Sombor - visit to train station and “the little city”
Yesterday our team was in Sombor, conducting regular visits to informal squats.
In front of the reception center “Sombor” several hundred refugees from Syria, Iraq, Algeria, and Morocco are staying at the so-called “the little city”. The majority of them are sitting in the shade of trees, while across the road there is an improvised market where sinkers are being sold by the locals. Also, there are dozens of taxi drivers constantly coming and leaving “the little city”. Right in front of the entrance of the reception center, there are dumpsters set on fire. People who we talk to say that camp employees are not trying to damp down fire and that everyone around uses them to burn trash.
On the football field close to the camp there are around ten tents and many people are sleeping on the grass and under the benches. In the woods next to the field there are also around twenty tents. The atmosphere there is lively and people are in the good mood, regardless of the devastating situation they are in. They say that at the moment the camp and the “little city” around it together host over 1300 people, which far exceeds the camp capacities. Many of them choose to sleep outside, on the grass, or in the woods, in order to avoid sleeping on top of each other in overcrowded rooms of the camp. The situation in the camp is like this for months now. People are complaining that basic hygiene standards are not met – they are lacking sheets, blankets, underwear, towels, toothpaste and toothbrushes, water. The camp employees have now shut down the public water tap around 30 meters away from the camp, so people on the move couldn’t use it to drink, cool down, or wash.
Water supplies are a year-round problem in the camp. During the winter months one liter of hot water could be bought for 100 RSD. During the summer months, hot water is being bought in order to make tea or wash clothes. Perhaps the most devastating fact is that currently, only men can get food and accommodation in the reception center “Sombor”, while women and children do not have access to it. That is why husbands and fathers stay in line and take a meal they are granted, and then share that one meal with their family members.
“The little city” also hosts a high number of refugees from Somalia. They also sit outside, on the cardboard or grass, talking to each other. They are curious to know if there is a way for camp conditions to be better – to provide better quality food, clean blankets, and sheets, enough space for everyone to sleep. Unfortunately, we couldn’t provide these answers.
The tents that are further in the woods are now again a safe zone for the refugees. During our visit a few months ago people told us that the camp employees tore down all the tents so the people would be forced to sleep in overcrowded camp with no capacities.
After this, we visited the train station, where the refugees from Afghanistan are staying in old abandoned trains. While talking to them we found out that families of some of them are still safe back in Afghanistan, but in order to remain safe they need to comply with the Taliban and not confront them in any way. Because of this many of their cousins already fled to Europe. They are paying extremely high amounts of money to the smugglers in order to try to reach Europe. One of the boys said: “Are we going to raise an uprising against the Taliban? We? Americans failed to control the Taliban, you think we can do it? In the end no one care for us, but we will survive. We will be okay, we will survive.”
“Good luck” and “Inshallah” sounded so helpless, but very needed at the end of the conversation.
