“Room for two people for a week”. “Room for three people for three days”. Holding up signs with phrases like these written in Ukrainian, Daiane Anzolin, 38, went to the train station in the city of Krakow, where she lives, to offer shelter for refugees who have nowhere to sleep.
The Brazilian, who has lived in the country for two years with her Polish fiancé, has already housed seven people who escaped the war in her one-bedroom apartment – ​​and two more who only took a shower and continued on their journey, without an overnight stay. She also directed Ukrainians to the homes of friends who were willing to welcome them.
Initially, Daiane included her name in a register of volunteers created by the Polish government to host refugees. But the demand was such that the system collapsed, and she decided to offer shelter in person, with the posters at the station.
“People come at the same time, they ask us to help. There are a lot of people sleeping on the floor, the queue to register [no centro de acolhimento do governo] It was five hours,” he says.
The main gateway for Ukrainians escaping the war, Poland has offered a warm welcome, with reception points, free transport and medical care and regularization facilities. But the flow of 2 million people in just over a month has been a challenge.
The first refugees Daiane received were actually from Turkmenistan — and the couple had a surprise in their backpack. “There was a huge cat hiding in a bag. She made the gesture of please, let him stay,” she says. “They arrived very tired, they had been traveling for four days.”
From there, the couple went to Turkey, where they had friends waiting for them. Other families stayed temporarily at Daiane’s house, until the current guests arrive, a mother and her adult daughter, who must stay for an extended period – the Brazilian says she will leave the house key with them during a period when she will be away, the work.
The owners of the house went to sleep on the sofa in the living room to give away their room. “These are people who left father, son, brother there, lost relatives, traveled for days. We do our best to make them more comfortable.”
Communication is improvised through translation apps, along with some English and even Polish — which has some words similar to Ukrainian. The two guests are enrolled in Polish classes, and one of them has gotten a job at a hotel.
“We had a great connection. At first it was difficult for everyone, they were embarrassed. When they realized they were in a safe place, they cried a lot, I cried too.”
The Brazilian observes that it is a great responsibility to welcome families who have been through trauma such as the war. “We can’t romanticize the situation. These are people who will cry, have panic attacks, feel guilty for having left the country. They won’t be smiling and saying ‘I’m glad you had me'”, he says. “It’s not a movie and we’re not heroes.”
Ukrainians who were already living in Poland before the conflict have also been mobilizing to find accommodation for friends and family who are arriving now. One of them asked marketing director LetÃcia de Castro Lemos, 36, her master’s colleague, to welcome a childhood friend and her 9-year-old daughter from Kharkiv, a city in eastern Ukraine that was heavily hit by Russian bombings.
“They arrived with a backpack each, the child scared. It took a while before they managed to talk to us”, says the Brazilian, who has lived in Poland for five years with her husband. “We try to respect their space. We don’t ask much, I try not to give more information than they can absorb. We offer connection, but without imposing anything.”
After a few days of arrival, the girl is already at school and more relaxed. “She laughs a lot with our cats, fills the house with good energy. We eat together, watch [à série] ‘Friends’ in English with Russian subtitles, we joke”, he says. “We are very happy to welcome them, but at the same time it hurts to know that they had to run away, see people who don’t have a support network and need to sleep at the station. “
According to LetÃcia, about 50 Brazilian women who live in Krakow are actively helping refugees. But over time, accommodation options for new arrivals become scarce.
“The cities here aren’t very big. Krakow had 800,000 people before the war, Warsaw is a little bigger. It’s all crowded. And in the smaller cities people aren’t so open-minded.”
On the other hand, part of the Ukrainians have already gone to other European countries, and over time the reception became more organized, according to compliance analyst Michelle Campos, 35. “The city is full, but there is not that desperation from the beginning. you don’t see refugees sleeping on the street, the service has become more structured, there are free buses going to Italy and other countries”, he says.
Michelle, who has lived with her husband for five years in Krakow, hosted three families in less than a month. One of them, a woman with a child, managed to rent a house with other refugees. Then came a young pregnant woman and her husband, who stayed until they were able to rent an apartment. “They became our friends, let’s go out together tomorrow”, says the Brazilian.
The other guest has just left for Germany. “The first day they barely left the room. I understand the mistrust. But now we talk every day, I told her that if it goes wrong they can come back.”
For content producer Amanda Reggio, 33, immigrants like her and other Brazilians end up having a special empathy for refugees. “We are privileged because we had the opportunity to choose our destination, bring our things. They didn’t have any of that.”
She hosted two families: the first –two women, a child and a dog– went to Vienna; the other two, a dentist with her 7-year-old daughter, traveled to meet her sister in Bucharest.
Amanda and her husband, in Poland since 2019, gave up their own room in the 50 square meter apartment for visitors. “When the war started, it was a shock. We were in a bubble, thinking about our own pain, evaluating if it was safe to stay here”, she recalls. “But when we saw the condition in which the Ukrainians were arriving, with only a bag with documents and the clothes on their backs, we started to look at this situation from the perspective of the other. What we have to offer is not much, but it could be the that these people need at a time like this.”
Katia (who did not want to reveal her surname), a Ukrainian who is currently staying at the house of Brazilian Daiane, took the initiative to send the report a statement in which she says she already feels part of the family. “Here we have everything we need,” she says.
“During our trip, we were accompanied by groups of volunteers who fed us, offered us tea and water and distributed sweets to the children. foreigner, without any planning. We can’t find words to express our gratitude.”
4.1 million Ukrainians have left the country since February 24
2.38 million went to Poland, according to the UN
