With all the current action and movement of the front in Ukraine going on, a small update might be in order about the Ukrainians living with us.
In my last update (I think some 4 months ago) I mentioned 3 extra family members (besides the 2 already living with us) showing up to our doorstep and we agreed to host them as an emergency for a short time.
Well, a couple of months later, all are still living with us. We are trying to find other accommodation for them, but it is really hard to find something in the part of the Netherlands where I’m living. And because they are now officially registered in our city and living with us, they are no longer considered an emergency case. All places that become available are allocated to refugees who really have no place to stay. It’s a bit of a conundrum, we have to kick them out on the street in order for them to have a better chance of getting a place to stay, with the added downside that it probably will be somewhere far away from where they work.
So the 5 of them have been living together for a couple of months now, in one room of 50 m2. The 3 new family members are a grandmother (from Donetsk, late fifties and sister of one who already stayed with us), her daughter and granddaughter of 5 from Kiev. We helped set them up with the city, bank and jobs. We are settling into a comfortable rhythm co-living in a house with 10 persons. So far we let them stay for free, but their dignity demanded that they at least help us pay some of our energy costs.
It’s nice to have a little girl again in the house. In the beginning she was very shy and skittish, every sudden sound made her jump and wanted to hide under a table or another safe place as she was taught to do in Kiev. Fortunately we did not throw away most toys our kids played with when they were little, so now she is playing with dolls, making chalk drawings on the street and learning to ride our old red racing bike. She is getting less shy and really opening up and the best thing is that she found another girl of 5 a couple of doors down who also speaks Russian (Russian mother and Dutch father) who moved in just a couple of weeks ago. More good news is that we also found a school for her. Our city set one up just for Ukrainian refugees a ten minute tram ride away, so she has lessons in Dutch and Ukrainian.
Some days we hardly hear them at all. A couple of times a week we sit together to help them with bureaucratic stuff and other questions they have. Once in a while we take them on trips here to see some specific Dutch stuff, windmills, Madurodam, Rotterdam. We get to hear more stories and a little bit of their background. They worry a lot about their friends and family back in Ukraine, especially the men in the military. Casualties are pretty high among Ukrainian military, but the Ukrainian Government is pretty good at positive PR. They show us videos of impact craters next to their family home in Kiev.
They asked if they could stay with us until spring, and we agreed. Currently there is nothing much to gain by going. They can’t work the land and there are hardly any jobs. Cost of living in a war torn country is really high. Most food prices, especially fresh produce, is higher in Kiev than in the Netherlands.
The best way to help their family (mostly fathers, brothers, sons) and other friends back home is by working here and sending money and goods back home. Somehow an underground Ukrainian UPS has been created all over Europe. Little vans ferrying Ukrainian food from Ukraine and taking back items needed in Ukraine. We are thinking about setting up a Gofundme campaign to help them out even more, but so far they declined.
