HAPPENINGS AROUND THE WORLD n HAPPENINGS AROUND THE WORLD n HAPPENINGS AROUND THE WORLD n HAPPENINGS AROU Reaching Out to Refugees IN SERBIA W By Dragisa Armus

henever we do our humanitarian mission to refugees we spend time speaking with them about their personal situations and

experiences. I haven’t found even one who didn’t like to speak and share their experiences. Some weeks ago we met three generations of one family. There was a grandmother in a wheelchair, her two sons and daughters in law, and her grandchildren. They said it took 25 days for them to arrive at the camp in Presevo, Serbia. Grandma was 86 Years old. She was very exhausted.

They spoke of how they passed over some mountain or hilly places by hidden roads in order to escape and somehow got transportation. She survived all that as an 86 year old. Even in such situations the family had hope for better days. Another refugee speaking on behalf of all in his group while waiting in line for registration, said, “in Syria, everybody shoots everybody.”

One Syrian couple with two children shared their experiences. “I am a doctor and my wife is a teacher. We had a good life and a good salary to live on, but ISIS is recruiting medical workers for their war and we didn’t want that. We had to run away with our children.” During our visit to Presevo on November 23, one Syrian man approached me after he received help along with his wife and two teenage girls. “We are poor, we have only five euros,” he said, showing the money to me. “How can I pay ticket for a bus? We left everything in Syria. Because of the war which is raging in our country we had to run away to save our lives. But I am poor, I am poor now.” We took care of the bus tickets for their family. Since the terrorist attacks in Paris, the refugees are conscious that people are looking at them differently, so they are encouraged if you approach them with even a smile, a touch, a greeting and some encouraging words.

Dragisa Armus is general secretary of the Union of Christian Baptist Churches in Serbia and a member of the BWA General Council.

Refugees from the Middle East in Serbia. Top right and above: Baptists in Serbia reaching out and providing assistance to the refugees

JANUARY/MARCH 2016

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