Social Outreach: On the Periphery
Traveling with Fernando Ramirez, founder of NGO Bridges 2030 International, to Ukraine in late August, our trip was flanked by stops in Poland. Specifically, visits to the Polish Migration Forum in Warsaw and NGO Baobab in Lublin. Featuring both welcome centers in his documentary film Beyond the Statistics, Mr. Ramirez wanted to reconnect with these organizations almost 3-years later.
Speaking with the President of the Polish Migration Forum, Agnieszka Kosowicz, the needs are just as great today, if not greater in some respects, as they were at the beginning of the full-scale invasion. Housing, employment, education, and food security remain at the top of the list. However, with every day the war continues, “mental health is becoming a big issue”, stated Kosowicz.
But not just for Ukrainians. The welcome center is open to all ethnicities providing services in 7 languages. Nonetheless, Ukrainians remain the largest group in need with 50% of psychologists on staff being Ukrainian.
And although the need for servicing all migrants is still high, Ms. Kosowicz shared that this year they lost 20% of their budget due to USAID cuts which funded the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and the UN International Organization for Migration (IOM), their primary donors. Being awarded a new building at the beginning of the full-scale war in 2022 to accommodate Ukrainian refugees and the growth of their staff from 40 to 100, they had to scale down in physical space this year and reduce staff by half.
The same was echoed by Anna Dabrowska, President of Baobab welcome center in Lublin. Baobab has also lost their UNHCR funding but is not giving up. “We’ll just need to raise funds some other way!”, exclaimed Ms. Dabrowska. “We have no other choice!”
Being so close to the Ukrainian border and having Lublin’s population grow by 40-50,000 Ukrainians since 2022, Baobab can’t afford to curtail the services it provides—safe space, education, employment, life sufficiency workshops, computer labs, multilingual library, assimilation programs, etc.
But, just as the Polish Migration Forum in Warsaw, Baobab doesn’t cater to Ukrainian refugees alone. “We not only serve migrants and refugees but also the whole of Polish society.”, Dabrowska stated.
However, no one can ignore the growing global shift towards all migrants and refugees. Nonetheless, Dabrowska is not letting up and vows to stand her ground in keeping welcome centers like Baobab and the Polish Migration Forum afloat. Adding, people don’t realize that “our future is on the Ukrainian frontline”.
