TWO West Somerset women have put down temporary roots in Belgrade and are providing 1,500 cups of hot tea a day, along with good cheer and a pleasant atmosphere, to scores of refugees living in an abandoned barracks there.

Lily Stephenson, 27, and Rosie Johnson, 21, of Wiveliscombe, are the aptly named charity SolidariTea, and equipped with a specially converted live-in tea truck, have been working voluntarily in Serbia since the cold winter days of February.

Now that the weather is warmer, their tea sessions are providing a community hub with almost a café atmosphere for the approximately 1,000 boys and men living in the unofficial centre – a place where they can talk to friends, learn a bit of English around the tea truck, dance sometimes, be outside, and drink hot, sweet tea.

A community of adolescent lads have elected themselves Lily and Rosie’s aides, helping with water, cleaning, and tea making.

“There are lots of young boys, some as young as ten, and the tea sessions in the morning and afternoon provide a bit of structure, a stable part of their day, a bit of friendship and care,” said Lily.

Most the boys and men are from Afghanistan and Pakistan, and hearing their stories is moving and very difficult sometimes, the women find.

With pidgin English and sign language, the refugees talk about how they left, mostly due to the Taliban, to undertake dangerous journeys, often on their own.

“It’s really sad wondering what will happen to them. The adolescents have to survive on their own, going straight from being children to independent adults, and some look so uncared for, without mothers or someone there to help,” said Lily.

“They are incredible human beings, inspiring, and have gone through so much at such a young age.

“Lots of them are really intelligent but they are missing out on education now and where they were they couldn’t go to school because of the Taliban – they are a lost generation.”

The dilapidated barracks, left over from the Bosnian-Serbian war, has about 1,000 inhabitants, who share eight toilets, and receive one meal a day from agencies, although no authorities run the place.

Rosie and Lily have been questioned a few times by the police, but have not been asked to move on, and local people seem mostly kind and sympathetic to the refugees’ plight, they say.

Initially, the barracks’ inhabitants were intrigued by what the women were doing, and although friendly, observed them carefully, drinking about 250 cups a day at the tea sessions.

Now the pair are serving up around 1,500 cups a day, using 20 kilos of loose tea a week, along with 112 litres of milk and “so much” sugar, about 125 kilos a week.

Full feature in the Free Press