Fruit
So incredibly grateful to be able to keep helping Ukrainians in need in Austria. So disappointed that so many months into this crisis, there are still people going hungry.
I received a message a few nights ago, a late night text, from a woman who is undergoing chemotherapy and living in a former hotel in central Vienna which now houses hundreds of Ukrainians. They are “fed” on site (by all reports, not enough, and not enough variety), and as a result, only receive €40 per month pocket money from the Austrian state. Many residents are seriously ill, handicapped, and/or elderly. The woman thanked me, saying she was in tears, she had just had chemo the day before, and now she could “buy fruit”. She sent me this beautiful and tragic photo today.
It is all really fucking overwhelming if you stop to think about it.
What if I hadn’t received more cards thanks to two incredibly generous donors? What if her 74 year old neighbour hadn’t told her she could ask me for a grocery card? How is it possible that Austria provides chemotherapy for a seriously ill cancer patient from Ukraine, yet not enough money to eat a balanced diet. That buying fruit is an aspiration. Do the hospital doctors and nurses know this?
There was yet another article today about “Grundversorgung” being the wrong system for Ukrainians, who still do not have access to the full social benefits Austria offers its permanent residents and those from non-EU countries whose asylum applications have been approved.
“A survey by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) shows that refugees from Ukraine are in danger of slipping into poverty in Austria. More than a third of those surveyed (around 38 percent) stated that they could hardly cover their basic needs in Austria in the last three months, 17 percent not at all.”
And yet, I have zero indication that anything will change anytime soon, or ever. It simply isn’t on the political agenda right now. At all. As if the war is somewhere far away, forgotten, with the exception of the horrific images out of Kherson…
Do read this by FT reporters about the situation on the ground in Russia-controlled areas of the left bank of the Dnipr which Ukrainian rescuers cannot access. The full thread here.
Ukrainians in flooded towns under Russian control plead for help
It is truly unimaginable what the people of this area of Ukraine are going through right now. And I don’t think anyone can fully predict what the long-term consequences of these horrific floods might be. It makes you really wonder why some people are fated to suffer over and over and over again (Kherson was occupied three days into the war by Russia, and even as evacuations were underway yesterday, Russia shelled the areas were victims of the floods were being taken to).
I keep thinking about all the individual volunteers and micro organizations on the ground, because once again it is not major international aid organizations rescuing local residents and animals rom their flooded homes. I keep wondering how they keep going, how they find the strength this many months in.
We had a public holiday here yesterday. I dealt with a few situations in an advisory/connecting people capacity I cannot write about because those who told me about them do not want to compromise their own jobs. Let me just summarise by saying much of what happens with the most vulnerable people is a lawless zone, and much of the way all newcomers to Austria are dealt with has little to do with actual smart economic policy (i.e. getting people into legal work) and more with reminding “foreigners” their place in society and keeping them dependent on (very small) handouts and the state. Whether by design or by incompetence, the result is the structural incentives are not there to build an independent life as soon as possible.
I was able to send out 36 (!) €50 Spar and Hofer e-gift cards today thanks to the generosity of a few donors who continue to be extremely generous. Thank you. Many of these went to the “hotel” in Vienna which I described above, others to a similar “hotel” in Salzburg, and to families living across Austria. I reached out to several volunteers I know, and people working with the NGOs, and asked them to help me identify the neediest cases. Those remain usually those who just arrived, in their first few months, and those who live were they are “fed” and therefore receive only €40 per month per person, and single adults with serious illness or disability, including pensioners, who do not receive any additional payments (unlike the child benefit parents can apply for in Austria, roughly €140 per child per month), and cannot work. There are many women like A.I., who continues to write me every day, and pray, who has been instrumental in helping me identify her neighbours in need, despite herself being 74 years old and struggling to survive on €40 per month and a tiny Ukrainian pension (around €70).
I meant to share this last time and forgot. I feel this so much. There is so much we do not see, so much that is not reported on. So many individual struggles happening out of the sight of anyone but those who are equally not in a position to help. Everyone asking the same frightening, existential questions to which no one has any good nor reliable answers.
The Resilience and Trauma of Ukraine’s Civil Society
I’ve been working on a 12,000 word Russian to English translation for a video I really want the world to be able to see. The journalists entrusted me to help them add English subtitles. It is long, but good exercise for my brain, and I am excited to be able to share with you the link, soon, hopefully! If you understand Russian, this is the video.
That’s about it. Very happy to have enough cards for now to be able to respond to requests immediately, thank you. I did have to pre-fund stamps, printer ink and envelopes, so if you would like to help with any of that (I’m in the hole €138), it would be much appreciated.
I have an old friend in town and a teenage exchange student arriving tomorrow so if the next week or so is less cerebral than usual, it is because I am, among other things, trying to feed and do laundry for six. Sitting down to write feels like a luxury at the moment.