In a small house in Belgrade, a teenage girl is drying her hair, while two others eat nearby. Several boys are having their temperature tested at the door. It is another busy day for Svratiste, which is Belgrade's first center for children who live on the streets. For years, the building has provided warmth and shelter for the city's most ignored children.
Since opening in 2007, Svratiste has welcomed hundreds of children, some as young as five years old. They come here to warm up, wash or eat. The kids that come to the center are all aged 5 to 15. What's common for all of them is that they work in the street and live in extreme poverty. Also very few ever go to school.
Svratiste's team of 13 social workers, psychologists and other experts have welcomed more than 1,400 children over the years. Money for the group's operations comes from donations. Some people regularly bring in clothes and other aid. The group recently set up another center in a new part of town. Usually, the two centers are open every day. But both were sealed off because of restrictions when the COVID-19 pandemic(新型冠状病毒疫情)started in March. When Belgrade reopened in May, most of the children came back.
The Svratiste team has tried to help the children get to know their city by visiting playgrounds and theaters. An important effort has been to include them in the education system and make sure they stay. Bosko Markovic, now 18, first came to Svratiste five years ago. With the center's help, he has finished high school and now wants to be a policeman. Therefore, Svratiste has made him a better person.
