Smiling in the face of adversity. Afghan child refugees.

On a bitterly cold afternoon in an abandoned building close to the Serbian/Croatian border, a child refugee from Afghanistan still manages to smile. The sun was setting as I entered the abandoned building and found an Afghan family resting on a pile of blankets. They had a couple of hours to rest before taking a taxi to rendezvous with a smuggler. The Afghan family had left their home city of Kabul due to the rise of the Taliban in the surrounding area and what they described as an increasingly corrupt government.

The eldest son in the family told me “We would like to go to Germany or Holland. I have some cousins in Amsterdam and hear it is a nice city. My sister and I would like to continue school and give the younger ones a normal life away from the craziness that’s happening in Afghanistan”.

It’s very difficult encountering child refugees in dire conditions. With this family I sat and spoke with them for some time then gave them what little money I had with me and wished them good luck. When we see images of refugees on the news we see their plight but over time perhaps become desensitised with the mass of video and pictures available. It’s always inspiring how many of the refugees stay positive after everything they have been through and the huge amount of uncertainty they face in the future.