If Mariia Kovpak, at only 17 years old, has learned something, it is that it is better not to make plans. This Ukrainian teenager settled with her mother, Tetiana, and her little sister, Daria, in Reus, in June 2022, with the idea of joining her father, Serhii, in her home in the city a few months later. Kyiv periphery. 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 she is immersed in preparing for the selectivity 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 hoped that the war would be short so they could return home soon. Violence has aborted the return of the majority. Since March 2022 and until December 31, 2023, the Ministry of the Interior has processed 44,124 temporary protections for refugees arriving 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 Igualtats of the Generalitat, indicates that the data they have is the aforementioned 23,000 registered residents and the 26,340 health cards issued between April 2022 and last January 1. “The numbers have always been around a little more than 20,000,” says Mata. In September, a total of 4,427 Ukrainian students started the course in schools and institutes, 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 reception program for refugees in Catalonia. This operation provides them with accommodation and food for a period that can last 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 apartments. 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 reside in a cozy home in Reus. Serhii brought two pets from Ukraine, the dog Kira and Iriska, a cat, who share space with another feline, Ziggy. “With a computer and Wi-Fi we can work from anywhere in the world,” says Serhii who, together with Tetiana, manages her own company from the dining room or the terrace.
Although everything exudes provisionality, Mariia says that she is clear that after the selectivity exam, in May, she will start university in Barcelona. She still has not decided what career she will pursue, but Sociology is among her preferred options. “Every morning I go to Barcelona to prepare at an academy with other foreign students. My sister, Daria, ten years old, studies in a Catalan school, although she also follows the Ukrainian syllabus; My mother has started learning Spanish, and my father, English,” Mariia details. They are lucky that life-long friends live very close by, in Salou, and they reiterate their gratitude to Coia and her family, with whom they celebrated Christmas.
The majority of refugees began to arrive in Catalonia weeks after the start of the war, on February 24, 2022. The month in which the most temporary protections were processed was April, with 11,304. But departures from Ukraine have continued to occur during 2023, although with much less intensity. Interior confirms that temporary protections were issued to 7,398 Ukrainians last year; In November and December there were 592 and 335.
“This is a group that has been evolving. At first they thought that the conflict was going to last a short time, it gave the feeling that people were on vacation, that it was an impasse, and that affected the way of facing integration since the majority had no intention of learning Spanish, or of schooling their children, nor to work. As time has passed this has changed,” comments Mónica López, Program Director of the Spanish Commission for Refugee Assistance (CEAR). López adds that although the majority are women and children, men and older people have also come. Their main needs do not differ too much from those of the general population, to have housing and an occupation. Thanks to the mechanism approved at the time by the European Union, Ukrainians fleeing their country due to war have it better than other refugees because they automatically receive temporary protection, which gives them the right to health and social care, a residence permit, to education and to access the labor market. The Servei d'Ocupació de Catalunya (SOC) specifies that there are 570 Ukrainians registered looking for work and 954 who already have one.
After six months in the state reception program with the Red Cross, in a shelter in El Masnou, Daryna, 30, obtained a contract as a waitress at a beach bar, which allowed her to rent a room in Barcelona. But, in October, the establishment closed and since then she has been looking for another occupation. She takes advantage of her free time to study Spanish. In fact, she is one of the few refugees who can maintain a minimal conversation in this language. The first week of January she turned for the first time to the organization Hilos de Oro, which distributes food and other basic products three days a week, in addition to 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 Banc d’Aliments. That year we served 1,700 people and in 2023 we served 5,140,” says Urusova, who warns that they have witnessed cases of homelessness.
Tamara, 74, is one of the women in line to receive food. In March it will be two years since her arrival along with her daughter, Olga, a waitress at an airport bar. “First a family welcomed us in their house, now we have rented two rooms for 600 euros. Before she received a pension from Ukraine, now she doesn't. I worked until I was 71 years old, I have driven a construction crane and I have managed public relations for an airplane turbine factory,” she says while she fills her cart, in the space provided by Apsocecat to Hilos de Oro.
Tania Khomenko, a volunteer in this entity, and her two daughters also spent their 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 Reial Club de Tennis Barcelona, which signed my youngest daughter, Marharita, 14 years old; The oldest, 31, is a professional beach tennis player and works online in foreign trade. She is the one who pays the rent. Now I want to learn the language and look for work, in Ukraine she organized events and I am also a physiotherapist,” she says. Tania goes to Hilos de Oro two mornings a week and is in charge of recording the data of the aid beneficiaries. “Refugees continue to arrive, from older people who did not want to leave to young people who have finished their studies, sick people... Many live in rented rooms. There are a thousand different stories,” she says.
This NGO regrets that the waiting period to access the state reception program developed by the Ministry of Inclusion can take a month, says Urusova based on the testimonies of the people they serve. The Reception, Care and Referral Center for Displaced Ukrainians (Creade) in Barcelona is the gateway to temporary protection. In Catalonia, the Red Cross manages the initial phase, in which each case is assessed and which should not last more than a month, but which lasts much longer due to not having enough accommodation places for the following stages, assumes Barbara Díaz, responsible for refugees of said social entity. Díaz highlights as a difficulty for the integration of this group "the language barrier and the fact that they began the migratory journey thinking it would be temporary, but they have been there for almost two years and that causes frustration."
