I would like to say that Poland rose to the occasion, but this is not true. Polish women and men did. As volunteers they help thousands of refugees from Ukraine every day - they collect clothes, blankets, food, medicines, invite them to their homes. The burden of the entire project was borne by local governments, poorly subsidized by the state during the rule of Law and Justice, non-governmental organizations such as Homo Faber, Grupa Granica (Border Group), Otwarty Dom (Open House) and informal support groups (on Facebook), such as Widzialna Ręka (the Visible Hand), Grupa Zasoby Warszawa (Warsaw Resources) or Grupa transport UA/PL/EU. On March 7, the Polish parliament adopted an act on aid to refugees from Ukraine, so perhaps the state will finally join in actively helping people fleeing the war.
“I'll punch you in the face!” Dramatic scenes at the borders, volunteers improvising on the Polish side
After dusk, at the border crossing in Medyka the temperature drops below zero. At night it is even colder: minus 6-8 degrees Celsius. The stench of exhaust fumes is in the air. Many cars and buses waiting in a long line to enter Poland are standing with their engines running. Until a few days ago, the queue was several dozen kilometers long, some - especially those with little children or the sick - turned back, there were also those who got off the buses and walked for miles to the barriers on foot. In the first days of the war, at the crossing in Hrebenne, people waited up to 60 hours to enter Poland.
Now the passages are open, women and children are allowed in almost automatically, Ukrainian border guards only detain men - they check if they can leave the country. Some of them came only to say goodbye to their wives, children and parents. Polish journalists entering Ukraine hear short and clear instructions from Ukrainian border guards: “Do not photograph soldiers, border guards and buildings. And if you disturb the women and children who have to say goodbye to their husbands and fathers at the border, I will punch you in the face.” The Ukrainian government prohibits men aged 18 to 60 from leaving the country, while the State Border Guard in Ukraine reported that 167,000 citizens returned to the country during the first 12 days of the armed conflict, 80% of whom were men. So the farewells take place on both sides of the border and it is a heartbreaking view.
Today, the flow of people across the border is pretty smooth, so there are no such long queues as in the first days of the war, although it is estimated that around 100,000 Ukrainians arrive in Poland every day. The Polish border guards at the entrance inform them that due to the war, those who are crossing the borders from the territory of Ukraine are exempt from the obligation to undergo quarantine and show a negative result of the SARS-CoV2 test. And also that everyone can get help at the reception point located on the Polish side of pedestrian and road border crossings. Sounds good. But the reality is much more complicated. In the first days of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, centers for people in need of shelter were established in Polish border towns. In market halls, in warehouses of large supermarkets, in sports arenas, at railway stations refugees can rest, eat hot soup, charge the phone, wait for further transport, and there are even rooms with toys for children in some places. However, this is the result of the completely grassroots activity of the inhabitants of these cities, who at the beginning simply offered a cup of tea at the border crossing. More people joined them and then companies offered the equipment (beds, chairs, tables, mobile showers, etc.), catering and their halls and rooms. Today, these grassroot centers coordinate the flow of tens of thousands of people every day and the work of hundreds of volunteers.
In many places, the city authorities limited themselves to providing a few toilets and delegating firefighters and the police to help. There is a lack of translators from Ukrainian or Russian at these reception points, people providing help are on the verge of exhaustion, there are more and more refugees, and there is more and more chaos. In Przemyśl (a city in southeastern Poland with apx. 60,000 inhabitants, about 14 kilometers from border crossing in Medyka) volunteers complained that the city mayor appeared in a military uniform and posed for photos, boasting for the media about a great center for the refugees in the Tesco warehouse, which he did not set up or support in any meassure. After a wave of criticism from volunteers who described in social media the lack of any support from the city authorities, mayor Wojciech Bakun and other officials finally joined in the coordination of activities, and scouts also came to help. Today mayor Bakun - many foreign newspapers wrote about him on Tuesday March 8th - is associated with the visit of the former Italian prime minister, nationalist leader Matteo Salvini, to Przemyśl. This Italian politician, who boasts a close relationship with Putin, came to the Polish-Ukrainian border with a request to meet refugees. During the press conference, Wojciech Bakun presented the leader of the far-right, anti-EU Northern League with a t-shirt with the image of the leader of the Russian Federation (in a similar one Salvini posed for a photo near the Kremlin in 2017) and ordered him to put it on and than go talk to the Ukrainians fleeing the Russian invaders. Excellent media play, but very disturbing news from Przemyśl are still coming: "The situation has become dramatic, we do not have any accommodation, there are not enough trains, mothers with children are camping at the train station and, unfortunately, in the open air. The energy of the volunteers is not enough" - wrote the employees of The Ukrainian House organization in Przemyśl a few days ago.
“How much money do you have?” The lack of state-level organization makes the refugees vulnerable
My friend has been waiting for three hours for two Ukrainian poets who were to appear at the border crossing in Krościenko (Polish-Slovak border) a long time ago. It is 9:30 pm on Tuesday March 8, -2 degrees, and the two women who are fleeing Ukraine via Slovakia did not show up yet. – We still have 800 km of road ahead of us today. I've prepared tea and food for them. This is all I can do. I hope that when I have to run away, someone will help me too - says Karol. He promised to take them to Krasnogruda where Fundacja Pogranicze (the Borderland Foundation), established in 1990, operates at the border with Lithuania. It's aim is to „promote the ethos of the borderland and build bridges between people of different religions, nationalities and cultures”. The Foundation has just expanded its residential and assistance program and offers shelter to those in need. On their website we read:: „We understand that most of You want and have to stay in Ukraine but for those of You (and Your families) who are in need of such opportunities we would like to transform our current residency program dedicated to artists, writers, translators and cultural animators to adjust it to Your needs. We can offer accommodation for a month, work space and a scholarship in the amount of 1000 euro. You are welcome to come with families.”
This is a very generous offer, not all organizations are able to offer that much, but all of them do their best to facilitate transport, find a place to live, and support financially all Ukrainians fleeing their country. The paradox is that these are the same organizations that also helped refugees from the Middle East who tried to get to Poland from Belarus and were then perceived by the state authorities as the enemy of the nation, while today the government boasts of them and announces a great success in dealing with the crisis on the border with Ukraine. "The fact that there are no refugee camps in Poland is the merit of the Polish government," said Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Agriculture Henryk Kowalczyk on Tuesday, March 8 during the meeting of the parliament. At the same time, he appealed to "behave decently towards people who are fleeing the war" and towards "all those inhabitants of Poland who take refugees under their roof".
In a law passed this week, the Polish government promises financial assistance to people who will host Ukrainian families. The final amount is not yet known, but it is said that it might be PLN40 (EUR 8) a day, i.e. around EUR250 euros a month. Is this how it should look like that the hosts gets cash, but no one checks what living conditions they are offering? Money for help is a mechanism that can lead to many types of abuses. The lack of control by the state, which has ceded the entire burden of practical handling of accepting refugees to society might have similar results. At many border crossing points, the police still do not control who are the people who offer free transportation services to the refugees and where they are taking them. Most of them bring disinterested help, many of my friends have done at least one such trip, but there have been cases where someone offered a lift, but after 10 kilometers, stopped and asked passengers "How much money do you have?". Exceptions that prove the rule.
Many cities have decided to introduce free transportation for the refugees - all Ukrainians can travel for free on buses, metro and trams (just need to show a passport) in Warsaw, Białystok, Wrocław or in Upper Silesia region, other cities join the action. PKP railroads also offer free travel. Temporary „refugee villages” were set up at railway stations, people are sleeping on the ground and everything is on the volunteers shoulders again. And there are not enough of them. Especially when the train is coming. There are no people who would help on the platform, direct refugees to the main hall, where the help center is, collect luggage (it is often inconvenient to carry plastic bags with torn handles). “In the main hall of the Warszawa Wschodnia railroad station the problems are the same. How a mother with three children and luggage is supposed to to go to the bathroom, get food, get a sim card or get free seats on the train? Someone else has to look after her belongings, children, animals... There are not enough volunteers, although they work as hard as they can" - a journalist Magdalena Kicińska wrote on Facebook.
The Resource Warsaw group (Grupa Zasoby Warszawa) operates at the Warszawa Zachodnia railway station - its members gather every day after work at 5 p.m. at the station and try to find homes for as many arriving Ukrainians as possible. At 8 p.m. goes the so-called „blast” - volunteers post on Facebook who is looking for a place and where, and the residents of Warsaw (but not only) report who they can accept and for how long ("Today we have a room available, preferably for a mother with a child aged 1-4, I can support them for a week or two. Even though today we have a mother with an adult daughter and she is also great " - this is one of thousands of entries on the group's profile). At first, they simply posted information on Facebook, but now a website (in Polish and Ukrainian) is available: https://grupazasoby.pl. There are only two buttons to click on: "I provide accommodation" and "I am looking for accommodation". This is the work of activists, and to this day they have not received any support from the state.
In the act on aid to refugees from Ukraine, the Polish government guarantees our neighbors the right to stay in Poland for up to 18 months (with the possibility of extension), a one-time benefit in the amount of PLN 300 (EUR 60), access to free health care, schools and psychological assistance, as well as facilitating employment.
The refugee crisis, a time bomb
Oksana with her daughter Julia and a cat escaped from Kherson. Their journey to the border with Poland lasted over 40 hours. She has a bag with photographic equipment (she's a wedding photographer) and two small suitcases on wheels, into which - as she says - she threw "what she got into her hands". - I'm afraid to look there now, because I probably didn't take the most important things - she laughs bitterly. She and her daughter packed up in 20 minutes. Information came that the Russian troops could enter the city in an hour - an hour later they were already leaving the keys to the apartment with their family. - You still watered the flowers - adds Julia.
Initially, they were only supposed to temporarily move to another, safer part of Ukraine. They went to relatives in Mikolayev, but as soon as they got there, the bombings began. They got on the train, but it kept changing its route due to the rocket fire. Only near Lviv, Oksana felt the tension in her ceases.
But it wasn't until she had crossed the border that she really felt safe. They're on their way to their friends in Wrocław. What will happen next, Oksana has no idea. – My God, Julia only has the shoes she put on to escape - Oksana begins to cry. She says she didn't want to leave their house, - We left but I needed to come back to the apartment to inhale his scent one more time.
When she finally locked the door, she said something most of us say when we go away somewhere far, usually on vacation: "Are you sure we haven't forgotten anything?" Only, at that moment, she felt that she had to forget about everything that had been their life so far.
How many such stories are we still able to hear? How long will the volunteers have enough enthusiasm and strength to keep going? Two more weeks? A month? Then what? How many more people can Poles accept into their own homes? When do we start complaining that Ukrainians travel the buses for free and Poles have to pay? How long will people understand that there are no seats on the trains because they are transporting refugees from Ukraine? If the state does not get involved in real aid to Ukrainians and does not create tools and institutions that will be able to relieve the NGOs and informal support groups at least a bit, we may soon have a big problem. Time is running out.
