by Hala Youssef
Zorica Pavlovic Shalabi’s Syrian husband died in 2002, after having lived together in Serbia for 16 years. He left Zorica with two teenage children, no work experience, and no one to help her. Except her husband’s family in Syria. Zorica took her children and headed to Syria where she was embraced by the Arab hospitality of her Syrian in-laws. They lived in Damascus for 10 years and the three of them became fluent in Arabic and immersed in Syrian culture.
“I love the Syrian people,” she said. “I feel indebted to them for their kindness towards me and my children when my husband died,” said Zorica who now works as an Arabic translator at the Presevo refugee camp on the Serbian border with Macedonia. “It breaks my heart to see their suffering.”
Zorica Shalabi in Serbia
Zorica talks of dozens of refugees whose stories have touched her as they passed through the camp since she started working there in January 2016. “There was a Palestinian-Syrian woman with four children who was trying to reunite with her husband in Germany,” Zorica recalls. “It was February and she opted to take the bus to the Hungarian border because it was cheaper than the train.” The family arrived to the border to find out that the Hungarian government had closed the border. “Their peers who took the train arrived 90 minutes before her and were able to cross the border right before it was closed,” Zorica remembers.
Many of the young Syrians who pass by the camp are in the same age group as her own children. “They treat me like their mother,” Zorica tells. “They are always asking about me and trying to cheer me up when I am feeling down”.
The children’s affection brings out the mother in her. During one of Zorica’s home leaves, she saw four young Syrian men in a park in Belgrade. She knew them well from the Camp. They had tried to cross the Hungarian border and were sent back twice. “They looked extremely exhausted and drained. They had no money and were starving,” she said. Zorica did not hesitate. She went to a restaurant nearby and bought hot meals for all of them.
“You want to give more, but there is not much you can do,” said the Serbian widow as she got up to continue her mission in the refugee camp.
Sleeping quarters in one of the tents at Presevo Camp
CARE and its partner organizations in Croatia and Serbia have assisted refugees and migrants on the Western Balkan route since the summer of 2015. Despite the border closures, there are still about 300 people daily who still cross the border into Serbia, hoping to continue to Northern Europe. CARE and its partners provide food packages, warm clothes, shoes and hygiene packages. Refugee centres were supported with water and sanitation facilities as well as furniture such as beds and heaters. Child-friendly spaces are being supported with heated tents. In addition, CARE partner organizations offer translation services and information for families passing through or staying in Croatia and Serbia. For those staying in the Balkans, CARE and its partners now also offer recreational activities and psychosocial support. To this date, CARE has reached almost 125,000 people.