If 17-year-old Mariia Kovpak has learned anything, it’s that it’s better not to make plans. This Ukrainian teenager settled with her mother, Tetiana, and younger sister, Daria, in Reus, in June 2022, with the idea of ??reuniting after a few months with her father, Serhii , at his home on the outskirts of Kyiv. The incessant fighting has made history evolve in a different way. It was Serhii who left Ukraine in April 2023 to reunite with his family in Catalonia. Mariia, the only one who speaks Spanish, has accepted that she will not be able to start university in her country and is immersed in preparing for the selection exams. The Kovpaks are part of the group of 23,000 refugees from Ukraine registered in Catalonia, between March 2022 and last September, the latest figures published by Idescat.
The thousands of Ukrainians who arrived in Catalonia thought and wished that the war would be short so that they could return home soon. The violence has aborted the return of the majority. From March 2022 to December 31, 2023, the Ministry of the Interior has processed 44,124 temporary protections for refugees who arrived in Catalonia from Ukraine. It is estimated that once here, several thousand moved to other communities and also to other countries.
Mireia Mata, Secretary of Equality of the Generalitat, indicates that the data they have are the aforementioned 23,000 registered people and the 26,340 health cards issued between April 2022 and this January 1. “The numbers have always been close to just over 20,000”, points out Mata. In September, a total of 4,427 Ukrainian students started the course in schools and institutes, as confirmed by the Department of Education.
The latest statistics provided by the Ministry of Inclusion indicate that, until March 2023, 3,445 Ukrainians were beneficiaries of the state refugee reception program in Catalonia. This operation provides them with accommodation and food for a period that can be extended up to 18 months. Those who have been able to, either because they have their own resources or because they have enjoyed the unconditional support of local families, live in flats. This is the case of the Kovpaks. The generosity of a retired neighbor, Coia Vinaixa, has made it possible for Tetiana, Serhii, Mariia and Daria to live in a cozy home in Reus. Serhii brought two pets from Ukraine, Kira the dog and Iriska, a cat, who share space with another feline, Ziggy. “With a computer and wifi we can work from anywhere in the world”, says Serhii who, together with Tetiana, manages his own company from the dining room or from the terrace.
Although everything exudes provisionality, Mariia explains that she is clear that after the selection exam, in May, she will start university in Barcelona. He has not yet decided which major he will pursue, but Sociology is among his preferred options. “Every morning I go to Barcelona to prepare in an academy with other foreign students. My sister, Daria, ten years old, studies in a Catalan school, although she also follows the Ukrainian curriculum; my mother has started to learn Spanish, and my father, English”, explains Maria. They are lucky that lifelong friends live nearby, in Salou, and they reiterate their gratitude to La Coia and his family, with whom they celebrated Christmas.
The majority of refugees began arriving in Catalonia weeks after the start of the war, on February 24, 2022. The month in which more temporary protections were processed was April, with 11,304. But departures from Ukraine have continued to occur during 2023, albeit with much less intensity. Interior confirms that last year temporary protections were issued to 7,398 Ukrainians; in November and December they were 592 and 335.
“This is a group that has been evolving. At first they thought that the conflict would not last long, it felt like people were on vacation, that it was an impasse, and this affects the way they deal with integration, since the majority had no intention of learning Spanish, or going to school the children, nor to work. As time has passed, this has changed”, says Mónica López, Director of Programs at the Spanish Refugee Aid Commission (CEAR). López adds that, despite the fact that the majority are women and children, men and elderly people have also come. Their main needs do not differ too much from those of the general population: housing and work. Thanks to the mechanism approved at the time by the European Union, Ukrainians fleeing their country because of the war have it better than other refugees, since they automatically receive temporary protection that entitles them to health and social care, the permit residence, education and access to the labor market. The Catalan Employment Service (SOC) states that it has 570 Ukrainians registered to look for work and 954 who already have one.
After six months in the state shelter program with the Red Cross, in a hostel in Masnou, 30-year-old Daryna got a contract as a waitress in a beach bar, which allowed her to rent a room in Barcelona But in October the establishment closed and since then he has been looking for another job. Take advantage of your free time to study Spanish. In fact, she is one of the few refugees who can hold a minimal conversation in this language. In the first week of January, he turned for the first time to the organization Hilos de Oro, which distributes food and other basic products three days a week, as well as offering Spanish classes and kitchen assistant courses to Ukrainians, in Barcelona Its president, Ekaterina Urusova, says that since October they have detected an increase in needs. “We started on March 3, 2022 and in June we signed an agreement with the Food Bank. That year we served 1,700 people and in 2023, 5,140”, says Urusova, who warns that they have witnessed cases of homelessness.
Tamara, 74, is one of the women queuing to receive food. In March, it will be two years since she arrived with her daughter, Olga, a waitress in an airport bar. “First a family welcomed us into their home, now we have rented two rooms for 600 euros. He used to receive a pension from Ukraine, but not anymore. I worked until I was 71 years old, I drove a construction crane and managed the public relations of an airplane turbine factory”, he says while filling his cart, in the space provided by Apsocecat in Hilos de Oro.
Tània Khomenko, a volunteer in this organization, and her two daughters also spent the first stage in Catalonia (about eight months) hosted by a family in Valldoreix. “We are very grateful to them, they supported us in everything. We came here thanks to the Real Club de Tennis Barcelona, ??which signed my youngest daughter, Marharita, 14 years old; the older one, 31, is a professional beach tennis player and works online in foreign trade. She’s the one paying the rent. Now I want to learn the language and look for a job. In Ukraine I used to organize events and I’m also a physiotherapist”, he comments. Tània goes to Hilos de Oro two mornings a week and is in charge of recording the data of aid beneficiaries. “Refugees continue to arrive, from elderly people who did not want to leave to young people who have finished their studies, sick people… Many live in sublet rooms. There are a thousand different stories”, he says.
From this oenagé they regret that the waiting period to access the state reception program developed by the Ministry of Inclusion can be extended by a month, assures Urusova, alluding to the testimonies of the people they serve. The Reception, Care and Referral Center for Ukrainian Displaced Persons (Creade) in Barcelona is the gateway to temporary protection. In Catalonia, the Red Cross manages the initial phase, in which each case is evaluated and which should not last more than a month, but which extends much longer, as they do not have enough accommodation places for the following stages, assumes Bárbara Díaz, refugee manager of this social entity. Díaz underlines the difficulty for the integration of this group as “the language barrier and the fact that they started the migratory journey thinking it would be temporary, but they have been there for almost two years and this causes frustration”.
