WEBVTT

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Thinking about how it all started 


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and the beginnings
of what brought me here today,

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I realised it happened 
because of my biggest fault:

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I never plan anything in my life.

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I am walking chaos

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which my husband Luka is trying
to put in some sort of order.

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So, this was the chaos,

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and this is my husband Luka.

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There are moments in life 
when you need to make plans,

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just as at one point we had to start
planning in Are You Syrious,

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or we would have fallen apart.

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But there are times, and this was one,

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when you have to react
immediately from the heart.

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What is there to think about
when you need to feed the hungry,

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put clothes on their back,
give them information,

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and, most importantly, love.

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What prompted me to start doing something

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was when in mid-August last year

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my father suggested
we host a Syrian family

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in a vacant property we had.

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I started asking around,
but got no reply.

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Everyone was just writing 
sad posts, posting sad statuses,

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but no one was taking any action.

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At that time, the route 
did not pass through Croatia,

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but I couldn't bear to watch
what was happening.

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I told Luka we had to do something,

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we couldn't just sit and watch
what was going on around us.

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I posted on Facebook that we 
were collecting donations in our garage

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and a few days later,
our garage was full of donations

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and they were spilling over into our flat.

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People we had never seen before
started arriving,

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and our friends spent hours
in front of our garage,

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sorting and packing clothes for the field.

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I often say "we"

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because none of this would have happened

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if it had not been for us: Luka, myself,

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and all the wonderful people who decided
to do something just as we had done.

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I borrowed our first van
from my company,

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filled it with donations

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and set out with my dear friend Selma.

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Our first encounter with refugees 
was at the Serbian-Hungarian border

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where we met
thousands of people in a field

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with no electricity, water, 


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or any official organised help

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and with only a handful 
of volunteers to help them.

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The scene was truly horrendous.

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We did what we could to help, 
but it amounted to almost nothing.

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On the way back,
we stopped at a gas staton

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and looking in the direction
of the forest near the motorway,

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we saw a family of eight,
with a baby in their arms,

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frantically running around.

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We approached them 
and asked if we could help.

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They said a man had taken 1500 Euros

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to take them from Szeged to Budapest,

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which is a distance
of around 170 kilometres.

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He told them to hide in the bushes
while he was at the gas station,

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but he didn't come back.

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Our logical reaction 
was to tell them to get in

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and we would take them to Budapest,

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where they could take a train to Austria.

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Five minutes after we set out,

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there was a deathly silence.

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We were terrified 
that they had suffocated.

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But they were so exhausted,
they had fallen asleep.

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The lovely little baby, 
Rahaf, had also fallen asleep.

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That was certainly the longest
100 kilometres in my life.

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We reached a place outside Budapest

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and stopped at a hotel 
because they just wanted to rest,

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but as soon as they 
saw us they threw us out,

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shouting they didn't want any refugees.

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Along the way, we met other families

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sitting outdoors drinking tea

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because they were not allowed
inside the restaurant

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to drink their tea there

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even though they had paid
for it just as we had done.

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We managed somehow
to reach Budapest, avoiding the police.

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This is the tarpaulin they hid under.

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We reached the train station
and got them on the train.

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That was when I realised
we could do more to help.

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It was a feeling I simply couldn't ignore.

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The trigger that marked
the transformation from a single action

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into a movement
we called "Are You Syrious?"

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It was a humanitarian concert

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which we organised, as it happened,

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on the day that Hungary
closed its borders.

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We got a call from
the wonderful Denis Katanec

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who said he wanted to sing, and that
there were others who wanted to help.

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In only ten days,
Luka organised a concert

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and Vid Jeraj gave it its name.

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Everyone who worked on the concert:

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the people receiving donations,

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the security personnel,
cloakroom attendants,

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sound technicians, musicians,
they were all volunteers,

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and some of them 
are still in Are You Syrious?

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We realised this had outgrown our garage

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and started organising shifts
for receiving and sorting donations.

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The next day I called the Red Cross
and the Centre for Peace Studies

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to offer our help

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but they obviously 
didn't take me seriously.

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That was the first time I said 
I was from Are You Syrious?

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What was Are You Syrious?

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I had unconsciously 
given a name to an action,

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an idea, an organisation, a movement.

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Two days after the concert,

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I loaded food into the car

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and drove to Tovarnik

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because at that point
the route had shifted to Croatia.

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I arrived in Tovarnik, 
said, "Hello," to the policemen

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and at that point,
the four thousand people

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who were standing nearby
surrounded by police

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broke through the cordon
and started running towards us.

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A policeman turned to me and said,

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"Madam, they'll devour you,
but we will help you."

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They made a circle around the car


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and helped me 
distribute food and beverages.

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The let me bring more.

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What I saw then,

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I saw throughout
the refugee crisis in Croatia:

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The police showed
that they were not just officers,

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but also human beings.

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There was still no
organised official help in Tovarnik

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and it became clear to me
we had to organise a serious campaign.

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I went to Luka and said,
"You have to go to the field!

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They need serious help
there and only you can do it."

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He put a post on Facebook,
gathered a team,

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and they were there in a jiffy.

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Bapska, a village
on the Croatian-Serbian border,

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has a special place
in the story of Are You Syrious?

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This was the first place we had
a serious presence on the ground

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where our volunteers stayed
in shifts, 24/7, for almost a month.

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At that time all the refugees
passing through Croatia

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passed through Bapska on their way
to the official camp in Opatovac.

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We are talking about
5,000 - 7,000 people a day,

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whom the volunteers clothed, fed,

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comforted, and provided
with much-needed information.

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The volunteers slept
in the field, all in one tent,

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and some did not sleep for days on end.

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They worked 48-hour shifts
without stopping.

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Bapska taught us much about the stories
of the refugees and their truth,

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much about ourselves 
and about what was needed.

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We became convinced we could do
everything others were doing, if not more.

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That was when individual volunteers

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from Croatia and abroad
started joining us.

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Then it went on - camps and especially
informal border crossings

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through which hundreds of thousands 
of people were passing: Mohovo, Bregana,

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Šentilj, Ključ Brdovečki/Rigonce, 
Dobova, Hamica...

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Amid this chaos our 15-year-old son
packed a bag and went to the field.

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He went to the
Serbian-Croatian border on his own

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and came back so ill,
he ended up in hospital.

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But this didn't stop him
and when he got out,

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he spent his nights in the field,
even though he had school in the morning.

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It seemed quite normal to see my husband
come home in the middle of the night

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with a batch of razor wire in his hand,
the next morning go with him to a festival

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we had organised to collect donations.

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We were crazy enough
to gain access to no man's land

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where no one else had gone before us.

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After a week, we had to leave, 
but the situation there improved

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which showed us that sometimes


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it's enough to be there 
for things to change.

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For months after this,
hard-working AYS volunteers

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were busy cleaning the camp in Dobova

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where the conditions were unfit
for the people arriving there

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who were often rejected.

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We patrolled the roads and followed buses

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because the authorities
often transported refugees

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to informal border crossings 
where no help was available.

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In mid-winter, people
were arriving in flip-flops,

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children without socks or only in socks,

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babies in just bodysuits, and worse.

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We learned that in the field
you can't plan anything

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You make a plan
and two hours later, it's useless.

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Field work has to be guerrilla work
and it doesn't bear plans

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but requires flexible
and resourceful people

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for whom nothing is too hard.

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Who if you call them
in the middle of the night,

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in winter, and say help is needed,
get up, get dressed,

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go to the nearest open store,

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buy 100 kg of bananas 
or whatever else is needed,

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and go to the field.

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When you're doing something like this,

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you realize that what
is happening in reality

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and what is presented in the media
are two completely different stories.

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Does the general public know why
there were initially more men than women?

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Probably not.

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Because the man of the family
went ahead on this difficult journey

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so that when he was granted asylum,

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he would have the right to bring
his family over to safety.

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And another reason was that in the chaos
in Syria they didn't see who to fight for,

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for which of the world powers playing
games with the fate of their country.

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In parallel with
all this work in the field,

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I was going through a real drama
coordinating all this.

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Luka was spending
more and more time in the field,

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my life was getting more chaotic
with three children and my job

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which I couldn't keep up with,

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and I am grateful to my partners 
for being so understanding.

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I slept for only a few hours
a day, never in one stretch

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as there was no difference
between day and night.

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We realised that the only
possible response to this situation

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was a 360° approach.

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You can't go to the field
if you have nothing to distribute,

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and you can't distribute things if
you don't know to whom, what, and where.

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These are our warehouses.


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We changed warehouses
and we got them all for free.

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We drove donated vans,
and bought only what we had to.

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We received a donation
of 1,000 pairs of shoes

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from a Croatian entrepreneur. 


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The shoes were quite dressy,

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not something you'd wear
for walking through muddy fields,

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but the refugees 
wore them with a big smile

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because they were much better
than the flip-flops they had arrived in.

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In this period I was probably
getting on the volunteers' nerves

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because I kept badgering
them to send me information.

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Our dear volunteer Vlasta once 
said to me, "You're a pain in the butt.

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Stop bothering me, I don't have time
for all this in the field."

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But I didn't give up on
gathering and sharing information,

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and all this time we continued networking,
which later proved to be very important.

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Luka and I had terrible rows.

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He would say to me, "Who do you think
you are? What do you imagine you can do?"

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"We can't go on living like this."

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After those two months, I told you about,

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he said, "OK, sit down and tell me
the things you're doing

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and I'll write it all down."

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The result was 26 people, a minimum
of 26 people in the coordination team

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for everything to function 24/7.

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These are some of the groups
we set up, which are still with us today.

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I advertised and I will never forget
the people who responded

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when we were at breaking point and I was
deciding whether to go on or give up;

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give up because I would
collapse, which actually happened.

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I had a minor stroke but
I am all right now, as you can see.

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I would like to mention all the people
who responded to my call: Asja, Magda,

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Milena, Emir, Petar, Zvone,

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the Jasnas, the Sanjas, Krešo...

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I'll probably forget someone,
but they know very well who they are,

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because they hold a special place
in the story of Are You Syrious?

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But all the volunteers who came later

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also contributed to the evolving story
of Are You Syrious? and where we are now.

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My gathering and sharing
of information finally came into its own

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when Milka arrived with her team
and developed it to perfection.

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The Daiy Digest grew into the now
famous Are You Syrious Daily News Digest

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the only uncensored daily news covering
the refugee route from Syria to Norway

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which is quoted by well-known world media
such as the Washington Post, the BBC,

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Le Monde, and many others,

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and is read by refugees,
volunteers, and everyone on the route

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because they consider it the only
reliable source of information.

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Along with the volunteers in the field,
who perform the so-called "sexy" jobs,

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a great strength of AYS are the people
working in dark warehouses,

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doing night shifts at their computers


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gathering and sharing information
which will be of use to others.

00:14:14.173 --> 00:14:16.904
Imagine what it's like when
a message arrives in the inbox

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saying that smugglers
are holding refugees hostage

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or that a boat full of people
is sinking and they need urgent help.

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Imagine the stress volunteers
face every day in their lives.

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But they don't give up. They go on.

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And when all the people are saved,
imagine the joy of the whole AYS family.

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However much we plan, we have had
some unforeseeable situations.

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For example when Luka, after one of those
rows when he said we couldn't go on

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came home one evening
with Samuel from Nigeria,

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who hadn't been allowed
across the Slovenian border

00:14:56.194 --> 00:14:58.044
because he was black.

00:14:58.044 --> 00:15:01.299
Samuel is still with us,
a little more than a year later.

00:15:01.299 --> 00:15:05.720
He has become part of our family.
Our children adore him.

00:15:06.110 --> 00:15:10.422
Samuel plays soccer
and is desperate to stay in Croatia,

00:15:10.422 --> 00:15:14.730
which he has come to love
with all his big, naive, childlike heart.

00:15:14.730 --> 00:15:18.819
Sadly, this state does not want Samuel,
but we are still fighting to keep him.

00:15:19.759 --> 00:15:22.375
Samuel is not the only one.

00:15:22.375 --> 00:15:26.134
Right now there are
almost 1,000 people in Croatia

00:15:26.134 --> 00:15:29.207
who, like a million others, come
from war-torn areas of the world

00:15:29.207 --> 00:15:31.430
seeking international protection.

00:15:31.640 --> 00:15:34.935
Did you know that the
full name of Are You Syrious

00:15:34.935 --> 00:15:37.487
is Zemljani (Earthlings)
- Are You Syrious?

00:15:37.487 --> 00:15:41.570
As earthlings we wanted to show what it is
we believe in and what we're fighting for,

00:15:41.640 --> 00:15:44.651
which is life without
borders and false divisions

00:15:44.651 --> 00:15:48.048
because all of us are just
ordinary, commonplace, wonderful,

00:15:48.048 --> 00:15:51.012
insignificant, magnificent people.

00:15:51.012 --> 00:15:55.043
From early September last year to today

00:15:55.043 --> 00:15:58.987
AYS volunteers have helped in
many countries on the refugee route.

00:15:58.987 --> 00:16:03.613
We have gained the confidence
of people everywhere in the world.

00:16:03.613 --> 00:16:06.794
We've had donors and volunteers
from all over the world.

00:16:06.794 --> 00:16:10.491
We've delivered tons of aid
to various countries on the refugee route.

00:16:11.841 --> 00:16:16.038
We've organised humanitarian drives,
concerts, created a brand.

00:16:16.038 --> 00:16:22.503
We've been supported by many artists
who organised humanitarian events

00:16:22.503 --> 00:16:25.095
on their own initiative
in order to help us.

00:16:25.095 --> 00:16:27.749
We rebuilt a camp in Syria
which was destroyed by shelling

00:16:27.749 --> 00:16:30.300
which houses mostly
women, children, and the elderly

00:16:30.300 --> 00:16:32.781
who lack even the means
to cross the border.

00:16:33.041 --> 00:16:39.824
AYS volunteers help
asylum seekers to integrate.

00:16:39.824 --> 00:16:43.736
We left our comfort zone and got
to know people from all parts of the world

00:16:43.736 --> 00:16:46.012
with different
occupations and life stories,

00:16:46.012 --> 00:16:50.409
but the most important experience
was being united around an idea

00:16:50.409 --> 00:16:55.697
and being able to value and embrace
someone completely, totally different.

00:16:56.477 --> 00:16:58.892
They told us we were
neglecting our children,

00:16:58.892 --> 00:17:00.572
that this was no way to live,

00:17:00.572 --> 00:17:04.663
but our children have experienced
what they wouldn't have in a million years

00:17:04.663 --> 00:17:08.952
living in this insular
and conservative society.

00:17:08.952 --> 00:17:12.285
Each volunteer brought
something of their own into this story

00:17:12.285 --> 00:17:16.458
There are now about 50 volunteers
working in the organization.

00:17:17.358 --> 00:17:20.898
We see what we are doing
as supremely patriotic,

00:17:20.898 --> 00:17:24.140
because we are presenting
our country as a country of good people

00:17:24.140 --> 00:17:28.058
which it was before it became
a land of "great warriors."

00:17:28.058 --> 00:17:33.177
It used to be a land of good people
and good hosts who help those in trouble.

00:17:33.177 --> 00:17:39.009
We once got a message saying their people
would remember what we did for them

00:17:39.009 --> 00:17:41.748
for as long as their children were alive.

00:17:41.748 --> 00:17:45.729
What we did and what we are doing,
and what we feel while we are doing it,

00:17:45.729 --> 00:17:48.367
that's what it means to be Syrious.

00:17:48.367 --> 00:17:52.495
To be Syrious means to help, with the will
and without fear, anyone who needs help,

00:17:52.495 --> 00:17:56.982
whether it be refugees in a park,
in a field, or in a camp,

00:17:56.982 --> 00:18:02.240
asylum seekers or people not seeking
asylum and everyone passing through.

00:18:02.700 --> 00:18:08.622
We'll go on for as long as we are needed,


00:18:08.702 --> 00:18:12.051
and our main goal is not to be needed
any more and to cease to exist.

00:18:12.781 --> 00:18:16.573
Looking back on everything
I've told you about today

00:18:16.573 --> 00:18:19.254
I don't think I've done
anything spectacular,

00:18:19.254 --> 00:18:22.284
anything that any one of us couldn't do

00:18:22.284 --> 00:18:25.788
if we only make the decision and have
the courage to carry it through.

00:18:25.788 --> 00:18:28.732
This is proven by all the AYS volunteers

00:18:28.732 --> 00:18:34.220
to whom I send hugs, and to all volunteers
and refugees, displaced people,

00:18:34.790 --> 00:18:40.060
migrants, people without a home, 
without freedom, without peace.

00:18:40.060 --> 00:18:43.617
Earthlings, let's be Syrious!

00:18:43.617 --> 00:18:45.257
(Applause)