On December 30th, the day after we met Ezad, the Syrian refugee, Kenric and I returned to the Pljeskavica burger stall foolishly hoping we would see him again. We arrived around 6 pm again, and ordered two burgers just so we had a reason to hang around. “Thirty minutes. We have no bread. We are waiting for bread.” Even better. The South Indian cook was a lot nicer that day. There were quite a few refugees waiting.

It’s very easy to strike up a conversation with the refugees once there is eye contact. The few standing right next to Kenric were curious enough, so I greeted them.

“Salam.”
“Waalaikumusalam.”

They are from Afghanistan; Kabul and Jalalabad. They asked where we are from.

“California.”
“Malaysia.”

The one who did the translating told us that it’s much harder during winter to find odd jobs in Belgrade, and that it’s been really cold.

What do you think of the immigration policy?

Someone standing by the burger counter joined the conversation. He asked what we thought about an immigration policy that he’d heard. Kenric and I couldn’t even begin to speculate what Serbia or any European Union countries might do, and immediately said so. This young man is from Kabul, Afghanistan and he was there to pick up food for himself and his friends.

A group of guys he knew came. Three, who were quite petite, were intrigued to the point of being amused by Kenric. One looked at him and said “Pahlawan”. I laughed. They all laughed. Kenric blushed. I told Kenric what it meant, and he laughed. “Pahlawan” is a Persian word that is also used in the Malay language. It means “warrior” or “hero”. I thought about children dying of starvation in active war zones, and about how malnourished children and adults are in war-torn countries. Afghanistan has been an active war zone almost continuously for 40 years; since the USSR invaded in 1979.

Police chase out the refugees

Right at that moment, at least three “Policija” came to chase the refugees away. I turned around; the few guys we were talking to had started walking away. The young man pleaded with the policewoman that he was waiting for his food, but she said no. He smiled at us, said goodbye, and walked away. Kenric and I caught up with him and said we would take him to the grocery store to get some food. Politely, he smiled and shook his head, “No, thank you.”

He’ll probably return after the cops are gone and be able to get the burgers, but we insisted anyway. On our way, a car was parked on the sidewalk blocking most of it. Kenric walked on the street. The young man stood still and said, “Ladies first.”

“Did you just say ‘Ladies first’?”, I teased.
He smiled sheepishly.
“Pahlawan never lets me walk first.”
He chuckled. Kenric protested.

Groceries

Kenric helped him pick out a body spray. Again, “This is enough.” We told him he had to get more stuff to share with his friends.

“Mayonnaise?”
“How do you eat it?”
He smiled, “I put it on the vegetables”.

Then I realized I didn’t even know his name, “What is your name?”

Ahmad

“Ahmad”, he smiled and took his hand out of his coat pocket to shake hands with us. It was a genuine and gentle heart-melting smile. Note that Ahmad is not his real name. He and I have decided to change it for good measure.

At the pastry counter, I told him I wouldn’t get any of the meat stuff because I didn’t know what kinds of meat were in the burek fillings and that I would get the chocolate croissants instead. Based on the reaction of his young face, he probably dislikes chocolate more than he dislikes dried figs. Nevertheless, I put a jar of Nutella and a loaf of bread into the basket. Come on, it’s Nutella.

“Enough.”
I ignored him and went on looking. When I found them again, the basket had grown by one small can of beans and a small carton of tomato paste. I was glad to know that he had a way to cook.

“Enough.”
“Go get two more things.”

I threw in my favorite – Sour Cream Pringles. His two things were a large bottle of soda and toilet paper.

His phone is broken

Ahmad and I waited outside while Kenric stood in line to pay. He asked if I had Facebook. I opened my Facebook on my phone and he looked himself up and sent a friend request to himself. He said his phone was broken and he would have to borrow his friend’s phone later to accept my friend request. We went back to the burger stall to pick up our burgers. The cook was surprised to see us. He thought we had walked off because we were tired of waiting. He was so much more pleasant than the previous night that we left a tip.

We forced Ahmad to take the burgers. We walked with him to the bus stop where he could take any bus to the next stop, and switch to the one that will take him “home” where he stays with about 25 others. The bus rides and a long walk afterwards would take about 1.5 hours.

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