As people and officials in an unprepared state struggle with the task of finding a home for refugees from Ukraine
The wooden building in the village of Kostolec in Súľovské vrchy, a short distance from the popular Manín Strait, once served as a primary school. Today, it is the Manín guest house, where it can reach about 40 people. During the May weekends, when the tourist season is in full swing, it puts dozens of people out on the terrace, who have come here for nature.
Now, on Monday at the end of March, the terrace is still empty. No one even sits in the restaurant inside, in the government guesthouse. But he is not uninhabited. Shortly after Russia invaded Ukraine and the first war refugees arrived in Slovakia, several Ukrainian families arrived here.
“My husband is a bit of a philanthropist. He just read somewhere about the KtopomôžeUkrajine.sk website, where people offer accommodation, so he registered us, “says owner Jana Ondrová. “We have a low season, so we offered three four-bed rooms for three families. He clicked on the site that we can help temporarily, in two weeks, until the events and weddings for which we already have reservations start. “
Nothing happened for a while, but in mid-March, the phones started ringing and 18 refugees finally arrived in the Church. A little more than they expected at the guesthouse, but since they had rooms available, they didn’t take it as a problem. They help them, as they know, with documents, offices, I’m even looking for a job.
But spring is approaching, tourists will return to the Súľov Hills and the pension in the church will require rooms, which they temporarily provide to refugees, for ordinary guests. It has been known for over a week when and how he can take over the people they have been arriving so far. But they can’t just find the office or institute that has the competence.
What the owner of the boarding house behind the Manin Strait is dealing with is just one of the new situations that are emerging during these days.
The refugee wave has caught Slovakia’s unprepared crisis management systems. As Diary N was said by one of the government officials; we are like a deer on the highway, surprised by long-distance fast-approaching cars – and he doesn’t know what to do. But despite the confusion, thousands of people have found refuge in our country. Ordinary residents and volunteers contributed to this, but hundreds of state employees also showed great commitment.
Escape with one plastic bag
During the month of the war, by Sunday, March 27, almost 280,000 refugees crossed the Slovak-Ukrainian border. Almost 54,000 have so far requested temporary refuge in Slovakia. While shortly after the start of the war, about 10,000 people come to us, in recent days the numbers have been in the thousands, on Saturday, March 26, there were about 4,000 refugees.
“I did not know what since the arrival of the people of Ukraine. They performed in front of our guesthouse