three refugee children holding out their hands for food
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Convoy of humanitarian aid to Montenegro departed Sunday 18th July

Konik is the largest refugee camp in the Balkans but few outside of Montenegro know it exists. More than 2,000 Roma live here after fleeing the violence in Kosovo 11 years ago with little more than the clothes they were wearing. These are refugees from a conflict most of the world assumes was resolved years ago. Konik is a forgotten crisis.

The refugee community live in makeshift shacks built from scraps of wood, tin and rubbish. The Montenegrin government put the Roma camp next to the country's largest rubbish dump and over the past decade a small town has grown out of its waste.

Families survive on what they can scavenge from rubbish bins, mostly potatoes and bread. If they sell some scrap metal or the women may earn a little from cleaning work in the houses outside the camp, they buy tomatoes or peppers.

One of the ladies said "Some of the people here go to beg but I would rather eat from the rubbish tip than do that. We want to be able to work but we're not allowed. My children are always hungry and I have nothing to give them. I am hungry now but I know there is nothing in my house. I can't live like this any more. I want to leave and take my children away from here but where can I go?"

Part of an item by Phoebe Greenwood who works for Save the Children