Ukrainian displaced persons in Paris, between solidarity and administrative imbroglios
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A reception center for displaced Ukrainians in Paris has opened. France 24 went to meet those who fled the war. Parisians support them in sometimes complicated administrative procedures, despite the opening of this one-stop shop.
“The Paris prefecture is closed on weekends”, explains a group of security agents to disoriented Ukrainian refugees, who have just arrived on Saturday March 26 in front of the gates of the Home center Ukraine located in one of the halls of the Porte de Versailles exhibition center, in the south-west of Paris. An open place offered by the city of Paris and managed by the association France Terre d’Asile, to welcome and guide displaced Ukrainians.
The website of the town hall of Paris indicates that this center is open seven days a week, from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m., but today, its administrative services are closed. Only Ukrainians in need of accommodation are received. Migrants who arrive at the center for other reasons stoically welcome the news and obediently leave the building, clutching their personal belongings and identity papers.
Martine and her husband Pierre, a couple from Paris, came accompanied by Svetlana, 53, and her daughter Alyssa, 19. All four seem at a loss as to what to do after learning that the centre’s administrative services are closed. They linger in the early morning spring sunshine and exchange phone numbers with a Russian-speaking woman who has come with another group of displaced Ukrainians. More seasoned, she is full of advice for navigating the maze of French bureaucracy.
When asked how they met their proteges, Martine replies: “By Mozambique!”, sketching a smile behind her mask. “My son lives in Mozambique, where he has a friend who asked him if we could help her by hosting Ukrainian friends in France”. The French couple agreed to come to the aid of the two women without hesitation, despite knowing nothing of their past.
A grueling journey through Europe
On a daily basis, Martine and Pierre have succeeded, thanks to Google Translate, in breaking the language barrier with their guests. Using the translation tool and Google Maps, they learned where Svetlana and Alyssa were from: a town called Dnipro, located on the bank of the Dnieper River. The two women were able to recount their exhausting five-day journey to reach France. After leaving Ukraine, mother and daughter traveled by bus from Poland to Berlin, then they took a plane from Berlin to Paris, before arriving on Wednesday in Meudon, in the Paris suburbs, a few kilometers from the center Ukraine . Martine and her husband came to pick them up this Saturday morning, at the home of another person who could not accommodate them any longer.
the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) Monday identified a total of more than 3.8 million Ukrainian migrants since the start of the conflict. With Poland, Romania and Moldova have received most of the refugees and the migratory pressure on these three European States is becoming stronger for the reception, but also the resettlement of people on the run. So many displaced people try their luck and leave for the West, whether or not they were family or friends there.
Svetlana and Alyssa are not yet sure if they will get the status of temporary protection, which offers asylum in France, but already “they want to be independent and find work, which is the hardest part”, says Martine. As of March 23, France welcomed 26,000 migrants from Ukraineof which only 10,500 received a temporary residence permit.
“A century ago, my grandfather left Odessa by boat”
“Associations are able to provide accommodation, but individuals are better able to provide immediate responses such as finding schools for children, feeding people, helping them obtain documents,” explains Martine. “It’s natural for me to help because a century ago, my grandfather left Odessa by boat. He was fleeing the civil war in Russia. History repeats itself,” she says visibly touched.
At noon, a bus arrives and unloads a crowd of people. Many are carrying suitcases and backpacks, the cries of a baby are heard in the distance. Migrants brought to the Accueil Ukraine center by the Red Cross will only stay there for one or two days before leaving for other French regions.
At the same time, Olena and her father, from Cherkasy, a town southeast of kyiv, arrive at the gates of the reception center. “I invited my father to France for his birthday and also because it was the children’s holidays, then the war broke out and he stayed with us”, says Olena, residing in France. “We are here because my father had cancer and if anything happens to his health, I want him to be covered by French Social Security.”
Like Svetlana and Alyssa, Olena and her father are asked to return on Monday to start the process of obtaining a Vitale card. The Ukrainian swears that her father will stay with his family in Paris as long as the war lasts. “Everyone wants to go home,” she said, tears in her eyes.
This article has been adapted from English. Find the original here.