To all the volunteers who want to help the refugees in Belgrade, here you’ll find some basic tips on how to organize your trip and stay.
The airport is located in the southwest of the city and it’s called Nikola Tesla. From there, you’ll have to take the A1 bus to the central station, right next to the main train station. Next to it there is the old bus station, that’s where the refugees are lodged at the moment, most of them Afghans and Pakistanis.
To sleep, we would recommend you the City Zen Hostel. It’s near the barracks where the refugees are, it’s inexpensive and charming. In addition, the owner is very involved in humanitarian causes, not only with refugees, but within his own country as well so you’ll probably get on well with him.
Lately, some of you asked us how could you help on the ground. If you want to volunteer through and organization, we have met and collaborated with these three mainly:
– Hot Food Idomeni, they serve meals. At the moment they serve more than 1000 per day in the barracks and they need volunteers to prepare and serve the food as well as help to manage the queues formed because of the delivery.
– No Name Kitchen, it’s a Spanish organization and they serve hot dinners to the people who need them the most. As Hot Food Idomeni, they need help slicing the fruits and vegetables and serving the meals afterwards.
– Help-Na, the firefighters from Navarre, are in charge of the barracks’ infrastructure and they also help with the delivery of the food.
Besides these three, there’s also Belgraid warehouse, that’s the warehouse that will be used to receive the donations. At the moment there are various kinds of fitting-out work since it had to be relocated due to infrastructure issues. They will need help to manage the reception of the trailers with clothes, food… If you’re planning to go there the following weeks, you’ll also be able to help them with the renovations to have it 100% functional. We also arrange their agenda for the volunteers who wish to help them, so if you drop us a message we’ll put you in contact with them. In this link (https://www.facebook.com/proyectodandelion/posts/1857304854558372) you’ll find more information about the location and how to get there.
There are also this other five organizations, that even though we didn’t work with, they helped us a lot when we were still in Spain organizing the expedition to Belgrade. They also need volunteers so your help will be appreciated. They are Refugee Aid Miksalište, Refugee Aid Serbia, Refugees Foundation Serbia, Refugee voice Belgrade and Help Refugees Belgrade.
We hope you find this information useful. May you still have doubts, don’t hesitate to contact us, we’ll be happy to help. We also hope you make up your mind, the more the better, and remember you can also help from your city by donating food, clothes, money or even explaining the situation these people find themselves into to your friends and family.
Let’s keep up the struggle!