By Ljiljana Vasic | Director
Nasim from Afganistan will never forget that day – August the 15th in 2015. He was just nine and with his four siblings and parents was trying to get through the border in Greece into Macedonia. There were so many people there, he could hardly breathe from the heat and the crowd, but he held his Dad’s hand tightly. His one-year younger brother Waheed was holding the other Dad’s hand. Their Mom was holding Sonia who was only four in her arms whilst Niam who was 11 and Karim who was 13 were squeezing in with all of them. Hours later as it seemed, it became clear that they wouldn’t be able to get into Macedonia that day. But Karim was not there. Dad went around looking for him, Nasim looked around too scared to make a step away from Mom, but they couldn’t see him. Three days they were stuck at the border, three long days they were trying to find Karim. When they finally reached Macedonia, Dad immediately told police that his son was missing.
The weeks went by, the family came to Serbia and has been put in a Refugee Camp in Bujanovac. Again, Dad informed everyone around that his eldest son was missing. Two additional years have passed. Nasim has been regular participant at the psycho-social workshops, his sisters and younger brother were coming to play with other children too, even their Mom sometimes joined them.
Nasim started going to school. As he admitted, he has frequently relived those days in Greece in his dreams. And Karim has sometimes come to his dreams to tell him that he would find him soon. He believed his elder brother but was not telling his Mom this so that he would not make her cry again.
And then a miracle happened. People have come one day two weeks ago and asked his Dad to go with them. Nasim thought his Dad was flying over the path to the Refugee Camp on his return – Karim is alive and well! He is in the Netherlands in a foster family and has given enough details to the authorities that they were able to find the family in Bujanovac. Back in Greece, he actually went through the border on that day and some people helped him go on. They claimed he was their relative and together they all got eventually to the Netherlands. He was sure his family was also among the crowd until they reached Austria. When he realised that they were nowhere around, he remembered that his Dad had been talking about going to the Netherlands and thought that if he could get there, he would find them. He only reported that he had lost them when he reached the Netherlands. The authorities have found him a foster family to take care of him, but took all the details that he could give them and informed the police and international organisations about this case. That is how they finally found Nasim and the rest of the family in Bujanovac. Now, the paperwork is underway to reunite them all!
The whole Refugee Camp and all the workers there cried with happiness. Nasim’s Dad was told that the family would be sent to Belgrade in order to prepare everything for them to leave as soon as possible for the Netherlands to reunite with Karim.
Everyone felt like doing something special for Nasim and his siblings. We bought him and his younger brother and sisters new clothes so that they would all look good when they meet their brother again.
Thank you for supporting our efforts to help these children in every way we can. With the textbooks for those who go to school, with psycho-social support so much needed after all the trauma and with new clothes and shoes. It all means so much to them and us!
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