In winter’s grip
As temperatures in the Balkans fall well below freezing, refugees and migrants face grave consequences.
In January 2017, with no let-up in the extreme cold weather and storms sweeping parts of Europe, many refugee and migrant children are threatened by respiratory and other serious illnesses — and even death from hypothermia. UNICEF’s winterization efforts throughout Croatia, Serbia, Slovenia and the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia are helping women and children stay warm.
The Tabanovce refugee and migrant centre in the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia is currently home to some 100 people, a third of them children. Patronage nurse Slagjana Perchinkovska carries Iliyas, bundled in a blanket, to the family’s shelter followed by his mother Shirin.
Forced by conflict to flee the Syrian Arab Republic like thousands of families before them, Syrian mother of five, Shirin, holds Iliyas alongside her four other children in the prefabricated shelter that has been home for the past 10 months.
With less body fat to insulate them from the cold, newborn babies and small children are more susceptible to viral and bacterial infections. Shirin’s five-day-old son Iliyas is examined by Nurse Perchinkovska in the mother and baby corner of the UNICEF-supported child-friendly space.
Cradling Iliyas in the mother and baby corner of the child-friendly space, Shirin uses the room to nurse, get much needed rest and stay out of the cold. Shirin was provided antenatal care throughout her pregnancy by a team of patronage nurses who attend the camp daily.
“Being here, we somehow share the devastating trauma many of these people suffered while fleeing war. But we are extremely happy that we can share joyful moments like these,” says nurse Perchinkovska as Iliyas is bathed for the first time, his sister, Solin, 7, watching.
(Left) Solin enjoys warm soup with other Syrian girls. With many housed in shelters that are ill-equipped for winter, stranded children are at risk especially under cold weather conditions as the outbreak of infections rises.
UNICEF’s ongoing winterization efforts throughout Croatia, Serbia, Slovenia and the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, are helping women and children stay warm. (Left) Shirin’s son, Omar, 14, plays in the snow.
