Many Kosovan refugee children were forced from their homes and brought to Britain unexpectedly. Some of the children now in London visited the exhibition of Kosovan photos staged by the Reuters Foundation recently. Afterwards Children's Express talked to them about their ordeal and what they want, now the war is over.
| The third time we got to the border, I didn’t have any feeling. I felt like the most unhappy girl in the world. |
Masked men forced their way into 12-year-old Adea's home in Pristina, pushed down the door and said 'You've got five minutes to leave.'
"Houses were burning, blood everywhere. I was so frightened," she said. "Some children didn't even have socks or shoes. They had to run. They left their home with everything in it."
Crowds of people were herded on to trains like animals and they had no idea where they were going, she said.
"Three times we tried to get into Macedonia. First we went with a humanitarian organisation, but they didn't let us go. The second time the border guards were drunk. They just pushed us. They were crazy. The third time we got to the border, I didn't have any feeling. I said: 'We are going to die or we are going to live.' I felt like the most unhappy girl in the world."
Adea and her family managed to find a house in Macedonia and lived there with another family. Eventually she and her six-year-old sister were sent to Britain to stay with their aunt. They're currently living in London but life is far from straightforward. Neither child has a school place for September and she and her younger sister are feeling dislocated and lonely.
"I wasn't happy there and I'm not happy here," said Adea. "I want to go back to my home, my friends, my place."
While being forced to leave home at such short notice was traumatic, Rina, 18, found her more orderly exit difficult as well.
She arrived before the war when her parents were suspended from work "They were asking for my dad and it was getting dangerous for my family. I had to leave school and friends. I came to London and felt so lonely. I went straight to secondary school which was a big change, a huge change for me because the lifestyle is very different."
Here, two Chinese girls befriended her and she was gradually accepted. "It's very difficult. I mean when you can't express your feelings, it's just so difficult, the worst thing ever. You just want to say something and you can't. And you don't even know what people are thinking," she added.
Current TV pictures remind her of what she's left behind. "I don't know how to describe it. It's just sad and it hurts me in my heart, it hurts me so much when I see that."
But Rina is determined to return to her country with something positive and is hoping to qualify as a chiropodist. Her face lights up at the mention of Kosovo. "My life used to be great. My parents used to work and every year we used to go to Greece. I had friends, I could speak my own language and everyone had the same mentality."
By the time Rina goes back she knows that some people will have forgotten her. "I hope the situation will be better and that I'm going to be able to work and help people."
About the team
This article was produced by editors Darell Philip, 18, Ruth Sewell, 14, and reporters Briony Hope, 10, and Pfungwa Chipatiso, 12. A version of this article was published on the Reuters website.
