Crossing the border and “Reception Center”
“If you cross the border on foot, everything happens really quickly. I even didn’t feel cold while I was waiting in a queue, though I’d been warned I could. Maybe, I was just lucky as I know that automobiles queues tend to be much longer” - tells Tania, 25-years old, while she is located in a shelter in Chelm and waiting for the transportation to Lublin. Tania has been living with her parents in a village close to Bucha, Kyiv region. Luckily, there were no actual military actions there, but the settlement has been encircled, so neither evacuation transport, nor humanitarian help could get there. “My parents are still there, awaiting any humanitarian assistance. They are of an older age and refused to leave their house,” - Tania shares.
There are volunteers at the majority of checkpoints on the side of Poland. Close to the border one can find tents to get warm. Also food, clothes and free SIM-cards with Internet access are offered to people to enable them to make calls to Ukraine.
After this, at the majority of checkpoints for those who cross the borders on foot, transportation is organized to take people to the closest shelter - “Reception Center”. People can get information regarding their stay in Poland there; food, basic medical care and free WiFi access are offered as well. Additionally,it is possible to stay overnight in such centers, though, usually the quantity of refugees is higher than available beds. Volunteers at such centers also help people to organize their transportation to other places in Poland or abroad. Local authorities underline that no formal registration is required in such shelters, as PESEL numbers would be obtained later at the administration of the towns or villages, which refugees would choose to stay at. The Reception Centers’ addresses could be found on the Polish Authorities web page. Ukrainians that have crossed the border in some other way, for instance by a car, could also contact the Reception Centers.
People that were transported to the center of assistance in Chelm from Dorohusk checkpoint and some other checkpoints,or reached this center on their own, have different plans. Some came to stay overnight and then will move to their Polish acquaintances, some are awaiting transportation to other countries and others don’t have any specific plans yet.
For example, Missis Anna with 3 grandchildren of different ages just intended to leave Zhytomyr, which was under attack.
“We just came and now we’re waiting. I can not tell specifically what we’re waiting for,” - tells Anna while letting her cat out of the carriage to have some walk. The parents of the children (the eldest grand-daughter is 20 years old and the youngest grand-son is 10 years old) remained in Zhytomyr, but insisted the granny would take the kids and flee. She doesn’t have any friends or acquaintances abroad. They hope only for the help of some people who care. This family brought quite a lot of personal staff along with a cat, even the grandson’s scooter. While others come only with a backpack and very limited necessities.
A bit laterб Anna gets to know a friend of her age and moves closer to her, to a quieter hall where it’s possible to have some sleep on a mat (this center of assistance in Chelm is based at a sports hall with a covered stadium).
After crossing the border
Help is offered to Ukrainians nще only at the borders, but later as well, on the whole territory of Poland. Many Polish people do not use the word “volunteer” while describing themselves as they just help individually, from their heart and do not represent any organization or a volunteer center.
“To tell you the truth, I’m really surprised with the feelings I got” - claims Bartek, a firefighter from Tomashovitse village of the Lublin region. He has offered his house to host the family of 3 Ukrainian women: granny, her daughter and grand-daughter.
When Bartek got to know that Russia occupied Ukraine, it took him a moment to pull himself together. He didn’t believe that a real war was possible in our civilized world nowadays. It’s a pity, but he was wrong and he feels really angry about that. He says this is not just the war of Russia against Ukraine, but the war of Russia against Europe.
On the next day after the war began, February 25, he went to the border point Dorohusk to check if he could offer any help but not intending to share his house with refugees. But when he arrived, he changed his thoughts and just approached a random family and offered his home as a shelter.
“The women looked very tired and confused. I had no other choice than to approach them and offer my help and a place to stay,” - mentioned the man.
Bartek also shares that he has been to Ukraine in the past and that was a kind of negative experience. He was shocked by the corruption level that had directly influenced him as well. Some person from Ukraine was trying to deceive him and, thereafter, Bartek tried to stay aside from the Ukrainians.
“But now everything has changed drastically. My family now also includes people from Ukraine and I am not afraid anymore,” - Bartek summarizes.
Katarzyna, who works for an engineering company, also shares her history of helping Ukrainians. She has offered her house to be shared with 2 Ukrainian families for the last 3 weeks. One family she got to know based on the reference from her friend, while the other just came at night and asked for help. The latter got into a car accident on their way to Warsaw and the accident happened not far from Katarzyna’s house.
“They were with 3 little kids, I didn’t have a choice. It’s not possible to refuse helping them, even if my family and I lose our privacy for some period of time. I want to help Ukraine by all means, do whatever I can. It is even difficult to imagine what these people feel, and sometimes challenging to understand what would be the correct way to talk to them,” - told the woman.
Besides, Katarzyna helps to sort clothes for Ukrainian refugees at the Center of Catholic Assisting Organization “Caritas”. She claims she can’t continue living her usual normal life, without offering her help, while there is an ongoing war within the distance of just 600 kilometers from her house.
“The war is absurd. How is this possible to kill innocent people? Putin must be executed, the sooner the better. Normal neighbors don\'t kill each other. If Putin wants to do his own politics he should do it in some other way. Not by killing. I can not believe there is a war so close to my house. Ordinary people are killed. What for?”
Local Polish people believe that the economy of Poland actually was not ready for this amount of refugees. They are afraid of a crisis and lack of employment even for Polish people. But still they try to stay optimistic. Katarzyna comments: “Perhaps, we’ll actually face some economic difficulties. But in no case this is because of the people. The reason is the war that is actually happening right now. I think this will never touch Poland, but many Polish are afraid that their country would be the next in Putin’s plans. At the same time I strive to keep being optimistic. For instance, there was a significant lack of human resources in Poland last year. Now I’m sure it will be an easy task to match various vacancies we have”.
What is PESEL and how one should get it?
There has been a new law passed in Poland on March 12 “About the assistance to the citizens of Ukraine because of the Military conflict on their territory’, it is in force backdated and covers all cases of Ukrainian citizens who came to Poland after the military aggression of Russia has started, after February 24. According to that law Ukrainians are entitled to:
- stay legally in Poland during 18 months;
- receive PESEL number;
- get an employment;
- have access to health care and social security facilities, as well as to schools,kindergartens and nurseries.
PESEL number is an 11 digit number which is registered in the electronic database. You need to use it, for instance, when you’re visiting a doctor or while opening a bank account. The process of assigning this number to Ukrainians has already started and will continue for the next couple of weeks. To get the number, documents need to be submitted to the administration of any Polish gmina. But it should be noted there are long queues and waiting times in those institutions. It is explained that people working at those centers (gminas) need some time to adjust to the high quantity of people coming.
