Text: APC  Photo: APC

Presevo, 12 June 2019 – Last week, the APC office in Presevo organized a movie night for its young volunteers. These volunteers have been working diligently with APC to help support refugees in Serbia’s southern camps, so putting on such an event demonstrated the organization’s strong appreciation for their help. The French film “Welcome” was shown as part of the refugee-related film series which the office was organizing in local high schools. The movie follows the life of a seventeen-year-old Iraqi Kurd named Bilal and his journey to find refuge in Great Britain.

This is one of the ways in which domestic teenagers can become familiar with the experiences of refugee children who were forced to leave their countries and face different challenges by themselves.

“Welcome” presents the problems, risks, and challenges Bilal, and many other refugee children, faces on his route to Great Britain. The film deals with themes such as racism and institutionalized discrimination and violence by state authorities and parts of the general population. It’s not all bad, though, as “Welcome” does also illustrate the empathy of British nationals who understand Bilal and help him along the way.

After the screening, a short discussion was held with our team.