By Ljiljana Vasic | Director
Her name means Hope in Kurdish. And she lives up to the meaning of her name. Hana is a nine-year-old girl from Iraq who has been a refugee since the age of six.
“We lived in a big house in a town in Iraq, my grandparents, parents, my sister and I. My Grandpa was killed by a bomb and then we packed and left. My Mum and Dad, my sister and I went to Turkey first. From there, we went to Bulgaria, and now, we are here. My other Grandpa and grandma are still there”, she explains and one wonders, how many children of her age in the world would know even the names of the countries she talks about as easily as if telling you the names of her dolls.
She has been with her family in a refugee camp in Bujanovac, in south Serbia for the last six months. She knows everyone there, and everyone knows her. She speaks fluently Kurdish, English and almost fluently Serbian, so children and adults alike, all call upon her to help both in the communication among the refugees from different countries and between them and Serbian people at the camp.
“It is easy”, she shrugs her shoulders when asked how she manages three languages. “I can talk easily with everyone because both at kindergarten and school I learnt everything in English except Kurdish language. Here, everyone in school speaks Serbian, so I’m learning it, too. I can tell people what other people say to them in other language and then they can understand.”
Hana also regularly comes to the psycho-social support workshops which we organise twice a week for the children at the refugee camp. She loves drawing and hopes that one day she will become a designer. “When I grow up, I’d love to be a designer, but I will have to practise a lot because it is a demanding profession”, she says very seriously looking.
This little girl who is always running around helping everyone and around 100 other children who are growing up in refugee centres in South Serbia have all been through so much in their young lives. They need our support, the opportunity to be just children and play, sing, draw, or just sit in a warm and understanding environment free from heavy thoughts. Thank you for helping us help them deal with all the trauma and keep hope in the hearts.
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