The Salakovac refugee reception center in Mostar has received a total of 31 people since the beginning of the war in the Gaza Strip. They are still staying in this camp, where they say they have everything, but they lack a home. A team from Federal Television visited them in this camp.
The El-Barawy family has been living in the Salakovac refugee reception center near Mostar for a year and a half. They describe Mostar and the whole of Bosnia and Herzegovina as extremely beautiful. People have welcomed them, they tell us, but they miss their hometown. The memories are difficult.
“It is very difficult to live far from your hometown, where you have been through everything and spent your childhood, where your friends and family are, especially for us during Ramadan, which has a different flavor here,” says Samir el-Barawy, a refugee from Gaza.
“It is difficult, since the war is still there, and we are not used to spending Ramadan alone. Here in Palestine, Ramadan is for the family, and here we are alone and we think a lot about those who stayed there,” adds Dalila el-Barawy.
They are aware, they say, that there is no return to Gaza. Samir’s younger daughter Samira also gave birth to a child in Mostar. They don’t lack anything in the center, but it would be much easier if they had private accommodation to finally start a new life, which won’t be easy.
“There are four families, we have no privacy, it’s crowded all day, one kitchen for everyone, it’s a bit difficult. When you have an apartment for yourself, your husband and children, it’s better for you,” says Samira.
Despite the many problems that life has brought them, the El-Barawy family is still positive at the end of the day, while all the family members, 16 in total, are outnumbered, there is no room for negativity.
“You have to be positive and activate that positivity because you can’t do it any other way, otherwise it will all be passed on to the children and that’s bad,” says Samir el-Barawy.
The care of the El-Barawy family, as well as the care of other families, is led by a total of nine employees at the Salakovac Refugee Reception Center. They tell us that the situation for these people is not easy at all, but from basic human needs to health services, the center’s users lack nothing. The children are also included in social life.
“It is important to emphasize that all the users’ children attend the regular education system in the city of Mostar,” says Ahmet Sijamhodžić, an expert associate at the Ministry for Human Rights and Refugees of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
It is not easy to start a new beginning. But it has to be done. Finally, Dalila el-Barawy’s message to everyone:
“The most important thing is that we are alive and healthy and everything is coming slowly, the children have started school, some normal life has begun and all this will pass.”, Federalna writes.
