Four women (Day 96)
Today I simply share four stories I heard within the space of a few hours this afternoon. Viktoria, Olga, Yana, and Olena. All names but Olga's changed.
At 4:30pm this afternoon, I stood in front of the big Zara on Stephansplatz, just across from Stephansdom, the center point of the center of historic Vienna, the side of the cathedral draped in a giant Ukraine flag with the words “STOP WAR” in English accompanied by white doves.
Normally, we distribute the Hofer €50 gift cards by post, across Austria, one card per family (unless the family is very large, in which case we try to send two), one time. However there are many women living in Vienna in temporary housing or dorms or hotels in which I am not sure they will receive their post (a few cards have disappeared, unfortunately). They are usually the neediest cases. I try to meet them in person. I was due to have a meeting at 5pm which was cancelled on me, so I had the women scheduled around my own schedule. In the end, I went to Hofer, bought 8 more cards with the last of the donations I received, and stuffed my envelopes, heading into town to meet Viktoria, Olga, and Yana.
Viktoria arrived first. I always approach and ask, “are you waiting for me, Tanja?” so as to make it less awkward. She was of medium height, mid-40s, long dark hair, shy, smiling, but tired. Viktoria is here with her 13 year old daughter, husband, and mother. I did not ask how her husband got out. I assume there is a reason. I suspect he may be handicapped, as are many of the residents in the dorm where she lives. I didn’t want to ask that question.
Viktoria was absolutely thrilled when I told her Vienna had decided to extended free public transportation for Ukrainian refugees for one more month. She couldn’t believe it. Many Ukrainians had already decided they would no longer be able to go places. Her daughter attends a local school, a special small class for Ukrainian kids to learn German. Every day after school, she stops by the train station, and looks for a free sandwich from Caritas. Caritas has a table set up between platforms 6 and 7, and the snack counter is frequented by many in need, not just those travelling through.
Viktoria tells me other residents were planning on sleeping at the train station tonight, in order to get in line first thing tomorrow morning (5am?) for the organization which hands out €10 coupons to Ukrainians, one per person, once per month. “Tomorrow is the last time” she explained. I had to disappoint her and explain it isn’t so easy to get a place to sleep at the train station anymore. Caritas has a list, they ask for your train ticket. She was disappointed.
The food in the dorm (they are in that big dorm in Vienna’s 11th district which has forced many but not all residents out — those with kids in school were allowed to stay, for now) has improved since I shared some photos I received from another resident on social media. There was fruit the other day — half an apple, a tomato. There is more meat than there was before. Viktoria has a small fridge in her room. She was thrilled when I explained she can spend the Hofer card over several trips.
Viktoria and her family do not qualify for social payments (€215 per adult and €100 per child), as they are considered “fed” by the system. She is desperate to work. She doesn’t know what she can do without German. She only wants to work officially — I warned her about the risks of working illegally, and she said she has no intention to do that. Where are you from, I ask, back home?
Sumy oblast. But then we went to Kyiv oblast. And we were there ten days…and then we had to run. Viktoria starts to cry. She points to a small black cloth backpack she is carrying as a purse. I only grabbed this. That’s how we left. I nod and listen. She apologies for getting emotional. I tell her not to worry, I’ve heard a lot. I am used to hearing a lot. I wish her all the best. I spot a blond woman waiting for my in the distance with her blond daughter, about the same age as my youngest.
Olga and her 11 year-old daughter Dasha (real names as they have already been featured here) are from Luhansk oblast. In other words, they have no home to go home to. I was contacted by an Austrian yesterday about their situation which is a bureaucratic mess in the hopes that I might be able to pull some strings. I have no stings to pull, but offered to meet Olga today and talk in person, pass on a Hofer card.
Olga and Dasha first arrived in March to Lower Austria, to a school friend originally from Ukraine, 20 years in Austria, evacuated a few dozen friends and family. Then they were put in contact with a host in Vienna’s second district, but the woman hosting them is herself a single mom and on a very limited budget. She works a retail job, 30 hours per week. Money is super tight. The host expects a rent payment. Olga cannot pay because her contract wasn’t accepted at Austria Center. The host cannot afford to host them any longer without financial support. Olga received a social payment for Dasha, her daughter, for April, but never for herself. I have messages from this Austrian with quotes to the effect that someone at ACV told Olga that the host should never have taken in refugees if she can’t afford them. Which is an insane thing to say to someone of ordinary means who opened her home out of the kindness of her heart.
Dasha is attending a middle school in the city center. I ask her what she knows in German. “Morgen”, she says. I tell her it’s not easy. My 11 year-old appears out of the u-bahn at that moment, directly from her own hour spend with a German tutor. We talk about how German is hard for everyone.
Tomorrow, Olga will go back to Austria Center again where she has an appointment to try and figure out this bureaucratic mess of missed payments, and also to ask for housing. She needs to find something for herself and her daughter. She tells me she wakes up every morning and for a split second thinks she is in Ukraine. Then she opens her eyes, and is sad. Some of her friends have evacuated to western Ukraine, and she is jealous of them. She knows they too are struggling, but “at least they are at home”. I wish Olga the best of luck, explain how the Hofer card works, and feel absolutely terrible that I cannot do more.
Next I spot a thin woman of about my age with a teenage daughter and a rather large sausage dog. The dog is barking. Yana, I ask? It is Yana. Yana arrived two months ago from Odesa with her teenage daughter and 18 year old niece. They are also living in that dorm in the 11th district. This dorm is problematic in more ways than one. It is classified as a Notquartier (emergency housing), which messes us the paperwork for all the residents. Yana and her family have been in Austria for two months and still haven’t received any social payments (they do not qualify as they are “fed” by their accommodation) nor do they have e-card numbers. This means the children cannot and do not attend school. You need the e-card number (social insurance number) to do many things: attend language classes, get a job. Yana has no idea how to get one.
They were registered at the address, they do have blue cards, but nothing else. I ask if there is anyone on site they may ask for help. They say no, they are told they must to go Austria Center, and to go to Austria Center, you need to make a Termin (appointment). Meanwhile, Yana and her family are being told they must move soon, they are being threatened with some kind of bus to someplace in another corner of Austria. I tell them to hold firm and not get on any bus to any destination without having a full understanding of what is being offered. I feel utterly hopeless. Hopeless I cannot do more than hand them a €50 grocery card.
I ask Yana if she has been to Stadion (Train of Hope) to ask for dog food. She says they don’t give it out anymore. I heard this several times today: moms saying they and their acquaintances are too shy or too embarrassed to ask for diapers, dog food, baby food. The supplies are not on a table; they have to ask a staff member for them, explain their need. I told this to Train of Hope, who explained they have had to switch to this model based on limited supply and abuse of the system when things were more freely available. I know this from the train station, unfortunately, when people would come and help themselves to things freely available, in bulk. A few ruin things for the many. A shame.
Which gets to the bigger problem. The bigger problem is money, housing, jobs. I keep saying it over and over like a stuck record. Personally, I do not think free diapers or dog food are long-term solutions. We need to help the Ukrainians here to help themselves. That means, for now enough money to be able to feed and clothe themselves, and jobs as soon as possible. Fair jobs with fair wages and becoming integrated into society. And childcare, of some kind, somehow. Olga says to me, she also hopes Dasha can learn German this summer…and how will she go to work? A lot of open questions.
On the bus ride home I hear “bud’ laska” (Ukrainian for “please”) and introduce myself to a mom with two toddlers. Does she have a Hofer card yet? No? Ok give me your phone number I’ll text you and send you one by mail. Takes 10 seconds. If only I had enough cards…
Just when I think I can start finally cooking dinner for my own family, a message drops in my phone like a bomb going off. From Olena, who is living in “that” hotel in Lower Austria where 52 Ukrainians have been very happy for weeks. I translate directly:
“Tanechka, good evening again! I asked you about housing for me and my son. The question is becoming more urgent. The (last name removed of the family which owns and operates this “refugee hotel”) just told me that next week I must move out because I complain about them to the mayor of (name of town removed) and I sent him a photo of the food. It wasn’t me, but another woman. But that’s not the point! I have to move out! And I have nowhere to go (((“
So then I go ballistic. Because I have been writing about this hotel for weeks if not a month already, I have shared the information with several journalists, and what happened? Nothing. And now the hotel owner thinks he can do what he likes with the Ukrainians because no one, apparently, cares.
Tonight, I sent the info to a few more journalists, replied to some kind Austrians who asked about Olena’s fate and tried to alert local politicians and offer their own temporary housing solutions. But this is all so exhausting and I cannot even imagine for a second what it must feel like for Olena, her 7 year old boy, and the other 50 Ukrainians in this situation!
I wrote this two weeks ago. And what happened since then? Not enough.
I literally do not know who I should call if a hotel owner throws a Ukrainian on the street. Who should I call, the police, the interior ministry? How does a woman who has zero money to her name because she doesn’t qualify for even the tiny €215 per month for herself and €100 for her child even get back to Vienna to ask for help? With all her belongings? And once she gets here, where should she go?
Viktoria. Olga. Yana. Olena.
There are thousands of stories. No two are alike, but they aren’t that different. The problems are system due to the flawed system for “welcoming” refugees in Austria. This short article is brilliant. Hits the nail on the head. The quotes are perfect.
I cannot solve any of the big problems. I would need to be in government or an NGO to do that. But what I can do is put €50 Hofer gift cards in families’ hands. But my hands are empty. You all have been so generous. Perhaps you can tell your friends, ask your friends, spread the world on other social media. I feel like we have tapped out Twitter’s generosity, but could still reach other people on other platforms who don’t fully know what is unfolding around us. Spreading the word is a HUGE help.
Physical cards can be sent to me (please DM for my address) or Mario by post. €50 each please, any supermarket chain in Austria. Those EdenRed vouchers are also great. For IBAN donations, please see account info here. For non-EU, my PayPal. We are still waiting for the Verein certificate to unlock the larger PayPal and Stripe accounts specifically opened for this project. Stay tuned, we hope this will happen in the very near future! Thank you to Mario who has been taking care of all of this and pre-funded a ridiculous number of Hofer card purchases himself.
We have 1,291 requests for Hofer cards for which we do not have cards, and that’s only Mario’s list. I have my own, much smaller waiting list, and my own pile of dozens of empty envelopes.
We desperately need new funds/cards to keep doing this important work. We are a band-aid. The patient needs open heart surgery, we cannot offer that, the state must do that, but we are a tiny band-aid on an open wound.
Thank you.
Yes, great quote. You have been saying this for three months now. "Asylum spokeswoman Stephanie Krisper: "The problem would be solved very quickly if Ukrainian refugees were treated the same as people entitled to asylum." Then the displaced persons would be entitled to minimum security and would not have to rely on civil society's willingness to help."