I conducted fieldwork from April 4, 2018 to June 26, 2018. I spent this time as a volunteer in Sarajevo and Velika Kladuša. Occasionally I visited Bihać with other volunteers, mainly doctors, to check the situation and distribute donations. It was more difficult for us to act because the Bihać Red Cross took "responsibility" for the people on the run, making it impossible for anyone else to work. I will divide the field descriptions into three parts, by city, and describe each field in detail.
The arrival of refugees and migrants in BiH increased from 237 in January to 2,557 in May.
In 2018, there were a total of 5,290 recorded arrivals. While at the beginning of the year over 90 percent of arrivals were single men, the ratio has changed and over 50 percent of arrivals in May were women and children. By June, there were already 7,660 recognized arrivals in Bosnia. Humanitarian needs are particularly critical in USC (Una - Sana Canton), where the daily influx of refugees and migrants is estimated at 70 to 90: It is estimated that there are currently over 3,500 refugees and migrants in USC. It is important to say here that these figures are official UNHCR figures. I dare say that the number of actual arrivals is much higher. Some days there were more than 100 new faces at food distributions. In the same report I found data about our work in Sarajevo. To quote the June 2018 report from United Nations Development Program:
A range of civil society actors and volunteer groups regularly provide food to refugees and migrants in need in various locations throughout the country: refugees and migrants residing in the volunteer managed House of All in Ilidža are provided with three meals per day (80 –90 individuals at any given time); hot meals are distributed at the train station in Sarajevo every day at 14:00 and 20:00 -in June, volunteers distributed an average of 600 hot meals per day, cooked within the House of All and supported through a mix of in-kind and monetary donations from various sources, including Pomozi.ba.
The people on the move that I was in contact with are of different nationalities, ethnicities, religions, genders, and ages. Depending on the place, I worked more with families (in Sarajevo) or with single men and male unaccompanied children (in Kladuša and Bihać).
There were many nationalities: I suspect most were from Iran, Pakistan and Afghanistan, then Syria, the Maghreb region and Bangladesh. There are many people from the region
Sub-Saharan. Islam and Christianity were the most represented religions. A smaller number of people were atheists and Zoroastrians. The youngest child I met was 20 days old and was already in HoA at the time of my arrival. The oldest person I met was about 70 years old.
Each place had something characteristic about it. Sarajevo is usually the place people reach first and then move on to Bihać and Kladuša, and after that they keep trying. They register at the immigration office in Sarajevo. Everything is coordinated mostly by independent international volunteers and the humanitarian organisation Pomozi.ba, which helps with donations. From the beginning, this was the place with the largest number of people. The volunteers managed 3 houses, one of which (called the house for all) was for families and the other two (Afghan House, doctor's house) were for singles. In the meantime, the two houses for singles were closed under unexplained circumstances. People are everywhere, from private shelters and houses run by volunteers to parks and ruins. At some point we also started bringing lunch outside the UNHCR building because there is a huge crowd there every day and people wait for days to find shelter. The number of people arriving is increasing with each passing day. From 150-200 meals distributed daily in the city centre, we reached more than 400 in one month.
The situation in Bihać is the exact opposite. Gradually, the Red Cross and other international organisations took over the "care" of the people fleeing, which made it impossible for us to bring donations in the form of clothes, shoes, hygiene items and medicines directly to the people. Two squats emerged: one is a former student dormitory in Borići, the other is a home for the elderly in the city centre. In Bihać, there are no independent volunteer groups. Instead, all those who work with the refugees are members of organisations. Just like in Sarajevo, the number of people is growing day by day. Many groups I spoke to complained about a lack of basic supplies: Food, clothes and shoes.
In Velika Kladuša, the point closest to the border with Croatia, it is mostly local volunteers who are getting involved. As of February 2018, restaurant owner Asim Latić closed his restaurant to locals and focused solely on providing meals for people on the run. Five other local men help him, all of them war veterans. The idea of providing meals to people in the restaurant came from a desire to give them a chance to eat at least one meal in peace and with dignity. Everyone knows when the food will be served, people enter the restaurant in groups, sit down at tables and wait to be served their food, just like in a real restaurant. The only
difference is that the food is free. They finance themselves out of their own pockets, with donations from other locals and foreigners, and in collaboration with the humanitarian organisation Pomozi.ba. This is also how the SOS Team Kladuša came into being, a group of independent volunteers who work with people on the run. In addition to helping with food, Team Kladuša also helps distribute clothing and shoes, tents, sleeping bags and backpacks.
Lately, they have also been providing medical assistance to people who have tried to gamble and come back with various injuries.
People sleep outdoors, in the main park, and in private shelters. At the time of my volunteer service in Kladuša, there was also the Field House - a hangar owned by one of the locals who gave it up so we could house several people. Every few days we brought them food, which they cooked themselves. As elsewhere, more and more people started arriving. While I was there, I witnessed dozens (maybe even hundreds) of people being brought back from the Croatian border or territory under very suspicious circumstances. My personal opinion is that all pushbacks are illegal and Croatian police use them with the help of European Union.
The common denominator in all these places is the obvious lack of support from the state authorities and institutions responsible in matters of asylum and migration, and the criminalization and obstruction of the efforts of independent volunteers. It is also obvious that the major international organisations (UNHCR and IOM) are not doing enough and are mired in bureaucratic chaos. Instead of helping people on the ground, they sit in their offices and offer solutions that are problematic in the current situation. In any case, they do not have the understanding and will to really address the current situation in BiH and elsewhere. There is also a lack of support coming from the European Union, both in Bosnia and in other countries (Serbia, Greece, Croatia).
SARAJEVO
I spent most of my time in Sarajevo: I was there twice for a period of one month each time. I arrived at night time on April 4, 2018. Two volunteers were waiting for me at the bus station.
They were already staying here and I had made contact with them before I arrived. They are experienced volunteers who have been working at the borders of the Balkan route since 2015.
They took me to the apartment that is currently rented out for volunteer accommodation.
There I met another volunteer who would later become my close colleague and friend. A man
in his fifties who has been active in Europe since 2015 and before that had worked in Iraq and Syria (Kurdistan).
After getting to know each other, we made a plan for tomorrow and went to sleep. The next day, P. and A. take me to the house that houses dozens of families who currently cannot be placed in the care of the state centre for Asylum Seekers Delijaš, which can accommodate 150 people. At times, as many as 120 people (mostly between 80 and 100) were in the house, which is run solely on donations and volunteer labour. These families with children would otherwise be on the street without any support from the state authorities and international organisations (UNHCR, IOM). Eventually, the house was given a name: House of All. I will continue to refer to it by that name. HoA is funded by a foundation that covered the rental costs for the following six months, as well as other sources based on donations. The humanitarian organisation Pomozi.ba always steps in and helps with whatever is needed. At the time of my arrival, there were about 8 volunteers who made sure the house was functional and that people could meet their basic needs. Each family has their own room with a bathroom. Even though the rooms are small, the families have their privacy, which is very important. They have a key to the room and no one can come in without an invitation. There is a large common dining area and a fenced yard. Everyone has complete freedom of movement, on the condition that they return by 11pm, because then we lock the door. This decision was brought about mainly out of fear for the safety of the families staying in the house. Two volunteers always keep "watch" in the dining room at night, in case something unexpected happens: possible attacks by local groups against people on the run and police raids, or in case someone needs urgent medical attention.
When I just arrived, we were in the process of setting up the kitchen, thanks to donations from the charity Catch a Smile from Luxembourg. Within a week we had a fully functional kitchen, preparing meals twice a day for the people in the house and once a day for the people on the street (and later twice a day). The kitchen was often a source of conflict because certain people were unhappy that we always cooked "Iranian food". The reason for this was that Majid, a single father and professional chef from Iran who was trying to get asylum status for himself and his underage son, was chosen to be the head chef. It seemed like a logical choice because he was able to cook for such large crowds, that was his job and he was really great at what he did. People who complained about the food were able to help him in the kitchen and suggest different dishes, although the menu relied on donations. Many local individuals and
families brought in fresh produce, we had an arrangement with the local bakery and they donated bread, but it still sometimes happened that there were no donations for a few days and the food ran out. Majid proved to be an excellent choice as he was able to cook a delicious meal for people in and out of the house despite all odds. Working in the kitchen is extremely strenuous and tedious. Majid spends almost 12 hours there every day, although he has the help of 3-4 volunteers. The kitchen feeds about 400 people every day. This number has grown to 600 from April to the end of June, maybe more (we have not recorded the exact number of meals). The advantage of this kitchen, according to more experienced volunteers, is that meat is prepared almost daily. This is not the case in other similar examples. Coffee and tea can be prepared freely around the clock, but there are certain problems when families take teapots and kettles to their rooms, because we have two.
Fig. 1: Chef in the kitchen
During my time in Sarajevo, we tried to establish a meeting once a week where we could talk to anyone interested about current issues, possible improvements in the way we worked, and other ideas. It was quite exhausting to moderate such a meeting, even if it was a source of many positive, constructive ideas and criticism. On the other hand, the meeting was sometimes a place where conflicts among the residents of the house arose and were settled. I believe that only with mutual communication can we achieve a satisfactory level of living together. We also spend a lot of time thinking up activities, especially for children, but also for adults, because the system puts people on the run in a passive role of observer, without the possibility to work, to educate themselves, to progress and to learn. We managed to organise
Bosnian and English classes, creative workshops for children and two sewing machines for the women to teach each other skills and make beautiful things. The men who lived in the house often helped with household repairs, welding, repairing furniture and the like. We tried hard to make it possible for anyone who wanted to take an active part in the management of the house to do so. We also tried to organise activities outside the house. A few times we successfully organised outings and events for the children: going to the swimming pool, horseback riding, and so on, but this was both financially and logistically challenging because the number of children in the house at any given time was about 30 and it is very difficult to organise and manage such a large group. On the other hand, we couldn't just take certain kids on outings.
I had many roles while I was in the house. Since I was one of the few who could speak Bosnian, I was mainly responsible for communicating with the locals who brought donations, accompanying them to doctor's appointments (because not all of the health care workers spoke English), scheduling doctor's appointments, communicating with the police, etc. In addition, like the other volunteers, I was tasked with distributing non-food items (NFI) inside and outside the house. I also participated in food distributions outside the house and went grocery shopping almost every day. At the outside distributions, we tried to identify families and unaccompanied children who did not have shelter and tried to give them one. We also tried to identify people with medical problems and make appointments for them.
I was one of the founders of the free shop Hrastnica, where we organised, sorted and later distributed enormous amounts of clothes and shoes for both people on the run and the local population. The idea behind the free shop is that everyone can take a certain amount of clothes for free. People can also bring clothes they don't need. The point is that people can come of their own accord, take their time, browse, try on clothes, have a cup of tea or coffee, socialise a bit and get to know each other. The intention behind this is to give local people an opportunity to meet people passing through and build real relationships with them. In this way we reduce the hostility and fear among the locals, which is largely the result of scaremongering, spreading misinformation through the media and ignorance.
With many people on the road and few volunteers, our days are very demanding. The day starts between 7 and 8 am, breakfast is prepared and plans for the day are made over breakfast. Grocery shopping, housework, calls to institutions, talking to the residents of the
house, taking care of the children... Then it is time to prepare lunch. I was then often in the kitchen, helping with the cutting, washing, cleaning, etc. The kitchen is an ideal place to meet people in a different way. You spend a lot of time there and come up with different topics, you learn an incredible amount in such casual conversations.
After the lunch break in the house, the rest of the food is put in containers and we take it to the park. People already know when and where we are coming. The park is located in the centre of Sarajevo. We chose it for our location because it is easily accessible to everyone and the park is spacious. It is interesting information that the authorities decided to remove the trash cans from the park shortly after we started distributing there. This begs the question of who benefits from having nowhere for people to throw their trash, why the "migrant problem"
is being treated this way, and why someone is trying to portray people who are out and about as dirty. The media pushes this image on the public and I can say from my own experience that it is completely wrong. We reacted quite quickly to this and made new bins which we placed throughout the park. The authorities reacted even faster and removed them again. After that, we simply distributed several garbage bags to people after meals and asked them to walk through the park and collect the garbage and dirty dishes, which we then bring back to the house and wash. There the food is distributed outside and NFI lists are made for people who are on the street. After a while, we split into two groups, each taking care of a task. Three of us continued to distribute food and three volunteers focused on NFI.
Fig. 2: Iftar in the park
I always tried to talk to people at meals, learn more about the current situation at the borders, pushbacks, missing people trying to play, and the number of new people in Sarajevo, or just casually chat with them.
After being at the park, we come back to the house to wash the dishes and get ready for our nightly patrols. We visit several places where we know there are more people, bring them dinner, cheque on the situation, and head back.
Everything that happens to me is something completely new. I'm in every situation for the first time in my life, and I very often have to make difficult decisions that involve moral dilemmas and fear of consequences, and I don't feel competent to do so. At the same time, the situation is constantly changing and just when I think I've gotten used to something, everything changes. Closure of houses, criminalization of volunteers and people on the move, banning of distributions, volunteers coming and going...
A specific example of constant change is the location of the distribution. Just as things were starting to go smoothly, someone started coming to the park introducing herself as a volunteer, but we quickly realised she had hidden agendas. We tried to talk and cooperate
with her, but she refused several times and did not take any of our advice. She brought different medications and distributed them randomly, there was never enough food and she distributed it in such a way that she left it in the middle of the park, causing conflicts among
with her, but she refused several times and did not take any of our advice. She brought different medications and distributed them randomly, there was never enough food and she distributed it in such a way that she left it in the middle of the park, causing conflicts among