Working with Refugees
Posted on 21. Jan, 2016, in Christian Values, Community, Conflict, Family, RefugeesComments Off on Working with Refugees
Bronagh Ćatibušić has just returned home from Croatia where she spent two weeks volunteering in a refugee camp in the eastern town of Slavonski Brod. This camp is a transit centre for people fleeing conflict who are making the arduous trek along the so-called ‘Balkan route’. An average of between 2,000 and 4,000 people passed through the camp each day on a journey that can take people weeks and sometimes months.
Bronagh was particularly struck by the high proportion of children, including very small babies, among the arrivals. She met many families with five or more children. Bronagh talks about how instead of scaremongering people about refugees coming into Europe, we should be welcoming them and working to create a diverse and vibrant community. She explains more to Miriam Gormally.
Bronagh Ćatibušić lives near Dundalk with her Bosnian husband Mirza and her three daughters, Ayumi (15), Selma (13) and Leyla (8). Bronagh Ćatibušić has a PhD in Applied Linguistics and works as a researcher and lecturer in English language teaching and intercultural education. She met her husband Mirza, who came to Ireland as a medical evacuee from Bosnia, while she was involved with Bosnian refugees in the 1990s.