Today we have delivered aid in firewood worth 400 euros to the Roma camp in Novi Pazar.


The firewood is unloaded

My first impression is that the camp has expanded significantly. I see half the inhabitants for the first time. They are local Roma or Roma who have come from Kosovo or Montenegro. They have all joined this camp which was originally intended for the Roma from Stari Batnjik.

Adem, the president of the camp, thanks us for the firewood and sends regards to the Swedes. He says they have nothing to heat their homes and it gets very cold at night. Some of the inhabitants go to the town and collect waste which can be used as heating fuel, others burn their clothes because they have nothing else.


Edip Ugljanin, local refugeecommissionar, and Adem romapresident

I am also surprised by the number of small babies in the camp. The exact number of newborns is unknown but it is evident that there are lots of them.

The first thing the Roma ask us is when they are going to move. The camp is completely covered with mud which is very deep at places. There is mud under the tents, too. The children are poorly dressed, dirty and coughing. Some of the mothers complain about their children having fever, but they haven't taken them to a doctor yet.

The women want to know about contraceptive pills. They say they already have enough children so they ask if it would be possible for them to get the pills. They say they will go to a doctor if necessary. Lirija is pregnant again.


Some of the woman at the camp

Some of the Roma ask Edip what's with the Yugo he was driving until recently (he is driving a Mercedes now).

We met Tamara and Sasa of the ICS in the camp registering the children who are to be included in the ICS educational program.
From my conversation with Tamara, I learn that two groups will be formed because of the difference in the children's age.
The problem is a couple of parents who don't want their children to go to school.

Edip also shows me the 10 houses, currently under construction, which are intended for the refugees from the local collective center. They need one more house and then all the tenants of the collective center will have a place to stay.

Zora of the PRAXIS is also at the office of the local commissioner for refugees. She is confused because she has heard of the decision of the director of PRAXIS to close down the office in Novi Pazar given that the area could be covered by the mobile teams. For several years now, Zora and Ljilja of the Red Cross are the only ones who have been helping the persons without personal documents and persons who need to be additionally enrolled in the birth register.


Two of the children living at the camp

We also visited Ljilja in the Red Cross. She was very glad to see us. She says that it is not true that the Red Cross has stopped helping IDPs. Since this summer the local Red Cross has paid for the funerals of 3 persons from the Roma camp in Stari Batnjik and they have also bought plastic bath tubs for the newborn babies in the camp. She tells us of an unpleasant meeting with the representatives of the UNHCR office in Montenegro who wanted to know whether the area of Novi Pazar could also accept 4.000 internally displaced Roma who are currently in Montenegro, and what the Red Cross in Novi Pazar is doing in order to prepare to become a reception center for people from Kosovo in case there is a need for that.

Marija Simovic