The firewood worth 400 euros arrived in Novi Pazar.

I found a local TV crew and the deputy commissioner for refugees for Novi Pazar, Edip Ugljanin waiting for me at the Roma camp. Edip Ugljanin, the president of the Roma camp and I made short statements for a local TV station.


Adem, Marija, Edip and a local TV-team

I said that the Swedish Committee had been providing aid in food, clothes, hygienic packages and firewood for the Roma camp for 3 years now; that we had cooperated before with the Red Cross of Novi Pazar and that we hope to cooperate with this organization again, and we also hope for the continuation of the successful cooperation with the commissioner for refugees of Novi Pazar.

Edip Ugljanin emphasized the local administration's good cooperation with NGOs.

The president of the Roma camp stressed that this
was the second delivery of firewood provided by the Swedish Committee this winter and thanked to the people who thought about them and their children.

The president of the camp wanted to know if the children without social security number could go to the school organized by ICS. The answer was, of course they could, all they need to do is sign up. All the inhabitants of the camp claim they have signed up their children.


Two women, Lirija, Marija and children

A good thing is that some of the Roma in the camp are becoming aware of some of their rights. So Lirija wanted to know, since she has a personal ID card, how she could get child allowance. The answer was that It would be impossible for the moment because she doesn't have a temporary residence.

Edip claims to have spoken with the Ministry of Internal Affairs and that all the inhabitants of the Roma camp will get temporary residence after the camp is moved, which will enable them the access to social services.

Edip told again how a piece of land had been bought for the camp and that surveyors are going to measure the land again tomorrow. He says that the land was bought at 85.000 euros, paid from the budget of the local parliament of Novi Pazar.
He expects the camp to be moved to the new location next month and that 30 containers will arrive from Belgrade by then.


Marija and Bukerije talking while some of the men starts to unload
the truck with firewood

It looked to me like the camp was three times bigger than it had been in Stari Batnjik. After my visit to the camp I spoke with Ljiljana Krstic, the secretary of the local Red Cross in Novi Pazar, and I found out that some local Roma had joined the camp, and also some Roma who had come from Montenegro (some of them internally displaced from Kosovo, others originating from Montengro). She doesn't know the exact number of people living in the camp and she says no one has accurate statistics on the population of the camp.

There are lots of small babies in the camp and they are sickly all the time. The parents don't take their children to a doctor because they don't have medical care booklets and they say "the children are so filthy, who would accept to examine them"?

Tamara of ICS expects the camp to be moved in April, when the program will start in the school organized by ICS. Children aged 6-11 will be included in the program. Thirty-day preparations will start on March 1st in the local Red Cross offices in Novi Pazar.

There are lots of children in the camp right now and they will all be able to go to the ICS school, but unfortunately, after the camp is moved, only the children whose families move to the new location will be able to attend the classes.

Marija Simovic