Growing up fast in time of crisis

“When the water withdrew we had to throw away everything. We have nothing now.” – These are the painful words we heard from 14 year old David from Bijeljina who, like many others this May, had to flee his home because of severe floods that hit Bosnia and Hercegovina (BiH) and Serbia.

Our team visited Bijeljina on several occasions since the floods. We first distributed lifesaving equipment there, followed by personal hygiene kits, cleaning items and disinfection products.  Now we are about to open a Child Friendly Space in this town – a space where children can continue to learn, develop and overcome traumas caused by this natural disaster.

The flood reached the outskirts of Bijeljina on May 16^th when 6000 persons had to be evacuated. Water has now withdrawn from the town and its surroundings, but this year’s crops are now ruined in this mostly agricultural area. A lot of cattle also died in the chaos of flooding, all off this strongly affecting the Roma population because they normally work in the fields during the summer.

David’s family returned to their destroyed home after the water wiredrew. He lives with his parents and siblings Armanda (2), Leonardo (4), Maikel (13), Jasmin (16) and Jasmina (19).

“The water came in from the ground and totally destroyed our floor”, David’s father tells us. “We had to move everything outside.” He is now trying to dry the wooden floor by placing it up against the wall and shows us the cracks in the fundament. We have provided this family with humanitarian aid after the flood.

At the end of the visit we ask David how he will spend the rest of the summer and his words are painfully grown up’s: “I work with my father. We collect material in the streets, mostly iron. It is easy to find things these days. I got no time for school or play.”

And yet, in midst of this entire crisis, we also found exemplary work. We saw it in our young Roma leaders in Bijeljina, those gathered around Save the Children’s regional Leaders - Young Roma in Action (LYRA) Project. They are volunteering in our partner organization Otaharin, distributing humanitarian aid and helping their fellow citizens, while at the same time continuing to work on pressing issues in their communities.

“During the flood we went to the Roma settlements to help out with the evacuation. Later on we visited families who had lost their homes to find out what their needs were. From there we could start the distribution of humanitarian aid like food and diapers,”  Almir (22), a Roma youth leader from Bijeljina told us.

LYRA Project aims to educate Roma youth to be change makers in their local environment and the program is showing great results. It is implemented in BiH, Albania and Kosovo. In BiH you find it in five cities: Mostar, Sarajevo, Banja Luka, Bijeljina and Tuzla.

Save the Children will continue to work in Bijeljina through both, LYRA Project and the Child Friendly Space, doing our best to reach as many children and families that need assistance as possible.