BELGRADE – In a small, brightly-colored backstreet house in Belgrade a teenage girl is drying her hair, while two others eat lunch in the kitchen.
A group of boys are having their temperatures checked at the entrance as a precaution against coronavirus.It's another busy day for Svratiste, or Roadhouse, Belgrade's first daily drop-in center for street kids that for years has been a rare oasis of warmth and comfort for the Serbian capital's most vulnerable inhabitants.
Since opening in 2007, Svratiste has welcomed hundreds of children — some as young as five — who have come here to warm up, wash or eat.
With social isolation growing and the economic situation worsening in the pandemic, the center's role has become even more significant..