Between gratitude and fear
Medium and long-term integration solutions
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She tells me that the Ukrainians she interacts with are thankful and would like to express their gratitude for the help they’ve received in Romania: "I have received thank-you messages from them, and they are not only grateful to me. I have thank-you messages for Romania in general, for the authorities - for getting involved and helping them."
At the same time, she confirms to me that the refugees she interacts with are increasingly afraid of the prolongation of the conflict and the systematic destruction of their country's cities and infrastructure. "I have seen them start to ask how much longer they will be helped, how long they will continue to receive support. For example, they were telling me they were worried that at Romexpo they were no longer receiving immediate aid as before, they were just recorded, put on a list. They were confident at first. Now they are getting apprehensive: What are we going to do? How long will we find support and help here in Romania?"
She tells me that, at first, no one thought the war would last so long. Neither the Romanians who got involved and offered help, nor the authorities, nor the Ukrainians who decided to come here. Most of them left their country in the hope that they would be able to return after a few weeks. They only took a backpack, a suitcase, some clothes, the bare necessities for two to three weeks. But most are still far from home and family, even now, a year after the war began.
After a year of war, the help we should offer to those who have chosen to take refuge in Romania looks different, in Anca Mușat's view: "We must seek medium and long-term integration solutions. So far, I have been looking for short-term solutions, that's how I have proceeded. Shelter, food, clothing, school supplies. Short-term solutions, on the assumption that it will be over and they can go home. But now much of Ukraine and its infrastructure lies in ruins. And if it ends now, this very second, how can they go back? So we will have to continue to help them, in the medium and long term."
"Now the solution I think is a medium and long-term one, meaning integration, learning the language, finding a job, integrating children in school, that's what I think. I think it will take a while [longer]. And even if the war itself doesn't last, I think it will take more time before these people can go back to their pre-war lives. And they have to do something in the meantime, life goes on."
The need for community
She tells me that she doesn't think one-size fits all measures would work, trying to implement solutions that would work for the whole group of refugees: "Let's take Romanian language classes: for whom? When? How? Online? In person? How advanced? If you're a mother with children, you have some in kindergarten, others are attending school online in Ukraine, some are in college. What do you do, how do you manage? [...]This is a problem for many mothers too - they can't go to work. Besides not knowing the language, their children are taking classes online, they can't be left alone at home. That's also a problem that has to be taken into account when we think about ways of helping them. We can't apply the same measure to everyone in the long term, we have to tailor the measures depending on context. And most refugees are mothers with children."
"I think they should create a real community of their own. To get to know each other, to share their resources. We are still helping them, but it is also very important for them to come together. I don't think they've looked at it that way so far, they’ve kept hoping that they would go back home and be here for a short period. So far I don't think they've seen any value in it: let's come together and see how we can help each other and what resources we have. But I think the time has come to do that because for the medium and long term they have to find resources. As far as mothers are concerned, one could stay with the children, the other could work and so they could help each other. I don't know for sure, but I think they should also pull together. It's a lot easier when you're in a community than when you're alone."
For Anca Mușat, the idea of community, of mutual help and support, is the medium and long-term solution. It's the strategy she implemented when she created the ETC Association and it worked. Now, she would like to see it implemented to support and integrate Ukrainian families who have arrived in our country. Together, Anca Mușat believes, we are stronger and can do more.
