On Thursday 28th of December Santa Claus has arrived also to the Reception center for refugees Adasevci and brought presents to children accommodated in this center. In making presents Santa Claus was helped by the good people of OMV Serbia, while Caritas and the Commissariat for the Refugees and Migrations organised the distribution.

Although in the cultures of the countries from which these children come from is not common to welcome Santa Claus they were very happy with his visit, they spend nice time with him and his helpers, which was visible on their smiling faces.

On the 26th of December a workshop on children’s rights has been organized for school aged children accommodated in the Refugee center in Bujanovac. In the interactive workshop, led by Dr. Adnan Hasan, the youngest refugees were introduced with their rights and obligations. As a support educational tool the trainer used cards about children’s rights, designed by Caritas of Belgrade Archbishopric. The children were able to express their opinion about children’s rights and give their own examples. After the workshop they received the cards about children’s rights, which they showed to their parents, telling them about what they learned during the workshop.

The workshop material was made during the project Children’s rights, which was implemented in 2016 and 2017 in cooperation with Caritas Slovenia and the Development agency of the Republic of Slovenia. This project was directed to teachers and students of elementary and secondary schools in south Serbia, as well as to school aged children refugees and their parents. The workshops about children’s rights became part of the regular work of Caritas psycho-social support teams for the education and animation.

The work of  the Caritas psycho-social support teams in Serbia is funded by the German Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Caritas Germany.

In the Reception center Principovac in Sid Caritas has turned time into creativity, together with the refugees. Their busy hands and creative ideas made beautiful New Year decorations, which they used to decorate the Christmas tree and the room where they spend spare time through different activities, organized by Caritas every day. In decorating the Christmas tree, as well as in making other decorations both children and adults participated. This activity brought smiles to their faces and for a moment took away anxiety, stress and created a feeling of communion.

After concluding this activity the participants took photos together and they staid in good mood and holiday spirit.

These activities are organized with the support of the German Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Caritas network.

On Sunday 17th of December the Minister of Defense and President of the working group for the questions of migrants in Serbia Mr. Aleksandar Vulin, visited the Asylum center Krnjaca Belgrade. He was accompanied by the Serbian Commissar for the Refugees and Migrations Mr. Vladimir Cucic.

Minister Vulin thanked the representatives of CSOs on their collaboration and help that they are providing to refugees and migrants in Serbia, especially to children and other vulnerable groups.

The children refugees gave minister some of their works, made during the occupational activities organized by Caritas in the Asylum center Krnjaca.

The group that attends classes of Serbian and English language, organized by Caritas in the Asylum center Krnjaca in Belgrade, finished the first part of the lessons this month. The young men have completed two knowledge test in form of dictates and test questions. The results were very good, considering the short period of learning and knowing the everyday use of the languages. They adopted basic concepts related to the life in the camp, presentations, food, days and months of the year, numbers and some grammar rules, that help them make good sentences. During the classes they discuss about the concepts that have a different meaning in their languages.

Considering the problems in writing the lecturers put the focus on exercises of writing and pronouncing in form of different games.

In the classroom the young men act like brothers, they take care of each other, they spend quality time in learning and exchanging experiences and they participate in other activities that Caritas organizes.

These language classes are organized with the support of the German Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Caritas Germany.

With the arrival of the late autumn and winter, with more precipitation and cold weather, children and their families accommodated in the Reception center Bujanovac spend more time indoors. In order to offer additional activities for children Caritas provided workshop materials for the children of all age groups, like crayons, papers, coloring books, collage paper and all the other material that helps children express their creativity. Under the supervision of the Caritas social worker the room has been decorated with children’s bright and colorful works, in order to break the monotony and grayness of winter.

The work of  the Caritas psycho-social support teams in Serbia is funded by the German Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Caritas Germany.

Recreational and occupational activities that the parish Caritas Valjevo organizes in the Asylum center Bogovadja are highly visited by the migrants. The small Caritas team, led by an experienced psychologist, dedicates special attention to women and children that have symptoms of stress, so the workshops are a way of releasing anxiety and improving  the mood and the psychological state of the refugees. The women migrants like to knit and sew, so Caritas provided equipment and a larger amount of workshop material for the upcoming winter period.

All the activities of Caritas are organized in cooperation with the Commissariat for refugees and migrations of the Republic of Serbia.

The work of  the Caritas psycho-social support teams in Serbia is funded by the German Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Caritas Germany.