Maria Rosado | Valladolid (EFE).- One year after Russia declared war on Ukraine, there are some 4,000 Ukrainian refugees displaced to Castilla y León at that time, most of them women and minors, who after a first stage of international protection emergency seek now social and labor integration, improving their skills to access a job, aware that their return home will not be as immediate as they thought.
“They are very tough people, very forward-thinking” although after a year away from their homes, of those who came out with almost nothing on their backs, the “emotional wear and tear is strong”, because in many cases a part of the family is still in Ukraine , refers to EFE Daniel Duque, head of the Accem immigrant care association in Castilla y León.
After the photos of the first weeks and months of constant arrivals of women and children from Ukraine, in a very “media and close” war, the refugees have had no reception problems in a supportive and devoted Castilla y León, which continues “very above them to see how it can help”.
In Accem they managed to have up to 1,100 reception places in the Community, and now they have some 600 refugees housed, beyond those who require other types of services, with a total of 1,788 displaced persons cared for in the Community at their headquarters in Astorga ( León), Ávila, Burgos, León, Salamanca, Segovia and Valladolid.
In his head he was going home as soon as possible
These displaced people, reluctant at first to participate in social activities or learn the language, “because in their minds they wanted to return home as soon as possible,” now seek to improve skills and language for greater social and labor integration, Duque explains.
“It’s been a long time since people from Ukraine have arrived,” adds Duque, and the figures confirm this, with hardly any movement in recent months and which put around 4,000 those who have temporary protection in the Community, according to data provided to EFE by the Government Delegation in Castilla y León.
At the end of the first week of February, the accumulated number of protections was 371 in Ávila, 529 in Burgos, 635 in León, 295 in Palencia, 631 in Salamanca, 527 in Segovia, 213 in Soria, 552 in Valladolid and 230 in Zamora. .
The data is very similar to that of the health cards for displaced persons issued by the Castilla y León Ministry of Health at that time, with a total of 3,766: 288 in Ávila, 467 in Burgos, 608 in León, 235 in Palencia, 563 in Salamanca, 408 in Segovia, 331 in Soria, with 678 in Valladolid and 188 in Zamora.
1,272 students in Community colleges and 75 in universities
Those who have best integrated have been the children and young people who have arrived in the Community, who have learned the language quickly, with 1,272 enrolled in primary or secondary school and another 75 in the public universities of Castilla y León, according to data provided to EFE. by the Ministry of Education.
At the Campos Góticos de Medina de Rioseco Rural Group School, in Valladolid, 13 of these Ukrainian children between the ages of 3 and 6, who are adapting well to the town and its activities and are advancing in learning Spanish, study. , as explained to EFE by the head of studies, Verónica de la Iglesia.
They don’t want to talk about the war or paint a flag
Already at the beginning of the conflict, Medina welcomed two of the first families that arrived by taxi from the Ukrainian border, with 7 and 3 children, and in August the following arrived at the refugee center, not only from Ukraine, which is run by the Association Management in the municipality.
The teacher explains that in the school, with 340 students, there are students of fourteen nationalities; and details that in Ukraine children do not go to school until they are six years old and attach great importance to musical education, so many know how to play an instrument, with some families that are in the municipal music school and others that have signed up. For example basketball.
Many do not want to talk about the war, “they don’t even want to touch the subject, they don’t even like to paint a flag,” says the teacher, who highlights the adaptability of the little ones.
127 minors in foster families
A good part of the minors who have arrived from Ukraine to the Community are with their families, although the Board has temporary custody of 242 minors, among them the 72 children from the Mariupol orphanage, the majority with severe disabilities, are enrolled in centers special education and specific institutions in Valladolid, where they adapt well, learning customs and culture, the director of Families, Childhood and Attention to Diversity, Esperanza Vázquez, explained to EFE.
It has also highlighted that 127 minors are with foster families who are not their parents, and in some cases the adults who arrived with those minors who were not from their family have undergone an assessment to take care of them.
Until spring there will be no changes on the possible return of the children
Vázquez has detailed that the Ukrainian consul in Spain, Yuliya Gladush, explained to them during her visit to the Community on February 8 that the Government of her country will not make decisions on the return or not of these unaccompanied minors until spring.
The director of Families has detailed that the Ministry has given 294 grants of 400 euros per month for half a year to Ukrainian refugees without sufficient financial resources, with one hundred euros more for each minor in their care.
There is no good news: if they stop fighting, Ukraine will disappear
Vasyl Tsekh, a Ukrainian who has been in Valladolid for 22 years and who created the Castilla y León Association for Ukraine to have a legal basis from which to articulate aid to his compatriots, has been in this solidarity movement since the first minute the war broke out. He has already chartered 11 trucks and 14 vans.
It is not limited to that, he lends a hand to the refugees when they need help with procedures, with the language, or to find a job when he finds out that someone needs workers, he refers to EFE.
Every day he talks to his friends and family in Ukraine and “there is no good news”, they are “fighting to achieve victory, without stopping fighting, Ukraine disappears”, adds Vasyl, who warns that the post-war period will be even worse.
The refugees who have arrived in Castilla y León above all want to return to their country, “they go in and out of the Community”, looking for work or to where they have a family member, in places with the sea. Since many are women and children, they are returning to Ukraine and Poland to be closer to their loved ones, she details.
As for the jobs they have found, they are mostly in the hospitality industry, house cleaning, or caring for children and the elderly, and above all it is difficult for them to learn the language and food, which they do not get used to. Others know that “the thing is not for whims and they have gotten used to it,” he concludes. EFE
