days 3, 4, and 5

The situation on the ground here in Przemyśl is tricky. Refugee numbers are slowing – last weekend, 120,000 crossed the border into Poland each day (the biggest crossing being Medyka, with people then coming into Przemyśl), but yesterday I was told that the past few days it’s been 60,000 per day. I haven’t verified these numbers, so take them with a pinch of salt. Having said that, the town continues to be completely overwhelmed. Night and after night, the old Tesco where the majority are housed is full, and last night for the first time I had to tell people that there were no beds. I also heard a rumour that those who had been in the Tesco for several days were being told that they needed to move on and find somewhere in a different city. This is just a rumour, and again I have not verified it, but I do trust the person who told me. Thankfully mothers and small children can always find somewhere, and are prioritised, with the elderly being next on the list, but for others, it is just a case of luck. More special trains are being put on every day to transport people out of here and to other, bigger cities, where the hope is that there will be more space. My impression from speaking to friends volunteering in these cities is that this is a false hope.

Volunteers here are increasingly frustrated by the lack of centralised support and are burning out. In particular, the Polish volunteers who have now been working tirelessly for three weeks need a break. I would continue to encourage any Russian or Ukrainian speaking volunteers who can come out to do so – though I also understand that the need is huge in Berlin and other European capitals. It’s hard to judge where it is greater.

Since the UK visa-free programme opened up, lots of people in the UK have contacted me asking if I can help link them to a refugee family who they can host. The issue in my experience is that people don’t want to come to the UK – currently only 20,000 have applied for UK visas, out of the three million who have left. Generally, people want to stay in Central Europe, for a number of reasons:

1.      Being somewhere where a Slavonic language is spoken means language acquisition is so much easier.

2.     People have left family and friends in Ukraine, and they want to be nearby for if they then cross the border too.

3.     Countries like Germany are offering far more generous financial schemes for refugees. Having said this, the situation in reality is that people in Germany are sleeping in makeshift (indoor) camps and dormitories, and in the big cities, these are filling up.  

4.     People hope that they will be able to return, and moving all the way to the UK is in a way perceived (by some individuals) as accepting defeat, and making a permanent change.

Another issue (which I’m by no means an expert on, and if you are please do contact me because I would like to learn more about it) is that the UK government is requiring biometric passports to enter. Not everyone has these – in particular, the elderly. People are travelling as full family units – mum, kids, and babusja – and they are obviously not willing to consider leaving anyone behind. People also don’t trust the UK government scheme, and for good reason - this Guardian article sums it up pretty well.

In my last newsletter, I said that there was no sight of any big organisations here. Since then, I have met one guy from the UN International Organisation for Migration, and a woman from Unicef, as well as seeing two people from Oxfam who are ‘working out’ what they can do. The Red Cross are also about. So, they are here now, at the border itself, though not at the train station (Red Cross is, again, the exception here). I still stand by my initial point that smaller charities and individuals are a better use of donations, however - these organisations have come here weeks after everything has already been set up, and aren’t doing anything different to what other volunteers are doing, they just do it with branding. In particular, Ukrainian House is a Polish charity which until now has worked predominantly with Ukrainian labour migrants. It is run by Ukrainians, for Ukrainians. They have set up shelters throughout the country and seem to be the closest thing there is to any kind of organisers. Donate to them if you can.

My gofundme is also still active: money from it is being used to buy supplies for the station, as well as coach tickets across Europe for those who need it. There are free trains, but, for example, the train to Berlin this morning was fully booked by yesterday evening. As the strain on Przemyśl increases, enabling those people who have somewhere to go in a different city/country to get there as quickly as possible becomes ever more vital. I have so far spent £544.96 of it - £270 on supplies, and the rest on transportation for two families, and a babusja travelling alone. In terms of getting supplies to the border, I would argue that it is more effective, cheaper, and more environmentally friendly, to send money, and we can buy the supplies we need here.

To be honest, this has been the most tiring six days of my life – and I’m here for another five weeks. I am so glad to be here though, and it is genuinely such a privilege to be able to feel a part of the amazing grassroots work that is going on here, for which all credit should go to the Polish people. I have also met some wonderful Ukrainians – one who particularly stands out is a babusja I met last night, travelling alone with her poodle and on her way to meet her daughter in Prague. She was born in Kyiv a few years after the end of the Second World War, and until a few days ago, had lived there her entire life. I brought her out a blanket as she waited on the platform in sub-zero temperatures for her train, but instead of using it for herself, she wrapped her poodle in it.

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me with said poodle

supplies on their way to the train station. the most in-demand is always juice.

a

a sign which greets the refugees as they head from Medyka to Przemyśl. for those who don’t speak Russian, it says ‘Russian warship, go f*ck yourself’, and is a reference to this.