Diar Ahmad's Challenging Journey, Aspirations, and Goals
A story from the "Balkan route"
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Belgrade, October 2023 - Eighteen-year-old Diar Ahmad has a dream and a plan. He wants to become a hairdresser and is planning to open a salon in Belgrade with his friends. Looking at Diar's cheerful and gentle face, it's hard to recognize the traces of his difficult journey. The only giveaway may be his modesty.
At the early age of sixteen, this Kurdish boy left his family home in Iraq. He embarked on a journey still taken by tens of thousands of refugees, fleeing war and poverty. Diar travelled alone, without parents, relatives, or friends to rely on.
“We attempted to cross from Turkey into Greece four times. Unsuccessfully. We were beaten and sent back without our belongings,” Diar recalls with a heavy sigh, reflecting on the e humiliation and violence by the police between Turkey and Greece.
His intention, like many of his compatriots, was to reach Germany through the already closed Balkan route, convinced that he could continue his education and find employment there. He initially spent only three days in Belgrade before heading to Sombor, in north-western Serbia. There, he had a severe accident.
The subsequent three months saw him confined to a hospital in Novi Sad, enduring some of the most trying moments of his life. “Thankfully, I'm now on the road to recovery,” he says with gratitude. “I've been equipped with a prosthetic leg, allowing me to walk and lead a normal life.”
Following this life-altering accident, Diar has made the decision to alter his initial plan and choose to remain in Serbia. He has spent the past year in a shelter managed by the civil sector.
“My mother also expressed her desire for my safety and cautioned me against further risks,” Diar explains.
After his recovery, he also started attending the 'Branko Pesic' school in Belgrade. For now, he is attending Serbian language classes. Learning the language and socializing with children helped him, cleared his mind, and brought him back to the regular course of life: “I'm doing well with Serbian; I can understand and speak a little.”
In order to enhance the protection of the most vulnerable groups, such as refugee and migrant children and women, including unaccompanied and separated children, UNICEF supports the activities of the Info Park NGO in Belgrade. These activities range from on-site information provision to essential psychosocial support, prevention, and response to gender-based violence.
As part of the programme, dedicated to unaccompanied and separated children, a Boys' Day was organized. The programme's goal is to inform, provide support, and empower children.
Mirjana Nesic, the project coordinator from Info Park, explains that ‘Boys' Day’ was designed to help children recognize their feelings in a relaxed atmosphere.
“We talk about extreme situations that they have a hard time dealing with. They are considerate, not wanting to burden anyone, sparing their parents from conversations about the hardships they've endured. So, in our workshops, we talk about how to recognize emotions, how to cope with them, and how to develop, make acquaintances,” Mirjana says.
Mirjana explains that children don't like a lot of formality, and they have realized that it's best to take a bus to recreational areas like Ada, just like many other residents of Belgrade, and play, for instance, football with the local children without prior notice or special organization.
“Then everything flows spontaneously from there, teams mix, children relax, socialize, and connect,” says Mirjana, adding that peer support is invaluable.
Boys' Day’ takes place every week, and as part of the programme, children have visited cinemas, museums, or they’ve gone bowling. They’ve also organized birthday celebrations.
For Diar Ahmad, 'Boys' Day' is his favourite activity, especially playing football. UNICEF’s psychosocial support workshops have been invaluable for his recovery and adaptation.
“The group psychosocial support workshops meant the most to me because we all participated, and we had similar difficult experiences. They were especially important when I lost my leg and hadn't received the prosthetic yet. It was easier for me to talk and socialize. I made friends.”
Since the beginning of the year, the Info Park team has provided support to 1,138 unaccompanied boys who come from various countries, including Afghanistan, Syria, Iraq, Eritrea, Pakistan, India, Bangladesh, Egypt, Palestine, Algeria, Libya, Morocco, and others.
Currently, there are over 3,000 refugees and migrants in Serbia, accommodated in sixteen reception and asylum centres managed by the Commissariat for Refugees and Migration of the Republic of Serbia. A certain number of children and women passing through Serbia do not stay in these centres, but travel in groups with other refugees and migrants, who are at increased risk of various forms of violence and rights violations by smugglers, human traffickers, as well as others. Since the beginning of 2023, more than 6,000 children have stayed in the centres in Serbia, while an additional number of children have passed through the country without staying in the centres, often without any contact with any institution or non-governmental organization.
UNICEF, in collaboration with the Government of the Republic of Serbia and partner organizations, works to ensure the safety and overall well-being of refugee and migrant children and women through efforts in healthcare, social protection, and education systems. UNICEF supports the coordination of actors working with refugee and migrant children and women and ensures additional support services for the most vulnerable boys, girls, and women refugees and migrants through collaboration with the civil sector – including the partnership with Info Park, particularly in the areas of child protection and response to gender-based violence.
