Children in a state of shock, women crying[/B] having left behind husbands, fathers and brothers, elderly people suffering from the long journey, crossing the Polish-Ukrainian border to escape the war in their country, Ukraine.
Two Greeks with great experience in humanitarian missions, Christina Psarra from Médecins Sans Frontières and Apostolos Veizis from Intersos Hellas, spoke to the Athens News Agency from Poland, where they are, about the refugees, the great solidarity that is developing in the region and the needs that exist.
The children who arrive at the reception centre in the Korczowa area, an old shopping centre, are in very great shock, as Apostolos Veizis, general director of the non-governmental organisation Intersos Hellas, explains."They have a lost look, several of them don't even speak, they don't respond," he says. "These are children who have experienced bombings, lived in basements, left their dad behind and travelled for several days without access to water and proper food," he describes to APE-MPA and estimates that these children will need psychological support for some time. "We saw them today but tomorrow who will provide them with psychological support?", Veizis asks and adds: "They will also need an environment that does not remind them of the crowds again, but reminds them of a welcome."
From the Przemysl region of Poland, where she is participating in Médecins Sans Frontières' emergency intervention teams, the organisation's director general in Greece, Christina Psarra, describes the arrivals of children and the moving images that unfold. The younger ones with their toys, the older ones helping their families. They hold their dogs or their cats. Most of them are in trouble and as the days go by, they understand more and more what's going on. A five-year-old child was crying and his mother was telling him, "Come on, let's move on, the sea is further down."[/B]
At the same time, many of the women don't stop crying. "They have left behind husbands, dads, brothers and are afraid of what will happen to them. This is unfortunately the war," says Psarra.
Moving in near-zero temperatures, snow and lots of humidity, refugees arriving in Poland have faced hardship because of the journey. "There are people with chronic health problems, cardiac issues, diabetes, asthma, who have been without monitoring for the last period of time," Mr. Veizis told APE-MPA, adding that "their post-traumatic stress is terrible."
Psarra notes that the refugees "have the trauma of war and suffering, because the queues at the borders and the waiting time to cross is very long. They come exhausted and tired. We don't see many people with medical issues, but more and more suffering people are coming."
Refugees stop for a while at reception centres set up near the border and then try to connect with relatives and friends in Poland and other European countries. Apostolos Veizis fears that they will face great difficulties along the way, "because in Europe there is no mechanism to support them that thinks about the next day." Moreover, he says, "in this mechanism, which is currently supported by volunteers, governments must always have a place."
The activism of Poles is great. Christina Psarra describes as "impressive" the wave of solidarity that exists. "The solidarity I see here is what we need, what must be maintained," she adds. Apostolos Veizis expresses concern that "when things calm down somehow, this solidarity will fade away. Volunteerism is the best part that one can help, but it needs to be immediately reframed by a state mechanism."
At the same time, however, both refer to incidents of discrimination against third-country nationals living in Ukraine. "Intersos has documented hundreds of cases of people from third countries who faced discrimination when trying to cross the Ukrainian border to escape the war, but also in Poland," explains Veizis. Psarra adds that Médecins Sans Frontières is closely monitoring the situation, and also conveys the image that third country nationals "are the ones who are starting to be left behind in reception centres as they do not know which way to go."
We ask them how citizens can help refugees. The director of Intersos Hellas sends the message that the best way to help refugees at the moment is to financially support organisations already in the field, as collecting and transporting humanitarian material is time-consuming and costly. Moreover, she calls for the 44 million people left behind in Ukraine not to be forgotten.
Christina Psarra responds that "people can help by opening their homes. To open their homes and understand what is happening with this war next to us because no one wins. Those who are losing are the people we see in front of us these days."
Source: Proto Thema
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