Alumni Impact: Saying "Welcome Refugees" in Vienna
Erna Mecavica, who participated in the FIUTS Youth Leadership Program with Bosnia and Herzegovina, writes about her experience volunteering to help refugees in Vienna, Austria.
Erna, right, and her sister Aida, who volunteered together to bring food to refugees traveling through Vienna
Guest post by Erna Mecavica, YLP Bosnia participant, Spring 2014
New Year is almost there; for someone it is a new beginning, for others it is just an extension of the past years, and for refugees it is a beginning of a new life. An unknown life which they didn’t just become; they had to go through so many horrible things, losing their home, loved ones, and past years of their life. Their road was long and exhausting, with too little help from us, from the rest of humanity. As I’m currently living in Vienna, I had the chance to see everything with my own eyes. The refugees were all over Vienna. Some of them, who had train tickets, were at train stations waiting for their trains to Germany, the "promised land," and the others, who had nothing, were everywhere, looking for help.
One day I was hurrying to my University because I was late. I was walking down the street as I saw an unexpected picture. Two refugees, an older married couple, were sitting on the road begging for food or money. It was a cold and rainy day and they had only a blanket to hide from the rain. People were passing, not even looking down to them. But then a little girl came and gave them two sandwiches. It was something that opened my eyes. I thought: "If a kid can give her food, even if she doesn’t know who the people are and what they been through, why can't we do this too?"
Later that day I was looking how to help, how to get involved, and I found an event on Facebook inviting everyone to volunteer one day for the refugees. They were working with Caritas and needed help by making sandwiches and distributing them to the refugees. As my sister and I came to the organized place, there were already people working on making sandwiches. There were about twenty of us from Austria, Bosnia, Saudi Arabia, Turkey and many other countries. It was amazing to see how we all worked together even if we didn’t know each other; how we met new people and made friendships only because we wanted the same thing: to help refugees.
Sandwiches made by the volunteers in Vienna
The food was donated from local supermarkets or bought from the money which many people donated. We worked the whole day, one group made the sandwiches, and the others packed them. At the end we made about 3000 sandwiches, which was pretty amazing for only one day of work. The next step was to bring the food and drinks to the refugees. We decided to go to the two biggest train stations in Vienna, because there were most of them. So we came there and started to distribute the sandwiches and the drinks. All of the refugees were extremely thankful. Some of them, who knew English, talked with us about what happened to them and their hopes and plans for the future. Others, who didn’t know English, didn’t say anything, or said something on their mother language, but you could see that they just want to thank you for a simple sandwich and a bottle of water.
At the end of the day, we were exhausted, but also happy. We went home, and they kept waiting for the trains, for their better life. To see and meet them makes you appreciate what you have: a home, a family, something to eat and days full of happiness and love. Everyone is talking about how we helped them, but I think that they helped us as much as we helped them, because nothing can make you feel thankful for what you have as much as seeing a tragedy in the world and knowing that it can also happen to you. I hope for all refugees that they found a new home, and I hope for everyone of us that this never happens again!
The Youth Leadership Program with Bosnia and Herzegovina is sponsored by the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, U.S. Department of State. FIUTS hosted this program in Seattle from 2012-2014. Learn more about the program here.
Guest posts on the FIUTS blog represent the experiences and views of individual writers. They do not necessarily reflect the views of FIUTS or any organizations or institutions affiliated with our programs.