So what's the plan? (Day 66)
Spent a day off from the train station feeling guilty for not being there, addressing dozens of envelopes, buying more Hofer €50 supermarket cards, and wondering when Europe plans on waking up?
My readers tell me they love the grocery photos. I love them too. I love to see the variety of what the Ukrainian families are buying with their gift cards. I am happy when I see they are treating themselves, too. I think it is very important for the many generous individuals who have contributed towards buying these supermarket gift cards to see their money was immediately turned into groceries in a Ukrainian family’s shopping cart. And while this homegrown project is certainly impactful and important, particularly right now, as savings run out and government social payments have not yet been paid and/or or are insufficient, it is not my intention to be going into the food voucher distribution business. Quite the contrary. I want to illustrate a collective EU-wide state failure, and push governments to do more, faster.
A one-time emergency bridge payment of several hundred Euros to the bank accounts of all Ukrainians who arrived and asked for social payments. In Austria, most opened Erste Bank accounts with no trouble. The state knows which families asked for financial aid. In MANY cases, Ukrainians haven’t received their first month’s social payments yet. I hear such messages every day and they are not limited to a specific region. It is a nation-wide problem.
Immediate, unbureaucratic access to the legal labor market for Ukrainians. Some of us have been saying this since the very beginning. It was clear from early March that money was going to be tight and the tens of thousands of Ukrainian women arriving in Austria (and Europe) would need to be able to earn money as soon as possible.
Most Ukrainians seem to have received their “blue cards”, although many families tell me only some family members received the cards (particularly dark comedy when the children received cards but not mom who needs to look for a job). I got another such call this afternoon.
However, in Austria, that isn’t enough. Ukrainians must then find an employer willing to apply for permission to hire a Ukrainians. So good luck getting a job at the local cafe / hair salon / shop etc. This bureaucracy makes it a two-class labor market, even for minimum wage jobs. I am waiting for the day I walk into BIPA / McDonalds / Billa / Starbucks and am served by a Ukrainian, but it hasn’t happened yet. Ukrainians are not visible yet in the legal labor market, even in large companies, and I fear this means many are working illegally, with all the downsides and risks this entails.
You do not want people sitting around doing nothing more than waiting for their next monthly payment. People who just fled war and went through trauma, if of working age, need to be able to do something. They need to be busy. They need something, a positive distraction, to be productive, to generate an income they can use and be proud of, and keep their minds from wandering into depression or worse. If their children are in school or kindergarten, we want as many of these Ukrainian women now in Europe as possible to be able to start working. Yes, language classes are important, but many would be able to manage without fluent German. There are so many jobs one can do in Austria without fluent German. Particularly if they already have trades.
I met a few weeks ago a beautician who specialises in eyelash extensions and facials, and was sent to three different “AMS” offices in Vienna (and she came in from Lower Austria by train for this all) and would still need to “get AMS permission” to work in an Austrian beauty salon which is the most ridiculous thing if you have ever compared Ukrainian and Austrian beauty services (ahem).
I worry about the pensioners, who cannot go to work. About the moms with little babies. One started texting me all about her life and many baby questions and I immediately set to looking for a buddy for her because I simply don’t have the time or the energy. We are all going to need to adopt buddies. Our neighbour Anna from Dnipro and her nearly 4 year-old son Tikhon will come over for dinner tomorrow night. Nothing fancy, just me, two of my kids, my husband, lasagna and lemon-blueberry cake. Sunday 6pm.
I worry about all the people for whom €215 per adult per month is ridiculously insufficient to survive at our prices here, and what that will do to our society. We will suddenly have tens of thousands of people living amongst us who cannot afford to buy enough to eat. I am not exaggerating. Go to the grocery store, see how much things cost now, and do the math.
I am working nearly 24/7 to distribute €50 supermarket vouchers which barely make a dent in the big picture but are a near term symbol: a symbol of hope, a promise of better things to come, an indication that local people do care and want to support Ukrainians through this difficult time of transition.
We see it on the train station. We are running out of Ukrainian- and Russian-speaking volunteers. Everyone is tired, overworked, and yet the flow of Ukrainian refugees from active war zones does not stop. The work at the ticket office is super intense and the Austrian ÖBB railway has been doing a phenomenal job given the circumstances, but whoever is in charge (I have no idea, no one it seems) needs to create paid translator positions which do not exist yet.
Why would it? Putin isn’t stopping anytime soon.
None of this is going away. Just like Austria was forever changed with immigration waves in past decades from other countries, hearing Ukrainian or Russian everywhere you go is already the new normal here, and in many other European countries. Today I was in Hofer, doing some of my own shopping, and buying a few more gift cards, and I heard Ukrainian, but I knew how long my list was, I couldn’t offer to pay for those groceries too. I felt so badly, but walked outside, and saw they had come by car. A small car, but a car. That means they are ok. They have some money for gas. Not critical.
This should not be, or can it be forever, on the backs of individuals. I want to draw attention to the near complete failure on the part of the authorities to develop an actual, sustainable solution. Let people work from day 1, they will be able to pay rent and for food. Offer them social subsidies so small they do not match today’s prices and inflationary environment — do not be surprised when you have people who just fled Putin’s bombs searching the city for free or cheap food. That is the reality if anyone cares to open their eyes and see. It is everywhere amongst us.
Oh boy. Once again I didn’t summarise any news for you. The news? Well, the war continues, Russia digs in deeper into its new sick fascism ahead of the May 9 parades, Angelina Jolie is in Lviv…Ukrainians continue to leave war zones. I have several messages in Vienna from families from Mariupol. I move them to the front of the list. They have all been to hell and back.
Meanwhile, I will keep talking. I will not mince my words. I will keep helping. I have spent a lot of time actually on media stuff that didn’t really turn into publicity for what I am trying to do. Twitter is a far better fundraiser than any media appearance. Lesson learned. I will always say the truth to the best of my ability and describe what I know and see and hear, but I cannot force media to publish that. This is Austria, after all. I hope that some of the time invested will be fruitful. I hope the pressure on the government will increase. Oh yes, speaking of government:
Finally, I am worried not just about the war but the fall-out effects of the collapse of Ukraine’s economy. Do not forget that Ukrainian husbands and dads back home are also not receiving their salaries if their jobs do not exist anymore. Many also don’t have money to send to their wives and kids in Europe. This is an excellent thread on the economic impact of the war and specifically Russia’s blockade of exports by sea from Ukraine:
I think that’s enough for a sunny beautiful Saturday that doesn’t really feel beautiful at all. It’s like a parallel universe: the weather outside vs the mood in my head. Tomorrow my middle child, the wonderful 14 year-old who helped me this week, has a school trip from the train station. I know exactly I will end up helping for a few hours while also seeing her off. How could I do it any other way? But we need more help. A few volunteer translators cannot do the work alone. It is time to ring all the alarm bells and get some paid jobs finally created. Ukrainians could be filling them, those who speak conversational English or German!
It’s almost as if no one in any official capacity wants to solve any of these problems, or? I always tell journalists: I have no idea who is officially in charge of the Ukrainian refugee response in Austria nor in Wien. Those people, whoever they are, are simply not visible in my universe or on the ground where I have been volunteering.
Thank you for reading. Thank you for your continued support. To contribute a €50 supermarket gift card or funds towards them, please send me a private message, here or on Twitter. I read them all. I have a really thick stack of empty addressed envelopes waiting for Monday. I hope I will be able to fill them and send them all out this week.
[The Hofer vouchers] "are a near term symbol: a symbol of hope, a promise of better things to come, an indication that local people do care and want to support Ukrainians through this difficult time of transition." Yes, and so is your kind and consistent support.