They are here: 107 women from 29 countries and a life that cannot wait

Photo: NGO Atina’s photo archive; workshop photos by Marija Vuković, social worker

Since the beginning of the year, NGO Atina has continued to work with migrant and refugee women and girls from different parts of the world at the Reception Centre in Bujanovac, the Asylum Centre in Obrenovac, as well as at the Open Club in Belgrade.

Some of them have been in Serbia for a short time, while others have been here much longer than they expected. Each has taken a different path, and each faces different uncertainty. But regardless of where they come from or how long they will stay, they are here now. They have their own needs, fears, questions, interests, skills, and plans. They need information and protection, but also conversation, support, closeness with other women, and time in which they do not have to be only people waiting for a document, a decision, or the next step.

Since the beginning of the year, through regular outreach work and weekly workshops, Atina’s team has met 107 migrant and refugee women and girls from as many as 29 countries. Among them are women and girls from Turkey, Morocco, Afghanistan, Burundi, Palestine, Sudan, Syria, Sri Lanka, Sierra Leone, Egypt, Somalia, Russia, Armenia, Guinea, The Gambia and Nepal.

Continuous work and the trust that has been built have also made it possible to recognize women exposed to serious risks: among the women Atina’s team has worked with, seven cases of human trafficking and gender-based violence have been identified and reported to the competent institutions. This is precisely why a continuous presence in the field is particularly important. Trust is not built through a single conversation, and often it is only when a woman feels safe enough that she can speak about violence, exploitation, or other experiences she has survived.

More than a workshop

The topics discussed are very diverse, ranging from human trafficking and gender-based violence, healthy intimate relationships and recognizing manipulation, to women’s and human rights, discrimination, mental and reproductive health, self-confidence, gender roles and power relations.

But Atina's team does not determine the topics alone. The women themselves say what interests them, what they need and what they would like to learn more about. In this way, the content of the workshops changes and adapts to their questions, interests, and what is happening in their lives at that particular moment.

Sometimes the most important moments are precisely those that cannot easily be captured by project figures: a conversation over coffee, meeting a woman from another country, laughter during a creative workshop, the opportunity to make something with their own hands, or simply a few hours in which a woman can pause and be with herself and with other women.

Painting, decoupage, jewelry-making and embroidery create a different kind of space for meeting, taking a break, connecting and expressing oneself. They are particularly important for women whose everyday lives have long been shaped by uncertainty, waiting and worrying about what tomorrow will bring.

They are still here. That is why spaces for safety, belonging and new beginnings matter.

“One cup of coffee with people who listen to you…”

At one workshop, participants wrote messages to themselves. Among them were:

“I will get through this too.”

“I am strong. I am enough. I am worthy.”

“Even if there has been pain, find your strength; you matter.”

And one that perhaps best expresses why these encounters matter:

“One cup of coffee with people who listen to you is worth forty years of painful memories.”

For some women, the workshops are a place where, for the first time, they receive information about how to recognize human trafficking, violence, or manipulative relationships and whom they can turn to for help. For others, they are an opportunity to share what they already know, meet other women, or learn something new. For some, what matters most is simply that a few hours belong only to them.

It is precisely this sense of belonging that is an important part of Atina’s work. A woman is not defined solely by her migration status, the country she comes from, or the violence she has survived. She has the right to a space where her opinion matters, where she can choose what she wants to share, what she wants to learn, and what she needs at that particular moment.

As long as these women are here, their needs cannot wait. They need safety and information, but also people they can trust, opportunities to develop their interests, build relationships, and rebuild a sense of self-worth and control over their own lives.

That is why, for Atina, outreach work is not simply about going to centres and holding workshops. It is about continuity of presence, so that women know where they can go, whom they can turn to, and that there is a space where they will be heard.

The activities are implemented within the project “Together for her: community-based protection and empowerment - comprehensive support for migrant and refugee women in Serbia”, with the support of Switzerland.