Temperatures in the early morning hours can each 17 degrees Centigrade below zero in Sarajevo. While many refuse to leave their homes during the harshest winters, countless migrants have no other option than to stay outside.

“I have an accommodation card for a migrant centre in the northern town of Bihac, but I can’t get there because I don’t have any money to buy a train ticket. I’ve been in the streets for 12 days now, no sleeping bag, no blanket, I sleep on the streets,” Sejafatulah from Afghanistan told N1’s Adisa Imamovic. “Croatian police took everything from me and deported me back to Serbia. Camps there are horrible, but Bosnian camps are not as bad. The problem is I don’t have a job, and I left my poor family in Afghanistan so I could find work.”

While looking for ways to find money for the ticket back to Bihac, he occasionally finds shelter in the Sarajevo train station. He’s not the only one there.

“I know it’s cold outside. I don’t have clothes, socks, not even a blanket. I don’t have money for shelter. I asked to be placed in a shelter. The police came and promised to take me to shelter. I’m still waiting,” Semir from Pakistan said.

Mosque walls offer temporary shelter from cold during prayer. Among those hiding in mosques is a Moroccan, Said. He was not in any camp. He told N1 he would rather cope with extreme cold than stay with Pakistanis.

“It’s freezing, but I want a better life. I will make it, a week, three weeks, a month, whatever it takes but after that, I’m going to Europe,” he said. “Everything is closed, but I’ll make it. First, to Croatia, Slovenia and my final goal is France. My family is there.”

Often time one can spot groups of migrants standing in front of malls, hoping that someone would offer them help, food or money.