It’s lunchtime at Albina Okulova's residence. The 51-year-old Ukrainian fled from Kyiv proper after the Russian invasion. She got here to Potsdam in Germany, along with her mom Liudmyla and daughter Kseniia.
Confidence returns
Albina’s son Danylo, can be in Potsdam. He has been residing and learning right here since 2020.
Regardless of having to depart her nation, Albina is relieved that she is now reunited along with her household. And in addition grateful for having the ability to stay in peace in Germany.
“Once I got here right here," says Albina. "I had only one sport go well with to put on and €200 in my pocket. Now I really feel assured, my daughter goes to highschool once more and I research too, so I could be allowed to work once more.”
It’s not the primary time that Albina needed to begin over. Up till 2015, she used to stay and work as a health care provider in Crimea. After the Russian annexation, she fled to Kyiv.
Her 15-year-old daughter now goes to a so-called “welcome class” in Potsdam. However she says she misses her faculty and buddies in Kyiv.
“I’m making new buddies," says her daughter Kseniia. "Sure, it’s exhausting, as a result of I'm in a brand new state of affairs, in a brand new nation… it’s exhausting, however I can do it!”
Albina drives to a governmental workplace in Potsdam, the place she wants to use for German courses. She desires to study the language as quickly as attainable so as to have the ability to work as a health care provider once more. It's troublesome as a result of the forms takes lots of time – a factor that almost all Ukrainians in Germany battle with, she says.
“It retains me endlessly busy, so I can not discover peace," she says. "As a result of I am consistently having to do some paperwork, like a doc that is expiring or one thing else on the finish of the 12 months. I've no peace to commit myself to studying German and elevating my daughter."
Housing simply certainly one of many points
Over a million Ukrainians have come as refugees to Germany for the reason that struggle started. And though authorities assist is now working higher, there are nonetheless main challenges. The primary downside is a scarcity of housing, particularly in main cities like Berlin.
However there are numerous different issues, in line with the Vitsche group - a Berlin-based affiliation that, amongst different issues, supplies help to Ukrainian refugees.
"It is comparable in relation to discovering a job, and faculty and daycare locations," says Vitsche spokesperson Krista-Mariya Läbe. "If there are not any daycare locations, then the moms, for instance, cannot go to the combination programs or the language programs. After which, after all, it is troublesome to discover a job afterwards, since you want the German language in lots of areas."
To sort out the housing downside, native authorities arrange containers, as short-term housing for refugees. Liudmyla, Albina’s mom, lives in certainly one of them.
However the 71-year-old doesn't complain. Though she worries about and misses her kin in Ukraine, she is comfortable to have a roof over her head in Germany and grateful that she was reunited along with her household in a secure place.
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