In their own words
This morning, I asked the Ukrainian refugees in my chat to share what is on their minds: their most pressing challenges right now.
This morning started well. I went to Hofer and bought six €50 gift cards, putting them immediately in the mailbox, using funds I received yesterday. Thank you. One of them went to the elderly couple from Donestk oblast now in Vienna who sent me this sad message yesterday. I have dozens of pre-addressed empty envelopes waiting at home. The messages continue to arrive, fast and furious, from all over the country.
The financial struggle is a real challenge for many who cannot work: the elderly, mothers of very young children, the handicapped, those in Grundversorgung (social housing & payments) who are severely limited to how much they can legally earn. There are talks within the Austrian government to try and raise this limit, which would be really great if it happens, but for now, the pain is real.
Then my morning turned a little bit sour when I got told off by a couple other Russian-speaking volunteers for a snide comment I made in my own chat regarding the percentage of Austrians who vote right wing (I wasn’t so polite in my choice of words). It was not factually correct and was intended to be sarcasm, but I then spent half an hour explaining myself. Yes, many Austrians have been so kind and so welcoming and we could not be doing any of what I am working on without the generosity of strangers, and much of the funds which have bought Hofer cards were donated by Austrians. However, xenophobia is real and alive in Austria 2022 (just look at the presidential election campaign list of candidates and posters) and anyone who has lived any amount of time as a foreigner in this country I think will agree it is not the easiest place to “integrate”, despite having traditionally accepted waves of refugees over the decades.
So I have a rather raw taste in my mouth after having to explain my personal view on all of that. The last eight (!) months have not made me see official Austria in a more positive light, to put it mildly. Civil society, on the other hand, has pleasantly surprised me, tremendously.
I see my role as an advocate in a way — to share the Ukrainian refugees’ stories with the world and Austria, in English, so that hopefully some baby steps of change may be achieved. Yes, it is good they extended free public transport for another month. No, it doesn’t solve anything long-term when thousands of people are trying to survive on +/- €200 per month in an EU country with rampant food and consumer good inflation.
So today, in their own words, the issues on some Ukrainians minds today. I received so many messages; cannot share all today. A snapshot. Names changed.
Alina, Freistadt, Upper Austria We are a family of five (me, two kids under 11, and my parents who are pensioners). Transportation, we live in a little town, it is very expensive to go to the store or even to travel to get our social payment (the buses cost money — €6 there and back per ticket). In our town, they give out the social payments with a delay. We haven’t received the money for October yet (usually it comes at the end of the month), some people didn’t receive for September yet. They said they won’t give us any vouchers for clothing. My Papa is 67, he is working. Volkshilfe told him to bring in confirmation of how much he earns, so they can look and decide if he should lose his social payments. The issue isn’t resoled since August, but we already presented the paperwork for August and September. Every single question takes a very looooooong time to sort out. Our payments are €215 per adult per month; they never increased the amount to €260 like they were supposed to. We came from Dnepropetrovsk oblast in March. In July I filed the paperwork for Kinderbeihilfe there is also no response. I don’t even know if they accepted the application or not. I went to a German class, in August I passed a test, they promised us an A2 course in September, and since then silence, no one knows anything, they tell us to wait…our town gives us the impression that it is like its own state and they have their own rules and laws, they do what they want.
Olena, Pressbaum, Lower Austria
We came here from Mariupol (I can show you the stamp in my passport if people don’t believe us). At the moment these are our difficulties:
Language classes. We cannot access the ÖIF courses because they give us a list of addresses of language schools, and they are all really inconvenient locations. For example, for us in Pressbaum, they gave us addresses of schools in Tulln or Baden, which are harder to reach for us than Vienna. They didn’t give us addresses of schools in Vienna, until we found them ourselves. The problem is the teachers aren’t really that loyal to their lessons for Ukrainians. And the administration gives contradictory information. For example, there is an evening class, from 6pm to 9pm, and people come from all over different suburbs of Vienna, and then it will even cost money to reach the classes, and the teacher simply FORGOT (they told us that) the class starts this week. She thought next week and did not even show up. We waited, and only 40 minutes later someone from the administration came and told us. There are also classmates who are working and are always late to class. So class always starts 15-20 minutes late. Apparently they told the teachers not to do this, but they wait anyway. Every minute for us counts! …
Olena sent me so much text I cannot translate it all: but basically there are not enough German language classes for those who want them, and then when it was announced the train tickets would cost money, they were told the courses cannot help with reimbursing these costs.
...In general, many Ukrainians in many state structures feel a biased attitude on the part of the Syrians as well. One gets the impression that the Syrians do not want to study or work, but only to sit on their huge (compared to what Ukrainians receive) benefits. And we are ready to study and work 40 hours a week at the same time. I understand that it is probably not very good to compare, but the Syrians have an allowance of €800 and a fare of €18, while we have €40, some have €215 and a minimum fare of €51. Why is that??? Now Syria is not being bombed, like Ukraine, many cities have already been restored there, but what about us? Bombs every day! This, Tanechka, is just a cry from the heart!
In fact, the lion's share of Ukrainians are very grateful to Austria for a roof over their heads, for food and payments! But we need the opportunity to learn the language in a quality manner, to find a decent job, and not only in the service sector, because many Ukrainians here have one or even two higher educations (I, for example) and then these same Ukrainians, with their diligence and perseverance, will work for the good of Austria and its economy, give me the opportunity!!!
Lower Austria is still only paying out €215 per adult and €100 per child while Vienna pays €260 and €145 respectively. We don’t receive anything extra not for clothing or household items. We are here since March.
Inna, Vienna
I am in Vienna. Social payments are given for three months: previous, current and next. That is, in July I received for June, July and August. In September, there was no money either for food or for compensation for housing. It's good that in July they gave cash for clothes and stationery. So €300 went to housing and €100 to food for me and my 11-year-old child. Here on October 5, finally, we had an appointment in the Austria Center. They told us the money will be in two weeks. We still wait.
So, to sum up, our family has to live on €100 for a month and a half.
In fact, there are not very many such families that do not have any income from Ukraine. With whom I won’t talk from Ukrainians, some have work online, others have pensions, benefits from Ukraine, others have husbands, relatives send. In general, those who live ONLY on benefits are not many.
To be honest, if it were not for the compassionate locals who sometimes help us with either food or things, it would have been a real disaster...
It is necessary to somehow solve this problem with such a long waiting period for payments. The amount of benefits does not allow you to make “extra". I am in now way complaining. But there is a problem and it needs to be addressed.
Natalia, Vienna
Our number one problem: we need a gymnasium spot for the older children (16 years old, 11th grade in Ukraine). We applied for a spot in April and May, but never got a spot. I am hearing this is a real problem for many. Thank you for your help.
Iryna
Good morning. Tatyana, answering your question, which questions are very important:
1. I can't get to A2. I finished A1 in the summer, and A2 was told that it would be possible in November-December;
2. Education, after the graduation of the eldest son (15 years old) from secondary school. Where to study next?
Can I have a personal question (everything concerns the eldest son)? At the school, at the second meeting, they gave a plan for the academic year, which indicated that he should undergo an internship with a company. In Mykolaiv, he studied IT (for 3 years) and is fluent in English. Tell me, please. Do you know where you can find such companies that would take my son for an internship? This is 1 week (in this semester and 1 week in the 2nd semester). Thank you for the great work you are doing. I would be grateful for your answer.
Nadia
For our family, a huge problem is essentially the lack of desire to hire, even with basic German, for any job, that is, employers have no incentive, absolutely. And many of our people are looking for work, if there are still chances in Vienna, then it’s sad on the periphery, basically they don’t even want to talk to us. And people are looking for, since the payments are minimal and most of them want not to depend on the state, but to work, learn the language and develop further.
No language courses within a radius of 30 km. The courses are 50 km from us, it takes 3 transfers, 2 hours. They say “we took 16 people back in the summer and that's it”.
I believe Ukrainians can be at the same time grateful for help and also ask for improvements, particularly when it comes to things like being paid on time, being able to access work and language courses, and being able to survive and feed their families at today’s prices. I was standing in the checkout line at Hofer this morning, when I received a panic phone call from a resident of the dorm in the 11th district. She has been through so much that she no longer trusts anyone, not the least the “authorities” now offering them a new “solution”. I try to talk through that, while at the same time trying to pay the cashier. Last night I fielded another panic call from another dorm in Vienna. Passed that info onto the folks in charge.
Public transport got fixed, but only for one month, and not everywhere.
There are talks to increase the amount Ukrainians in Grundversorgung can legally earn, but nothing has been announced yet.
Parliament increased the size of the social social payments in early summer, yet several Austrian states just refuse to comply, and there are apparently no consequences nor enforcement mechanisms.
And so it goes. I will try to share more of these stories over the coming days because I think they give necessary color and real life examples of why the struggle is real. It also illustrates exactly why, unfortunately, our €50 grocery card program is still a real, immediate help for many. To donate, please see here or here. Thank you.
Today is Putin’s birthday. I am worried about whatever “gifts” his evil allies might present him. Memorial won the noble prize, alongside Belarusian and Ukrainian human rights defenders. That’s as much of the news as I’ve been able to consume recently. I took my phone in today to get a new battery. My phone has been my literal office these past eight months. Surprised it lasted this long, tbh.
When I picked up Dasha (Natasha’s grown daughter and Pasha’s sister) from the bus from Kyiv yesterday (see my Instagram post), I asked her, how is it now in Kyiv?
“It’s ok except you are worried if they will drop a nuke.”
I had nothing intelligent to say in response. Nothing. I looked out to the Lower Austrian countryside as we drove in the direction of the Czech border, and thought what fucked up times we are all living in.