Half of the refugees fleeing the war are children, although only 4,500 are of school age
After completing 100 days of the war in Ukraine, 40,531 refugees fleeing this war conflict have arrived in Catalonia, according to data available to the Red Cross. “The first weeks it was like a tsunami, hundreds of people arrived every day”recognize Enric Morist, entity coordinator. Then the rhythms slowed down. The express trips in vans have ended, the waves of overflowing humanitarian aid and now those who require batches of food and clothing are those who are already safe. “The central government continues without transferring the funds we need,” they lament from the Generalitat, which sees how many refugees return to their country or have to move to other autonomous communities due to lack of accommodation in Catalonia.
The peak of the arrival of Ukrainian refugees occurred two weeks after the conflict broke out, between March 7 and 13. An average of 600 people a day arrived, especially through the trains that stopped at Sants station. Others did it at airports and by road. “Someday we will reach a thousand”, points out Morist, who recalls how those responsible for the Red Cross they spent the day picking up phones between hotel listings to find them a place to sleep. At the end of March, there were 9,500 Ukrainians who slept in hotels in Catalonia, all financed by the Ministry of Inclusion. Now those numbers have dropped. There are 4,861 refugees housed. Meanwhile, another 4,444 people have been referred to other autonomous communities or other organizations. “If we had not done it, we would have had a collapse of accommodation in Catalonia”, justifies Morist.
Precisely, many hotels on the Catalan coast have had to evict the refugees, as this newspaper advanced. Others will soon. The Generalitat is still unable to give a housing option to these families, most of them made up of mothers with minors. It is estimated that, among those who have arrived in Catalonia, 21,000 are living here. “Catalonia has shown a great capacity to welcome these families, but We still do not have an economic response from the State, which has 120,000 million euros from the European Union and of which we have not seen a single one”, regrets Mireia Mata, general secretary of Igualtat del Govern. The Conselleria de Feminismes i Igualtat is trying to get flats so that the refugees do not have to go to other communities, but this response has “slowed down”, according to Mata, due to lack of funds. They also ask for compensation for the health and educational care that has been provided to all the refugees, in addition to the reinforcement of the reception systems.
Schools and jobs
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Half of the refugees are children and 4,500 have already joined the Catalan school. “You have to count that there are more than 5,000 children under 3 years old and adolescents between 16 and 18 years old,” adds Mata. The drama that still follows is that of the Ukrainian families who lived in Catalonia and who are making an enormous effort to pay all the expenses. Bills go up, you have to buy summer clothes and fill the pantry. “They are working families that need help,” insists Morist. “We propose a rent type Minimum Living Income to all the refugees”, proposes Mata, who points out that this help must come from La Moncloa. Today, the one who tries to give this response are the municipal social services, already collapsed by the pandemic. Barcelona, in 60 days of care specialized, has already granted almost 500 aid to Ukrainian refugees although there are more than 1,500 households that have sued them. On average, they have been distributed 233 euros per household.
This is one of the challenges that social entities specializing in refugee care are working on. The other, his future. “We must think about integration: language learning, job search“, says Morist. Now they are already serving the refugees with specialized teams, not just volunteers, and they can delve into issues such as post-traumatic psychological care. “We need planning and stabilization,” she says. However, it is clear that Catalonia is the main way of entry for Ukrainians to Spain. In the last two months, the capital has had to take in more than 3,000 refugees who have arrived at night and at dawn. “Although it seems that we have forgotten, every day families fleeing the war who need us continue to arrive,” insists Morist.
2,000 Ukrainians in queues of hunger
The Novoa travel agency, in the center of Barcelona’s Eixample, has only received desperate refugee families for months. No businessmen who must go to Slavic countries, or Russian-speaking tourists who want to spend a few days on the Catalan coast. The visits, incessant, are from Ukrainian refugees who have no way to fill the pantry.
Just three months ago, Yuri Mykhaylychenko, Olena Gvozdeva and Livbov Starodubsta decided to give their arm to twist all the refugees, mainly women with children, who needed clothes, food or basic products. At the end of March, the volunteers were treating 200 people a week. Today there are more than 2,000. The figure has increased tenfold. “The problem is that the families that receive refugees do not have help and we are the only ones who continue,” explains Mykhaylychenko.
The word among Ukrainians in need spread like wildfire. The written reports in the press about their charitable work also helped. It turns out that now they can’t cope. “Some days people come and we have nothing to give them,” continues Mykhaylychenko. As soon as they get a donation, he rushes out with the van to buy basic products, especially related to food or intimate hygiene. They are also desperate looking for summer clothes and shoes. “The refugees arrived with very little clothing and everything in strict winter. With these temperatures … they need other clothing,” he continues.
Most of the people who come to the travel agency live with host families. And the origins are diverse: from Canet or Calella to Cunit or Salou. In fact, 70% of Ukrainian refugees in Catalonia are in this situation. And the lack of help for them cries out to heaven.
The entity tries to find a place where it can store the products. “We need about 40 tons of food a week, and the food bank can bring it to us, but it needs a bigger place,” laments the Ukrainian. They have been in talks with the Barcelona City Council for months to achieve this. At the moment there are no answers. Just queues. And hungry.