“Good friends we’ve had, oh good friends we've lost, along the way…”
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While the influx of immigrants has dropped since many European countries closed their borders in March of last year, tens of thousands of refugees remain stuck in Balkan countries, without shelter or any kind of basic health care.
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Warehouses as homes
In another Balkan country, Serbia, roughly 85 per cent of refugees, asylum-seekers and migrants are accommodated in government shelters. However, an estimated 1,000 refugees and migrants are still camping out in smoke-filled, derelict warehouses, according to the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR). In such temporary shelters, volunteers are the main connection between the authorities and refugees. One such location in the town of Obrenovac is home to nearly 400 people. When they line up for the long wait for lunch from a volunteer kitchen, a bearded man in a bright orange shirt walks among them, firing off jokes and silly pantomimes until he gets a smile. “I try to ensure that nobody skips the line and I am entertaining for the refugees,” says the man, American Larry Stenton. He spent almost two years volunteering in countries along the refugee route, including Serbia, Hungary, Croatia and Greece. Mobile Hospitals The refugees need more than food and good cheer. Groups such as the World Health Organization (WHO), have found that the health problems of refugees and migrants are similar to those of the rest of the population, with added risk due to their living conditions. “The most frequent health problems of newly arrived refugees and migrants include accidental injuries, hypothermia, burns, and gastrointestinal illnesses,” the organization said in a report. Psychosocial disorders, reproductive health problems, higher newborn mortality, drug abuse, nutrition disorders, alcoholism and exposure to violence are also ongoing problems. WHO reports that children are prone to respiratory infections and gastrointestinal illnesses because of poor living conditions, and urges governments to provide easier access to proper healthcare for children. |
“I do not know how long I will stay because I do not want this project to stop. But it is hard because of the administrative duties and paperwork,” she explains. As donations of medicine pour in from around Europe, including Germany, Belgium, and England, part of Docmobile’s role is to find qualified doctors and nurses to check it is not expired or otherwise unsafe. |
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