On a sunny autumn day, a group of people stood beside a blue bus under a bridge in Belgrade, waiting patiently

Belgrade, Serbia-On a sunny autumn day, a group of people stood tightly together, and a blue bus was parked under a bridge in Belgrade. They waited patiently. This will be a rare opportunity for them to take a shower, wash clothes or undergo a medical examination.

Three times a week, the humanitarian organization working in Serbia opens its mobile bus center for the homeless, providing basic services and assistance to thousands of people living and sleeping in the capital of the Balkan country.

The Adventist Development and Relief Agency project has gradually developed over the past four years. But since the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic, it has become increasingly important, which has pushed already vulnerable communities to the edge.

Igor Mitrović, the executive manager of the ADRA Group behind the project, estimates that there are 7,000 homeless people in Belgrade alone.

"(The homeless) are now more exposed," he said.

The homeless in Belgrade are often plagued by chronic diseases, mental health problems or drug abuse. In most cases, they are undocumented and live under state surveillance. Mitrovic said that Anze’s goal is to find as many people as possible, provide immediate help, and try to get them back into the system in the long run.

"Almost all of them have been abandoned by society," he said. "They ultimately have no ID cards and have no connection to the healthcare or social welfare system."

Although the sight of homeless people sleeping in parks and streets is common in most capitals of the world, in Serbia, this phenomenon emerged after the violent disintegration and post-war transformation of Yugoslavia under pre-communist rule in the 1990s.

Mitrovic said that most of the homeless in Belgrade are people in their 50s and above. They find themselves lost in the chaos of the economic destruction after the Yugoslav war and the collapse of the socialist welfare state.

“We have about 1,000 people (they) trying to help on a relatively regular basis every day, maybe we will help at least 2,000 people every year to help them reduce the negative impact of living on the streets in some way,” said Mitrovic.

Belgrade is a city with a population of 2 million and has a city-operated shelter, but its 100 places are usually fully booked in advance, which is far from enough. The authorities have promised to open an additional shelter and set up temporary facilities throughout the city.

Mitrović said that as part of the international ADZ network, ADZ Serbia has cooperated with the Belgrade city government and the governments of the United States and Slovakia through the United States Agency for International Development and Slovak aid agencies to carry out bus projects. The bus called "Drumodom", roughly translated as "Roadhome", is conceived as a temporary stop for the homeless on the "road home".

Mitrovic said: "This is the first goal, to protect their health, try to find some shelters or get the support of government shelters for them, so that they can get resettlement." "Secondly, and more importantly, find some long-term Or a mid-term solution."

Mitrovic explained that during the COVID-19 pandemic, disadvantaged groups who have no income (such as the homeless) find that their options are more limited, which exacerbates the existing social gap. This increased their isolation, especially during the almost complete lockdown last year.

Mitrovic said: "Even the smallest opportunities at the margins of social life, such as collecting things or using any type of secondary waste for resale, are greatly reduced."

Slavko Antonic, 64, said he was a former Bosnian pilot. He told the Associated Press that the restrictions of the pandemic prevented him from returning to his home in the northwestern town of Prijedor, where he was injured in the war in the 1990s. Small disability income.

Antonic showed that what he was talking about was a copy of his Bosnian ID, saying that he currently has no money and no way to travel, living in an abandoned camper trailer, without electricity or running water. Antonic said that a nearby restaurant put leftovers aside, and thanks to ADRA's bus, he can keep it clean.

"I have given up, I never thought I would ask people for money, but I do now, and good people will give me some," he said. "I don't think I can remember who I am."

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