Migrants on Westward Trek Meet Kindness in Romania’s Timisoara

Overwhelmed by an influx of asylum seekers, the authorities had failed to find a facility where the migrants could follow the 14-day quarantine rule required of every visitor from "yellow" zones, so called because of their high incidence of COVID-19. 

The 25 migrants from Afghanistan were following the "Balkan Migrant Route" to Western Europe and had reached Romania from Serbia, which had been added to the list of "yellow" countries five days earlier.

"We were heartbroken and quickly rallied to collect money to offer them food and hot drinks," recalled Flavius Ilioni-Loga, coordinator of the LOGS-Group of Social Initiatives, an NGO working with refugees and migrants. 

A social worker with a background in journalism, he approached the press and within hours the plight of these migrants was a hot issue in Romanian public conversation, forcing the authorities - which had been avoiding the problem - to come up with a solution. 

They now placed the migrants in the empty dormitories of the state railway company's vocational school before dispersing them to reception centres across the country until their applications for asylum had been resolved.

News of their plight also spread through a local Christian radio station, triggering an across-the-board civil society mobilization to provide them with food and water, clothes, blankets, medicines, treatment and toiletries.

"People were very touched and many contributed with donations or voluntary work - to cook for them and deliver the food," said Alina Birgean, an English teacher who cooks for the migrants at the Baptist church in Timisoara.

Volunteers distribute food to asylum seekers at the Timisoara reception centre. Photo: LOGS

The logistical challenge posed...

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