Because of the outbreak of COVID-19, many asylum-seekers and refugees in Ukraine found themselves in a vulnerable situation.
Elmi Muhammad and Isaak Shamso Hassan and their six children received cash assistance from UNHCR to cover the needs related to the winter season, e.g. warm clothes, housing (rent) and especially heating, because utilities fees are very high and a financial burden on households.
Elmi Muhammad (husband) and Isaak Shamso Hassan (wife) are 36 and 33 years old and they are raising six children. They’ve come a long way while fleeing from the dangers in Somalia; first to Saudi Arabia, then to Russia, and then in 2018 – to Ukraine. Their sixth child was born in Kyiv.
The family has applied for refugee status in Ukraine, but so far, they have not been granted asylum. Under Ukrainian law, this means that they cannot access any social or health-related support from the government, even though both parents have serious health conditions.
The Government of Ukraine does not provide any financial support to asylum seekers waiting for a decision either; the only support they get is schooling for their children (excluding school lunches and textbooks). UNHCR and its partners, NGOs “Rokada” and “Right to Protection” cover room and board, and legal consultations, respectively. However, the needs of the family grow as they face more challenges due to the cold winter and the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Winter in Somalia is very warm, about 15°C to 17°C. Before I came to Ukraine, I saw snow only in pictures and TV. When I first saw it, I thought it was very beautiful. And at the same time, very dangerous. During our first winter in Kyiv, all my children got sick with bronchitis, cold and flu,” says Elmi.
“When low temperatures hit, our flat gets cold, because the windows are not properly insulated, just look how flimsy they are. Also, the floor gets cold, it is really bad as half of the children sleep on mattresses on the floor.”
Elmi Muhammad and Isaak Shamso rent a small one-bedroom flat with a tiny kitchen (in total, around 45 square meters), which every night is turned into a big sleeping room with mattresses and unfolded sofas. Kids’ clothes are everywhere. I see that Isaak made a desperate attempt to make the walls warmer and nicer by putting large pieces of colourful fabric on them.
“Our four older kids already go to school, but because of COVID-19 they are now on distant learning. They don’t have computers, me and my wife just give them our mobile phones so they can attend lessons through Zoom.”
“The COVID pandemic is very hard for us. We are just stuck in our small flat. The kids cannot go to the kindergarten and to the school, and we adults need a lot of time to take care of them.”
Because of the outbreak of COVID-19, many asylum-seekers and refugees in Ukraine found themselves more vulnerable due to lack of support networks and proper sources of income. The informal sector, where many of them work, also saw a loss of jobs, with some not renewed after the lock-down was lifted
In May 2020, UNHCR Ukraine provided financial assistance in the form of a one-time COVID-19 emergency cash support to cover the most urgent needs of vulnerable families, including those who reported that the quarantine had severely affected their livelihoods. However, this support in May has only partially resolved their problems.
“Through the post-delivery monitoring we learnt that COVID-19 continued to cause additional needs. The majority of respondents were worried about their future needs if the lockdown continues, especially not being able to cover the rent of their apartments. Moreover, many respondents acknowledged that prices for food went up and therefore people were buying less food and went for the cheapest items. The participants had to minimize the list of items and focus on the essentials,” said Hugues Bissot, Senior Protection officer at UNHCR Ukraine.
The Government of Ukraine introduced new COVID restrictions for autumn and winter 2020/2021, which again disproportionally affected the informal labor sector on which asylum-seekers and refugees tend to rely on. In view of this, UNHCR saw an urgent need to provide a second round of cash-based COVID-19 assistance in late 2020 to refugees and asylum seekers, to cover the basic needs related to the winter season. With the small cash grant, they were able to buy warm clothes or cover housing costs (rent and especially heating). With utility fees increasingly high during the winter season, the financial burden on refugee households was alleviated with the UNHCR cash grant.
UNHCR is very grateful to donors for their support during the COVID-19 pandemic, and in particular to the United States and the Slovak Republic.
Photos: UNHCR/Anton.Fedorov
This article was edited by an online volunteer Jennifer Miller. Find volunteering opportunities at https://www.onlinevolunteering.org/en
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