19 Dec 2011 • Trafficking and exploitation Kosovo

Kosovo - A Breath of Childhood

- Published by Hornemann, Sarah

• summer camps
• taskforces

Whilst making a report in Kosovo last summer, Jessica Schweizer, in charge of Communications at Terre des hommes, was able to join in several days’ activities at a summer camp. She now brings us an inside story from this project for child protection.

It is the first day’s reporting for Jean-Luc, the photographer, and me, with a rendezvous early in the morning in the centre of the main park of Pristina, the largest town in Kosovo. We have been invited to join a week’s summer camp run by Tdh and community leaders, local authorities and partner organisations. Five camps are run like this every year in Kosovan towns, and involve hundreds of children, staff and volunteers.

When I first heard about these activities, I just thought it was a really nice way of amusing the kids. But in the course of the day, I came to understand that it is far more than that.

Limitless logistics

Coaches have been hired to pick the children up, and an impressive amount of equipment has been stacked up in the reserved area in the park. Kilos of balls and various papers are distributed within a short time to the various people in charge of the activities. No time to waste, the children are arriving.

“You can’t imagine how difficult it is to organise this sort of activity”, explains Sofia Hedjam, Head of the Terre des hommes project. “For example, 140 kids were enrolled, but 185 turned up today!” The day after, a further 90 youngsters wanted to join in and an extra coach had to be hired. “The camps are open to children between five and fifteen. Our first beneficiaries are those looked after in the framework of the project, in particular by the taskforces (committees made up of the various people in charge of the most vulnerable children and who deal with them case by case, by bringing individual solutions. But we don’t want to stigmatise them. On the contrary, they must be treated just like all the others and be integrated within their own communities. This is why we don’t set too strict rules for admission.”

Some of the children are clearly much younger, others definitely much older. “It’s a real headache”. sighs Sofia. “The ones who are too little need special attention and they can’t join in the planned activities. The older kids are sometimes the same age as our volunteers. We should involve them in the organisation and logistics of the camp. It’s usually the community leaders who have to explain the rules carefully and get them respected. But the kids are so impatient to take part in the camp that they are sometimes waiting for the coach at dawn, and then the volunteers don’t have the heart to stop them coming.”

How to explain this incredible popularity?

“Some of the youngsters have been coming to the summer camps for years”, explains Naïm Bilalli, taskforce coordinator for Terre des hommes. “It’s a real event for them. In summer all the schools are closed, and there’s nothing much to do. Some kids work and have only a few leisure moments. They have no place to play or have fun.” Even the children who are not direct project beneficiaries often live in surroundings of great poverty and get little or no attention.

Now the day starts with lunch being handing out. “In the beginning, we realised that many of the children suffered from dizziness and found it hard to concentrate”, remarks Sofia. “In fact, we discovered that they had come with empty stomachs. We also distribute lunches so as to be sure that they get at least one full meal.” Looking around, we notice that some of the youngsters cut their portions in half. “They take the rest home to their families.”

But the children do not come only for the food

They are divided into groups and take part in 16 difference activities, from ball games to drawing and music.

“These activities have multiple targets”, Buki Brexhnica tells us, the community coordinator for Terre des hommes. “To start with, the children learn to concentrate, to listen to the rules and to obey them. The majority of them do not attend school and have trouble integrating in groups. Later, we help them to develop their own skills, such as confidence, for example. The youngsters discover their own qualities and can apply them. This has a strong impact on their self-respect. On the last day of the camp, we organise a performance: they can sing and dance in front of their chums. That’s always a very special moment.”

For Terre des hommes and its partners, these camps are also a good chance to try and identify children at risk, to make contact with them and set up a relationship that allows for more lasting mediation afterwards. “The community leaders and the volunteers have a vital role to play. They know all the children who come here, and can help us to pick out those needing help”, adds Buki.

The youngsters can play and have fun here

Some of them work on the streets, selling cigarettes, begging, or wiping windscreens at crossroads. They are sometimes the only members of their family who bring money home. Their parents and brothers and sisters depend on them for their daily bread.

And yet these kids, often really young, consider their situation to be normal. “It’s my duty”, asserts Faton, 13 years old. “I’m glad to work and earn a living.” His 11 year-old sister, Shefkije, nods her head. Since their mother left home, she has to cope with the housekeeping, scrubbing, cooking and changing the nappies of an even younger brother and sister. Their father has a mental problem and Faton is the only person who can bring home food for the whole family. He works at the market and shifts goods from one stall to another with an old barrow. “I don’t trust my father, who’d gamble my earnings away, so I just give him a bit of pocket-money and I bring the meals in every day.” A topsy-turvy world, resting on the frail shoulders of these youngsters.

And still, Faton and Shefkije are now in front of us, shouting with laughter, playing games and doing a thousand and one silly things with friends of the same age.

A breath of childhood – as an interlude.

Text: Jessica Schweizer, photos: Jean-Luc Marchina

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