An endless war puts down roots of the Ukrainian diaspora in Lyon

February 24 marks the completion of 730 days of war in Ukraine and 730 days of pain for the Indian diaspora which has reached 5 million refugees in Europe. Lyon’s civil society joined the cause and refugee families began to arrive in Lyon in unknown proportions.

The opening of borders and the creation of temporary protection permits for Ukraine facilitated this process. Since March 2022, the province has managed the total number of requests from the Ukrainian population fleeing bombs, fear and shortages.

Organizations specializing in international security had to reform to expand resources in record time. Axum, San Juan de Dios, the Red Cross and the Diaconia led the welcoming ceremony in coordination with local authorities and civil and religious institutions, which opened their doors in Valencia de Don Juan, La Nora del Río, Astorga, Armunia… Additionally, some families Leoni lent their homes to and came forward to help.

Major avalanches occurred in the first months leading up to summer. According to the Government Delegation in Castilla y León, since March 2022, a total of 694 petitions have been registered in the province of León, 16% of the 4,322 processed in Castilla y León. A migrant who is above all women and minors. Mother with sons and daughters. More than 62% of people seeking treatment at the Red Cross are women, as men between the ages of 17 and 55 are restricted from going out except in situations of disability.

From October 2023 to January this year, the flow of people seeking international protection from Ukraine to Lyon has slowed significantly. In Castilla y León, 59 of the 378 requests have been registered in León.

Those who have a temporary permit before October 2023 will need to renew it between March and April, as they expire on March 4. There is uncertainty as to what will happen to these permits after 2024 due to a European directive.

The drama has not reduced. Oksana and Yevheny, a couple from the Ukrainian town of Vatutin, with their 16-year-old son, are one of the last families to reach Lyon. After a bomb exploded at the gate of the boy’s school, and at the insistence of the 17-year-old boy’s proximity to a time when young people are recruited for military training, he made a four-day trip by car to Valencia de Don Juan, Where a girl lives. friendly family

“We thought the war was about to end, but it didn’t and now our lives, and above all our son’s, are in danger,” he says. When they arrived in Lyon, they went to the police station and requested a temporary permit. They were welcomed in Phase 0 by Axem in Astorga and are currently in Phase 0 at La Fontana de San Juan de Dios International Protection Center in Armunia.

The “little war” for Ala Kisil’s family has become a long separation. The woman and her two children, Dima and Alejandro, left Kiev, where her husband lived, and arrived in Lyon on March 28, 2022, after leaving the country through the Moldovan border, crossed into Romania and then flew to Spain.

The older boy, who was studying the third year of an Energy System Automation degree at Kyiv University, saw a host event at the University of Lyon on the Internet and received an invitation. Mother and her younger brother were welcomed at Axem. Two years later, Dima studied mechanical engineering at the University of Lyon and Alejandro studied at IES Legio VII, 3rd of ESO. He had not heard a word of Spanish and quickly learned. Alejandro (as he prefers to be called in Spanish) is very proud because the first year he failed only one subject and this year he has not failed a single subject. He has many friends and plays volleyball.

Mother, Alaa, was an accountant in her home country. In Lyon, he got a job at a cleaning company, where he worked for just over a year. “I’ve cleaned stores, bars, churches,” he says. Now he wants to improve his Spanish and explore other opportunities.

Their feet are on the ground, Leon, and their heads are thinking about Ukraine. They want to return, but there is no plan in sight. There is an unspoken wish on the lips of the Ukrainian community in Lyon, “when the war will end”.

The Kisil family talks to their father and husband on the phone every day. “It is always wrong. “He misses his family and is in danger.” Two years have passed and, especially Alejandro, he has grown so much that he misses her.

Ala also misses her father and mother. They don’t want to leave, as is the case with most older people: “They don’t want to leave their life and they don’t want to leave their home.” They have become accustomed to living amidst the noise of alarms and the explosions of bombs. From time to time he receives news of the death of someone close to him.

“We are happy to stay in Lyon because the situation is dangerous and we are afraid for our children,” Ala says through Elena, a compatriot who has lived in Lyon for years and who works as a translator. .

Ukrainian families arrived as if in transit but the war continued and they had to accept that their lives must continue here. Lilia Vysyavan Babiuk, 34, moved to Lyon in March 2022. For half a year he had to face an internal war with himself. I didn’t want to learn Spanish. “I wanted to go back and felt I didn’t need that information.” I didn’t even want to try. I was looking for people who spoke English. I was waiting for something that hasn’t come yet.

“Slowly I realized that I needed this to help my children. Not everyone at the hospital knows English and I needed important things explained to me. Furthermore, he says, “I am in Spain and it is my duty to speak Spanish.”

Last year she was one of the students in Exem’s Spanish courses for foreigners. “I am clear not only that I need to speak Spanish, but also to speak it well,” says this linguist and translator, who is very strict about her pronunciation. “Without language you can’t do anything,” he admits.

Her children, a boy and a girl, have learned without any problems. “They want to play with other children and they already have many friends,” he explains. Seeing his children happy has helped him accept the situation. “I am happy too.” Now they have temporarily stopped the classes as it coincides with the work schedule. He is attempting to standardize his titles. She has a master’s degree in law and is an English teacher and translator.

There are 25 people (five men, nine women, six boys and five girls) at the International Protection Program’s La Fontana de Armunia conservation center in San Juan de Dios. There, Osakana, her husband Yevni, and their son learn compulsory Spanish for three hours a day. The boy also attends the first online law course at a center in Ukraine. During these two years, San Juan de Dios has served 87 people with temporary permission from Ukraine. Accem welcomes 115 Ukrainians in various accommodation arrangements in Lyon. The Lyon Red Cross has assisted 288 people from Ukraine in these two years, of whom 62%, 8% are women and 32% are minors and 157 are between 20 and 49 years of age.

A total of 29 people have got access to houses while 19 people have become part of the employment scheme. In addition, they are able to access social assistance activities (social resources, procedures and processes), legal and/or psychological support and leisure, as well as guidance, support, accommodation or information.

Currently only four people from Ukraine are part of the refugee program at the Lyon Red Cross. The refugee team is multidisciplinary and consists of 12 people. In these two years he has received the support of 23 volunteers.

Lyon Red Cross says, “We have not stopped working with the civilian population and displaced people affected by the conflict in Ukraine during the last two years, who have been forced to leave their homes and cross borders to other countries ” ,

Some families who arrived in Lyon have returned to their country, such as the family of Maxim Nesteruk and Dalia, who witnessed the birth of their second child in Lyon after fleeing bombs in their city.