The long haul (Day 48)
Austria's Vice Chancellor Kogler visited the train station this morning. Exhaustion, disillusionment, and stress set in for many Ukrainians in Europe. What to read etc.
You can imagine how a photo like this gets taken. First a phone call the day before, could you come an hour earlier? 6:45am ok for you? A group of 50 kids is arriving. Everything has been taken care of. But we need help. Next the government officials show up, and the charity folks, the translators, photographers, etc. The children and their adult chaperones (all women) arrive from Poland at 7am. We whisk them to the lounge, where there are the same snack like always (someone forgot to ask for a proper breakfast but the boys don’t complain). We help them connect to the wi-fi, and wait for the next train. They are incredibly self-sufficient, aged everything from 6 to 17. From Zaporozhye and Dnipro. Soccer teams. They are being hosted by the Austrian government. They are our first ever VIP guests.
It is also the first time I have ever seen an Austrian government official at the train station during one of my shifts. None other than Vice Chancellor of Austria, Kogler, arrived a bit later to greet the boys. He doubles as sports minister, hence the connection. There was a volunteer translator particularly keen for the spotlight; I let him have it and chatted to the women in the background. The Vice Chancellor took photos with the boys and spoke with their chaperones. The conversations seemed friendly and the boys expressed their gratitude. Then we walk them all slowly back to the platforms, and help them onto their train.
But first, this photo. That requires us telling them all to stand in a certain place and look towards the cameras and well…you get the idea. I looked at one young women who looked right at me and we both had the same thought: circus. But if the circus means they get a warm reception, so be it. The overwhelming emotion was gratitude. Tomorrow another 50 are arriving. They will be hopefully playing football again soon somewhere in the Salzburg region. The government is taking care of it. We didn’t have to get them tickets. Like I said, our first ever VIP guests. As the train left, I saw a young women crying. I approached her. She explained her brother was in the group; she is studying in Vienna, came to see him for a few hours. I told her he is lucky, he will be fine, well taken care of.
For every smile you see there are an equal amount of tears. Seven weeks in and the tears are still flowing.
The rest of the day was stressful. Very stressful. A lot of very traumatised and exhausted families asking for a hotel for just one night. Not enough charity workers and volunteer translators to deal with the volume of Ukrainians who arrived on us at once.
The Roma also came and the kids stole kids’ jackets from a Ukrainian family and the toys out of the lounge playroom. I had to have a very politically incorrect conversation with train station staff explaining you cannot let them in to the lounge if their main goal is to steal. They apparently even took blankets with hem.
Some hotel stays I was able to arrange via the charity (exceptions were made, finally) for women who were just beyond exhaustion. I helped two others myself. Chernihiv Oblast. Kharkiv. Tears. Three or four days on the road. One night in a bed and a shower and things will look different tomorrow morning, I hope.
I helped a woman who just arrived from Milan with half an hour to spare into an Uber to the Canadian consulate. So many want to go to Canada and the visa application process is anything but easy. But who has money for hotels for weeks on end? The poorest cannot afford to figure out visa schemes.
When my shift was nearly over, I ran into a family that was beyond exhaustion. Grandmother, two giant dogs that looked like pit bull mixes, mother, two kids. The huge suitcase was broken and could barely be dragged. They would not make it to the cafeteria. We turned around and took them to the lounge. No, she did not want a doctor. They might go back to Poland but are not sure. Is it hard to go to Canada? How do you get a visa? Does England need one too? Could they leave the dogs for a shelter here? It is so hard with them.
The charity looked into the very delicate question of the dogs, and I helped the family buy tickets on my iPhone to Ireland tomorrow by plane. It was my first such experience. They were so upset, so tired. The daughter said an English-speaking country was her goal. It was the only one I could think of that does not require a visa. Air Lingus accepts their internal Ukrainian ID documents (none of them have international passports). Long story short: the charity provides a hotel for tonight, found a shelter to take the dogs, and I bought the plane tickets and gave money for a taxi tomorrow to the airport.
I really hope they will go. I can never be sure. They may get scared and change their minds. It is always hard to know the best way of spending the money I have received to help the Ukrainians I meet in Vienna. I make decisions as I am faced with problems, and hope they are the right ones. I always try and explain the limits of what I can and cannot do. I can buy a ticket to Ireland. I cannot tell you what will be there when you arrive.
The family just texted me. They have never flown before. Can anyone help in the airport? I ask our volunteer chat. I myself cannot. I tell them everything will be ok. I guess that means they said goodbye to the dogs. It was the right decision. The dogs are the kind you have to guard a house in the countryside. They are an additional burden on them as they try to start over. But painful. I understand it is all so painful.
I was swarmed by people as I tried to leave today. Baby has a fever. Daughter needs psychological help. Tickets here. Tickets there. Can we eat in the cafeteria? What kind of benefits will I get? Tanja! Tanja! I was first! It was really stressful. It is not sustainable. Volunteers and charity staff alike will burnout. I wish the Vice Chancellor could have seen that too, but when he was there, it was quiet. It comes and goes in waves. One of my colleagues wrote in a Facebook post that she isn’t able to keep up with the news in Ukraine but she sees what is happening through the crowds at the train station in Vienna. That is actually really true. It is like that. We see it all, three days later.
What to read? A lot, actually. First, what to watch. If you understand Russian watch this Yury Dud interview with my friend Nastya who is the angel helping so many Ukrainians in Budapest. I’ve written about her before. I have received many a phone call in Vienna “can you help us? we are from Nastya in Budapest…”. I am so happy her efforts are getting the attention she deserves. Nastya is born and bred in Moscow. I met her in another lifetime, during the first 2014 war, when I wrote a book and she helped with the Russian version coming to life. Here a brief summary on Instagram.
This is an absolutely harrowing and haunting Twitter thread in Russian about all the firsthand accounts of life (and death) in Mariupol. Very disturbing but also very important. The world should know. Links to all the reporting included.
This essay by Jeremy Cliffe on Europe’s future and the far right threat, in the context of the French election and Russia’s war on Ukraine.
Tim Judah on Ukraine’s defense and ingenuity:
This horrific map of atrocities committed by the occupying Russian army in Bucha:
Finally, Shaun Walker on the Russians looting anything they can get their hands on.
In closing, it seems Austria’s Chancellor Nehammer looked Putin in the eye in Russia yesterday and saw and heard a monster. That was predictable to anyone following closely, but at least now Nehammer knows this for himself. The trip to Moscow was a complete mistake, a tactical failure, a preventable very public misstep, but it is over, and the result is clear: Russia is only going to further turn up the temperature in eastern Ukraine. Russia does not want peace now.
I saw this and completely agree:
Thank you for reading and for your ongoing support, both your kind words and your financial support which make things like buying four tickets to Ireland possible (now let’s just hope they get on the plane!). I am trying to remain level-headed, trying not to spread myself too thin, trying to learn to ask for help where possible, to be more efficient, to think about creative solutions, not to lose my patience. Some days are more successful than others. But at least I can look myself in the mirror and say I tried. We all tried.
I still do not genuinely understand the Austrian head of state going to visit with Putin. What could have been seen as the political or situational gain? Thanks Tanja-- keep up the great and necessary work. --christopher