At a large refugee center north of Warsaw, the table contains a large mix of free goods: baby food, clothing, coffee and SIM cards. In the center of the table is a pyramid of dog food jars.
At the reception, volunteers answer refugee questions. Yes, public transport is free; Yes, everyone is entitled to a grant of 300 zlotys (66 euros); Yes, they can register at the National Stadium on a social security number. QR codes on the walls of the place offer information about travel to Western Europe.
It seems the Poles figured it all out. In six weeks, they have had an extraordinary response to the refugee crisis, with 2.5 million Ukrainians (along with thousands of pets) arriving in the country. At the moment, one in ten people in Poland is Ukrainian.
“Maybe this is a miracle,” said Jaroslaw Obremski, governor of Lower Silesia, one of Poland’s largest regions, which received at least 250,000 Ukrainians. “In 2015, Germany received a million refugees in one year, and it was a great success,” he said. Guardian. “In a few weeks we will welcome two million. The difference is absolute.”
Mobilized across the country, from railway workers arranging the distribution of new arrivals to Poland to tens of thousands of volunteers who have left everything at the border, train stations and refugee centers to help. Free food is everywhere in the cities, from burger vans to the National Stadium to outside food delivery tents outside stations. The schools received new students and hundreds of thousands of people opened homes for refugee families. Newcomers can stay for at least 18 months and everyone has a work permit.
There is still criticism of Poland’s entry of non-Ukrainian refugees. But few deny that the efforts of recent weeks have been excellent. “On a scale of 1 to 10, I would say 10 or more,” said Olena Bahryantseva, a child psychologist in Slovyansk, eastern Ukraine. “They welcomed us as their own family. I swim at home and cry for my friends and relatives, but the hospitality of the Polish people makes me smile.”
But now the duration of the conflict is calculated not in weeks, but in months. Cities are overcrowded and volunteers, most importantly working smoothly for refugee management, start to leave because they have to return to work or university. As resources become increasingly scarce, the end of the war is not in sight, and more than 20,000 people move to Poland every day, one big question in the air in Eastern Europe is: how long can Poland maintain a positive attitude? A massive influx of refugees?
There are several reasons why this crisis will turn into Poland’s greatest triumph since the end of the 1989 communist regime. First, there was the dress rehearsal: the 2014 war sent the first wave of more than a million Ukrainians to the West. “It was not a problem because they worked, rented apartments, paid taxes,” Obremsky said. The Polish people respect them because in this case they were tireless workers.
So when the Russians invaded Ukraine, the authorities had a lot of information: there would be a lot of refugees, they would be well integrated if they helped, and most importantly, they would have to be deployed across the country to avoid the burden of large refugee camps. Border in Ukraine. There are now far more Ukrainians in Warsaw, Krakow and Wroclaw than in border towns like Pzemishli and Lublin.
The second major strategy was to find homes for everyone. Ukrainians are guaranteed a roof over their heads for at least two months. Most importantly, the vast majority were able to access accommodation that was either shared with other Ukrainians or with the host family.
The third factor was the reaction of the population. Drivers go to border checkpoints to take people where they want to go. Refugee centers are full of volunteers who take a week off to help. Hundreds of schools offered places for Ukrainian boys and girls, and some taught lessons in Ukrainian to help young people adapt.
The group of volunteers at Warsaw Central Station has grown to 350 people, including students, marketers, IT experts and even a psychologist. “I’m between two jobs and my plan was to go to Mexico, but when I was about to leave, the war started,” said Jakub Niemeyek, a computer scientist at the station’s accommodation and transport desk manager. “I decided to cancel the road, stay and help.”
Volunteers have already noticed the change. Private accommodation offers are expiring, so more people need to be directed to huge refugee centers where it is hard to feel comfortable and settled. The country’s major cities are saturated: the population of Warsaw and Wrocლaw has grown by about 15%. Newcomers are urged to seek refuge in small provincial towns to ease the pressure.
“We can not accept more people,” said Doris Maklevska, coordinator of the volunteer group at Warsaw Central Station. “Warsaw is on the verge. When the reception started, we did not know it would last so long.”
In fact, there is great uncertainty about how long Ukrainians will be able to stay with Polish host families and when they will have to defend themselves. Irina Tsimbal, who left her husband in eastern Ukraine and arrived in Warsaw in early March, found a family ready to take her and her children. But soon he will need his own place. “They came out to us and said we could stay, maybe a month, maybe two,” he said. “But after that, I do not know.”
A national response to refugees may force Poland to spend about 3% of GDP this year, says Liam Peach, a regional expert at research consultancy Capital Economics. And more and more questions are being asked about who will pay the price for these greetings.
Education is another big challenge. “We have about a million children who have just arrived in the country,” Obremski said. “This means that we urgently need 80 new kindergartens and nurseries. And we need to create a parallel Ukrainian-language curriculum because children who do not speak Polish will not be able to integrate into the Polish system.”
The same goes for healthcare: the number of patients may increase by 10% or more this year, especially given the psychological consequences that many Ukrainians bring. The Polish healthcare system will pass the litmus test.
In addition to money, housing and infrastructure, there is a more sophisticated issue. Will Poles succumb to psychological fatigue if the war continues, if housing problems worsen, if schools and hospitals are overcrowded? What if millions more refugees come?
“I do not think we can provide another two million,” Obremski said. Even a million would be difficult. However, more than 20,000 refugees a day arrive during the last week. At this rate the number of three million will reach in one month.
“Obviously, we are not tired of refugees, but of the situation,” Niemeyek admits. “But this is a time to test whether the Western values we believe in are just paper values or authentic.”
Translated by Emma Reverter.
Source: El Diario
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