It’s been a differently-paced day: a “Sunday-pace” here in Nis… time to be with local people, hear their stories, explore some of the rich history here…
We travelled to Niska Banja – famous for its radon-infused hot springs – some dipped in their feet, the most courageous swam… We wondered whether any of the group would glow after this exposure!
Using a hotel conference room lent to us for an hour by a friend in Niska Banja we heard more from Darko and Lidija about the strategic work that they do as directors of the work of CEF here in Serbia. This summer they plan five camps for children as well as a month-long “institute” for those who are training to work with children…
“There are many needs in Serbia – what we need is trained workers here. Please pray for this!”
In the afternoon we explored the city of Nis and in the evening returned to our makeshift camp at the school… again many local residents joined us – first for a meeting in the sports hall, then for hot chocolate and some games of basket ball.
For the last hour of the evening, we have been working to prepare packages for the four refugee camps that we ambitiously plan to visit tomorrow.
It’s going to be a massive day – we hope to be on the road at 8:30am and we will return around 9 in the evening having driven around 300 kms on small roads down through the corridor between Kosovo and Bulgaria. Although we have visited these camps before, we have never taken an Oak Hall coach this far south.
There are hundreds of people in these camps – again forgotten by most of the population as well as by the international community.
We will try to keep you posted as tomorrow unfolds – greetings from us all!