A refugee-based economy grows in Serbia
As ever more refugees traverse Serbia, enterprising locals have flocked to refugee camps to make some cash while providing desperately needed services. Diego Cupolo has been documenting the crisis in the Balkans.
Bus boys
Transportation has been the fastest growing business in the Balkans, and locals like Liridon Bizazli, an Albanian living in Kosovo, stand outside the Presevo refugee camp to sell 35-euro ($39) bus tickets to Croatia. Bazazli said he makes no more than eight euros a day at his bartending job, while selling tickets brings him 50-70 euros a day.
One refugee helps another
Regardless of the pay, Bizazli said he's not proud of his job - and negotiates free rides for refugees, especially families with children, who can't afford bus tickets. "I was a refugee too, so I understand," he said. "These bus rides should be free. Europe gives Serbia money to help refugees, but our government doesn't do much."
Supply and demand
Businesses near refugee camps have extended their hours to keep up with the demand created by a daily influx of 8,000-10,000 new arrivals, as is the case in Presevo. Grocery stores and restaurants are constantly buzzing with clients, and prices have doubled, sometimes tripled. "I've never seen a hamburger cost this much anywhere in Serbia," Bizazli said.
SIM cards to wheelbarrows
The first non-food item refugees seek out in new countries is often a SIM card to contact relatives and friends. As a result, countless locals sell prepaid SIMs near camps, but also less predictable items, such as wheelbarrows for the elderly or those with mobility problems, such as this Kurdish woman from Syria.
Shoe peddlers
As winter approaches and rainstorms occur with more frequency, many refugees continue traveling without shoes and experience serious foot ailments and skin infections, according to Stefan Cordez, the Southern Serbia Field Coordinator for Doctors Without Borders (MSF). Seeing an opportunity, a handful of locals have responded by selling shoes and socks near refugee camps
Document trail
In an effort to gain control over the crisis, countries along the migrant trail were asked to register new arrivals, at times creating kilometer-long queues outside camps. According to Daniela Gabriel, an independent volunteer in Presevo, some bus drivers have begun collecting registration papers from Croatia-bound migrants and then reselling them to people who want to circumvent the lines.
Victims of false information
Meanwhile, Gabriel said some bus and taxi drivers charge refugees the price for a ride to Croatia, but leave them in Serbian towns along the way, saying they must be processed in nonexistent registration areas. To help refugees avoid scams and false claims, Gabriel wrote a basic information sign at the Presevo camp entrance and had it translated into several languages.
Highway robbery
Other volunteers, who asked not to be named, said they received death threats for directing refugees toward buses and telling them to avoid potentially dangerous taxi drivers. Alexander Travelle, a volunteer in Presevo, said a family of six was robbed at gunpoint by a taxi driver after paying 80 euros ($88) each for a ride to Croatia last week.
Everyone takes a cut
Bizazli admitted he pays local police 100 euros a week to sell bus tickets at the Presevo Refugee Camp. "Just give them what they want and they leave you alone," he said. Several volunteers who asked to remain anonymous said they also witnessed taxi drivers paying police officers. "But this doesn't mean all policemen are taking bribes," one volunteer said.
No vacancy, with exceptions
As cold weather sets in, the hotel industry along the migrant trail accommodates more and more refugees. Volunteers said business owners are highly selective about the people they choose to host. Refugees are often turned away from hotels unless they can pay above-market rates since a higher number of people tend to occupy individual rooms.