To understand the immense outpouring of solidarity among the Poles after the invasion of Ukraine by Vladimir Putin’s troops, you have to look at the drawings that schoolchildren made for the refugees settled in a tourist farm in Badowo, about sixty kilometers from Warsaw: hearts in the sky, smiling characters and, for one of these colorful and moving works adorned with the Ukrainian and Polish flags, a construction machine carefully depositing a roof on a house under construction. About fifty Ukrainian women and their children have found refuge in this center for seminars and weddings, where they are cared for thanks to donations from former clients and the support of locals.
A drawing offered by a Polish schoolboy to young Ukrainian refugees welcomed by a tourist center in Badowo, Poland.
The Express
Since the beginning of the war, on February 24, the Poles have achieved a humanitarian feat. Private initiatives, the work of NGOs and volunteers, as well as the presence, before the invasion, of a million Ukrainian workers, made it possible to welcome in good conditions the 2.6 million refugees who crossed the border . And that, without tent camps as they often set up during migratory crises. In the streets of the capital, the flag of the Ukrainians and the slogans of support for their cause are everywhere, even on the advertising inserts covering the rear wheel of self-service bicycles: “kyiv – Warsaw same fight.”
But this “grand improvisation”, as director Agnieszka Holland called it, is reaching its limits. “If it seems miraculous, I see many exhausted Poles. They were not prepared to shake up their lives so much to house stressed, even traumatized Ukrainians in their homes, notes psychologist Ewa Woydyllo. They risk running out of energy as ways to continue to help them.” The owner of the Badowo farm, Joanna Fidler, thus sensitized her guests to the need to find another roof before mid-May, when the wedding season kicks off. “We have reservations to honor and boxes to fill, she says. But the date is getting closer and I fear that our Ukrainians will not find an apartment or a job.”
Lack of housing, “ticking time bomb”
Among them, Ruslana, 30, hopes to stay nearby. “My eldest, Anna, is educated in the nearest school, explains this civil servant from Lviv, a large city in western Ukraine relatively spared by the war. Any factory job will suit me. ” For Tatiana, the situation is almost settled. This psychologist from Vinnytsia, in central Ukraine, has just been recruited by the Feminoteka association: “I will provide online support for women victims of sexual violence with the war and I will not return to Ukraine with my daughters only when there is no longer any danger.”
It is not for now: the Russian army is stepping up its offensive on the Donbass, whose population has been called to evacuate by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. Currently, 1.5 million refugees are present on Polish soil, according to the authorities. This figure is therefore set to increase. This dynamic worries Myroslava Keryk, manager of the “Ukrainian House”, a cultural center located in the heart of the capital. “The lack of available housing is a real time bomb, she points out. The government should take over.”
At its head, the ultraconservatives of the Law and Justice party (PiS) did pass a law to compensate the hosts of refugees – 8 euros per day and per person. But they are reluctant to work more closely with the big cities, held by the liberal opposition, which are nevertheless reaching saturation point.
Rafal Trzaskowski, in his office at Warsaw City Hall, April 8, 2022, during his interview with L’Express.
Anna Husarska
In Warsaw alone, the settlement of more than 330,000 refugees has increased the population by 15%. With a possible second wave of arrivals, its mayor Rafal Trzaskowski believes that there is a risk of seeing “30,000 people homeless, or even more”, despite efforts to “transform office buildings” into housing, capable of welcome “3000 or 4000 people, but not ten times more”… According to him, the government should “give the green light to structured aid with the European Union to launch a solidarity platform and a relocation mechanism for volunteers”.
A request that remained a dead letter. “The PiS does not want to solicit the EU, which refuses to pay it the money for the recovery plan as long as it maintains reforms undermining the independence of Justice, explains Piotr Buras, director of the Polish office of the Council European Union for international relations, nor does it want to be beholden to countries like Italy or France, which could ask it to welcome migrants from Africa and the Middle East, if these flows intensify .”
Hundreds of thousands of children to be educated
His wait-and-see attitude also slows down the good schooling of Ukrainian children. “Barely 180,000 out of half a million are in school. In Warsaw alone, it would be necessary to set up around 50 schools and employ 6,000 additional teachers to meet the needs”, deplores Slawomir Broniarz, head of the ZNP teachers’ union. . He welcomes the decision to promote the teaching of Polish, but denounces the lack of adaptation of the patent and baccalaureate exams, which Ukrainians “will have to pass in Polish, only helped by the translation of the instructions”.
The Ukrainian community is trying somehow to organize itself for its children. In the capital, a first establishment allowing young refugees to complete their school year according to the programs of their country opens its doors. “The classes will be provided by refugee teachers, under the control of the Ukrainian Ministry of Education, specifies Myroslava Keryk. There will be possibilities of distance learning thanks to the Internet.”
A Ukrainian refugee waits for a bus after crossing the border with Poland, in Medyka, April 8, 2022.
afp.com/Wojtek RADWANSKI
Another model is beginning to spread: that of the Limanowski high school in Warsaw, where Cyrillic signposts adorn the corridors. The establishment has recruited four teachers who fled the war for two new classes of twenty Ukrainian teenagers. All are sponsored by Polish comrades and benefit from the help of parents who contribute to buy bags, notebooks and clothes. “These students from all over Ukraine have seen terrible things and need to be secure, underlines the director, Andrzej Jan Wyrozembski. They are taught Polish, in particular the terms used in science, so that they are ready to integrate Polish classes, especially if they are to stay.”
“Burden” accepted with generosity, this population arrived over the weeks could also be a boon for Poland, whose economy, in strong growth and low unemployment rate (3%), has many jobs to be filled. “But it is not easy in the short term with the language barrier, believes Myroslava Keryk. And for what jobs? Agriculture, in demand for arms, is not necessarily what corresponds to the profile of Ukrainian women with children mostly from cities.
For now, the war has mainly disrupted important economic sectors. “International road hauliers lost 40,000 of the 110,000 Ukrainians they had returned to their country,” said their spokesperson, Anna Brzezinska-Rybicka. A proportion found in construction, which employed nearly 480,000 Ukrainians. “Of the ten that I work, seven have left, so I have to give up my most important projects, specifies Slawek Hass, a small entrepreneur from Warsaw. But they hope to return, as soon as possible.”
Eventually, how many Ukrainians will stay in Poland? Half of them, according to estimates, even a million. The destruction of their neighborhood or their city could convince a large number of families. “These refugees represent a huge opportunity for our aging society, wants to believe Rafal Trzaskowski. There will be opportunities for all of us in this huge tragedy.” A new Poland is emerging.