This has been my first week of balancing my “volunteer work” (love that phrase) with having kids at home and not in school. Although they are big, they still require some being driven here and there, so it’s been a bit of a balancing act. This week I did a lot of media stuff. Grateful for continued attention to be honest; a few weeks ago I thought well that’s it, people have moved on, this will no longer be a media topic. Unfortunately, because the Austrian government still hasn’t done anything of substance (an increase of the rent subsidy by a joke of €15, yes really, doesn’t count as anything more than saying yes while meaning no), Ukrainians in Austria are still struggling to buy food and other basic necessities. Unfortunately, as I said to a reporter today, I had some hope in the spring that we were just a bridge. Now, I have no hope left when it comes to official institutions and making legislative decisions needed now. Now, I am just worried about things I cannot control.
I gave an interview to Wien Heute (ORF) about the dorm in the 11th district where residents are “fed” and are not allowed to register or receive a blue card (they used to be able to, now it is no longer possible for new arrivals, all because the building is classified as an ‘emergency’ residence). Sasha and many others live in this “no man’s land”, as I refer to it. The video interview will be available for only 7 days here. I tweeted some more background info about the situation there here. The beautiful bird artwork was also created by a resident of this dorm. His name is Yury and he sent me photos today of his art to thank you all for the Billa €50 gift card he received.
I spoke with a radio station yesterday, a student from Yale the evening before, and today with a German newspaper.
Austria has been under the international spotlight of late, finally. If you have not already read this Washington Post piece on Austria’s dirty Russian web, please do take the time to read it. I was so happy to see it because it is everything we have known for some time, but finally put in one place by a really well respected English language publication. I was really surprised to see this tweet go viral:
Inside Austria, we have a new refugee coordinator and he commented on one of the pressing issues (there are clearly many): private housing for Ukrainian refugees. This radio report from this morning (in German) explains what is happening now. I have spoken recently with two women who have budgets of €650 and €700 per month respectively and cannot find any apartment in Vienna despite trying through all the usual channels and then some.
Last night I was again at a dorm in Vienna and handed out a dozen Hofer cards.
Aside from the usual questions about doctors and shopping, I spoke with a mom whose 30 year old daughter experienced a severe accident in Austria, mom then fled occupied Kherson to come here, the daughter is in hospital in AKH, has had two surgeries, her condition is serious…you stand and listen and nod and don’t know what to say other than please let me know if you have any questions or if there is anything I can do to support you right now.
A granny I had met before asked me for a backpack. An ordinary backpack. She is planning for when he can go home to Kharkiv. She said this last time, too. But it’s too early, I said. She nodded. She knows. But she wants to be prepared. She came with two plastic bags. She already bought a trolley on wheels she found at some market for €10. I promised to have a look what I have at home. I wrote down her name and room number so I would not forget. The backpack as a sign of hope.
Two younger women also met me for cards, and asked about a military-grade backpack, one which would hold 40-60 kilograms. For their friend’s husband. He is in the army. The Ukrainian army needs heavy-duty non-flammable backpacks. I promised to ask Twitter. I can imagine many Austrians have hiking backpacks lying around, but I don’t know if they are appropriate. It would need to be camouflage, right?
Yura my pensioner friend came out to say hi. He is running from doctor to doctor. He is anxious, and bored. Goes for long walks through Prater. Every evening. It helps, he says. He is grumpy, but is no longer talking about an immediate return to Ukraine. He went back to Kharkiv in May, saw how scary it still is firsthand, and came back swiftly. He needed to see it to believe it.
Last night I tweeted this…
…and this morning this happened. I think the donor will want to remain anonymous, and it was not his/her first such donation. I am so grateful. I felt such a sense of relief posting those 20 envelopes in the yellow box this afternoon.
Someone gave out my phone number. Normally I told Ukrainians to write me on Telegram using my nickname because that made it more manageable, all messages in one place. Now I am getting all sorts of messages saying “Lyubov from Caritas” gave us your number and I am really ready to have a word with Lyubov if I could find her because a) we have a website b) I have a Telegram nickname and c) I don’t have cards for all these people and they are writing me as if she promised them I can help right now. I also developed a new strategy: I explain, we have a waiting list, you might have to wait several weeks. Better to say it upfront rather than have them waiting anxiously checking the mail every day.
I receive many requests for second cards and I continue to say no, sorry, it’s a one-time thing. The waiting list is enormous, as you see from the website here. My personal waiting list is tiny in comparison, but still feels like a lot when you have texted with each person to explain the situation and you have promised to help — when you can.
So you just take it one day at a time. It’s all you can do. You make time to share stories like this in the hope there will be a quick solution (a second Hofer card has been sent by a kind reader):
Oh I almost forgot! I met Sasha again yesterday. He took home a laptop from PCs für Alle and they also sent a laptop to the family I wrote about a few weeks back, now in Burgenland — the adult daughter is paralysed and the father is in cancer treatment. Super grateful for the personal, fast attention and it was nice to meet a very young helper from Ukraine in the workshop, too. Sasha is already zooming around Vienna totally on his own and hopes to have an appointment next week with the authorities to ask about housing. He cannot legally get a job until he gets an address, and to get an address and a blue card he needs to leave that dorm. It’s complicated. His door his dorm doesn’t lock (none of them do), so he went with a smaller laptop he can take with him in a backpack on his wheelchair until he moves into housing where he can actually lock the door. The little things in life. I think about that so often.
I’ll sign off with this happy photo. These happy photos keep me going even on days that are more hard than easy. Which is most days these days. These photos are a tangible reminder to me and all of you the difference we are actually making in the lives of ordinary Ukrainians trying to put the pieces of their own lives back together, now in Austria.
Yesterday I met briefly a mom from Kyiv I have seen a few times. I give her clothes that don’t fit my son anymore. She started crying. She is tired. She misses her family, her husband, her cat. Her cat talks to her over the phone. Her brother is a soldier in the Ukrainian army. He took 2 days leave to marry his long-term girlfriend. You know why, she says, and looks me in the eye. I nod, silently. Sometimes I don’t find the right words. Last night I didn’t. I will try to see her again soon. She is here alone with her son. She is working cleaning houses at what I am sure is an unfair hourly rate. Because that’s what you do when life throws you no other choice.
Have to sign off here. Kid needs to be picked up in 20 minutes. Another mom drove her almost all the way home but not quite. Like my work. Almost all the way but never 100% because you never reach the goalpost because more demands keep coming in faster than you can answer the previous ones. It is what it is. Thank you for reading. Thanks for your continued support.
Free bird from Wien.<3