Haute-Savoie rescue workers at the bedside of refugees at the Polish border
The Budomierz camp, on the Polish border, receives several thousand people every day fleeing the war in Ukraine. This reception center was set up by Haute-Savoie firefighters and first aiders. The volunteers care for, listen to and orient the refugees.
They arrive by the thousands every day, their arms laden with a small piece of their life. The little they were able to carry in their luggage. In Budomierz, a small Polish town of 200 inhabitants, the flow of refugees fleeing the war is constant. It is one of eight crossing points converted into a reception center along the border with Ukraine.
Up to 6,000 women and children arrive there day and night. The features drawn, some walked several kilometers to reach the border post. Others have been on the road for more than a week.
“They are confused. They don’t know where the buses stop, where they have to godescribes Tetyana Albaret, volunteer firefighter in Bouches-du-Rhône. I just saw two families coming directly from kyiv. Apparently the situation has really gotten worse.”.
The young Franco-Ukrainian is one of the 35 peace firefighters present in this local camp. A dozen tents pitched on a dusty ground by the side of the road, a few hundred meters from the border.
The camp was set up on the initiative of the intervention and rescue group of Haute-Savoie (GIS 74) and French humanitarian firefighters. Doctors, nurses, emergency doctors and other volunteers welcome Ukrainians fleeing their country in the grip of the Russian invasion.
Volunteers treat, relieve and listen to refugees marked by exile. Psychological support is at the heart of their mission. “Under this tent, we have a decompression. People really send us their feelings of this crossing”note Valentin Treboz, firefighter nurse in Haute-Savoie and volunteer at the camp of Budohmierz.
Not far from there, the town’s gymnasium has been transformed into a reception center for refugees. Three rows of mattresses are lined up on the floor of a basket court to accommodate up to 60 people per night.
“In the evening, when people arrive at the border after several hours of walking, they can sleep here to avoid being exposed to the cold and bad weather. At least sleep in the warmth, sheltered from the bombardments, have a coffee, to be welcomed”Explain Jean-Paul Bosland, founder of GIS 74.
A ballet of buses parades continuously around the camp to transport the refugees further to Poland or to other European countries. Three million people have already fled Ukraine, including two million bound for Poland, according to a count by border guards on Friday March 18.
The Russian offensive intensifies with fighting in Mariupol and bombardments in the airport district of Lviv, a large Ukrainian city located near the Polish border.
video length: 01min 45
War in Ukraine: Haute-Savoie rescue workers at the bedside of refugees on the Polish border
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