, her husband arrives. We stay together and head towards another line to wait in front of registration tent. …There are many people waiting… it’s very cold… everyone is nervous … the atmosphere is chaotic… people start to push from all sides… I barely manage to stay on my feet. The kid in front of me was pushed and falls to the ground. I’m trying to pick him up while holding the baby in my arms. Children are crying and screaming, police ae yelling and pushing people back. I’m thinking to my self…my God, how long will this last? I can’t stand any more…my arms hurt from carrying the baby. I just want to sit for a few minutes, but I can’t. We are all squeezed one over the other.
Finally we managed to get inside the tent. We arrive in front of one table where a police officer requests papers, asks them where they are from, dates of birth, where they’re going, do they have money, etc. I’m finding out that the baby in my arms is a girl and her name is Amen. She is 10 months old. They are from Aleppo in Syria and they been traveling for three weeks.
The other two children are still crying, mom gives a piece of bread to each of them. It looks like they are very hungry. I put my hand into my pocket where I always have some sweets and give them chocolates … They are taking chocolates and stop crying.
After 10 -15 minutes we are done with the registration. Now we can go in the big tent where hundreds of other people are waiting. Nobody knows how long they have to be here, when and where they will go next. I’m finding some blankets and put them on the floor. I’m giving little Amen to her mother and telling her that I will come back with warm clothes for her children. Another man pulls my hand saying he needs a doctor for his kid. One lady with a newborn is pointing her finger at the baby saying please… milk, milk… for my baby… baby very hungry. One young man approaches me from the other side, showing his torn shoes… Shoes, please. I’m taking the hand of the man with the sick child in order to take them to the doctor’s tent. The others are looking at me like I’m leaving and will not come back to help them. I’m telling them… I’ll be back in a few minutes. Don’t worry… you will get milk for your baby… and shoes… I’m not sure if we have shoes…. And so the night continues… I’m trying to help to as many people as possible.
Before I finish my shift, I’m looking at the people who are standing in the line and waiting for departure. There are so many of them. A lot of small children, just a few years old. It starts to rain. Suddenly, I see a little girl running from the line in my direction… she takes my hand and pulls me down. I squat beside her. She looks at me with her big black eyes, smiles, kisses me in the cheek and puts her small arms around my neck. Thank you, she said, and ran back to her dad in the line. My eyes are full of tears. They are running down my face. I wave to her and she is waving to me while getting into an overcrowded bus. Good luck little princess! I hope you will find a new home and a place where you can play and just be a child.
5) What can others do to help? – action items!
What we can do is to help in any way that we can. You cannot save the whole world but you can help someone. Even if you help one, you did a big thing! If you are not able to work in the field, you can support some of the local NGOs that are working with refugees. You can donate money, you can donate clothes. You can talk about this problem in order to create positive awareness. We all have the responsibility to help others when they are in need. And don’t forget that things like this can happen to any of us. We are really lucky that it’s not us. It’s not and it should not be normal to see the bodies of drowned children, it’s not normal to see people starving, it’s not acceptable to let fanatical murderers kill a whole nation. Can you imagine how cold it must be in -10 degrees without shoes, without a winter jacket, without a hat or gloves… without a home? Can you imagine how hard it is to watch your children starve in the freezing cold and not be able to protect them?