Jafar’s* face lights up as he caresses the strings on his new violin. “It is beautiful, thank you so much! I promise to make you proud.”
As he strums, a gentle tune fills the room. “I will play a love song from my home country – it is becoming that it be the first tune from this instrument. Love is what keeps us going and makes us better persons.”
Jafar arrived in Serbia in September, fleeing pressure on minorities in his home country. He came alone and joined some 350 other unaccompanied minors currently staying in the Balkan country.
Jafar is now only days away from turning 18. He already speaks in a calm, soothing voice of a wise grown- up, carefully picking his words.
“Back home I lived with my father; he taught me poetry, geography, everything I know. He also encouraged me to take up aikido and violin,” Jafar recalls.
A somewhat unusual combination?
“Aikido was to keep the body sound and healthy and to be able to defend myself if I ever needed to. I wasn’t very fond of it at first,” he said. “Violin… that was love at first sight. My dad could not afford a new instrument, so I practiced on an old one lent to me by the music school”
But, life became increasingly difficult for members of minorities in his home country and Jafar’s dad realized that Jafar would be denied access to higher education there.
As violence and insecurity spread, his father – a single parent – took a heart wrenching decision: he told his son that he must leave the country and find safety somewhere far away. He gathered all his savings, bought an airplane ticket and set his son off. Upon arrival in Serbia, Jafar immediately registered with the authorities who referred him to one of four Centres for Unaccompanied Refugee Children in the country.
There, Jafar was appointed a legal guardian by the local centre for social welfare and joined a group of 15 unaccompanied and separated refugee children in the centre.
Jafar also started courses in Serbian and English straight away and joined classes in the local secondary music school and an aikido club.
When we met in early December, this extraordinary young man could already boast of a bronze and a gold medal won in national aikido championships.
“I joined the aikido club just a couple of days after coming to Nis. I was puzzled by the new environment, but the teachers and schoolmates made me feel at ease. Everyone is so amiable and willing to help,” he said.
There are some 350 unaccompanied and separated children among the 4,000 new refugees and migrants staying more long-term in Serbia. In 2018 UNHCR was able to support authorities in strengthening the national guardianship system and in opening an additional three centres that provide safe accommodation and care for unaccompanied refugee children. The UN Refugee Agency continues advocating for more support to authorities’ efforts to secure suitable accommodation, care and schooling for all unaccompanied refugee children, including placement with local foster families.
“I would like to stay in Serbia and – with the help of my guardian – have applied for asylum here. I talk to my father back home regularly and hope he will be able to join me one day. In the meantime I will practice my violin and aikido as my greatest wish is to be able to participate in international championships all over the world.”
*The name has been changed for identity protection purposes
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