After the nightmare in her home country, the migrant finally found herself in Lithuania: she now has only one application

The camp prepares its own food.

The refugee reception center operating in the Jonava district, Rukla, is back in the spotlight. The word “Freedom” echoes behind a fence guarded by the police and Public Security Service (VST) agents, and the children display posters with a photo of a child who lived and died here.

A journalist from Delfi had to interact with the refugees before the riots broke out, and members of the Seimas Human Rights Committee visited Rukla last week.

It must be admitted that at that time the migrants were very calm, they talked about their lives and expectations, the families with their children transferred to modular houses enjoyed a roof over their heads, a modest but private space.

“The conditions here are not bad, we have kitchens, we prepare meals. There could be more money to buy food (77 euros per person per month – ed.), But somehow we got our way, ”said the man he met with his wife and two small children in the house.

If there have been complaints about unpleasant food in the past, installing kitchens in the Rukla camp and allowing them to buy whatever products they want from the shop set up here has solved this problem.

It is true that the food problems of migrants living in older stationary buildings were resolved only after the visit of parliamentarians.

Allow children to attend Lithuanian kindergartens

Interactions with the migrants revealed that most of them were Kurds from Iraq. They assured that they could not return to their homeland due to the persecution and the danger to their lives.

“Protected ISIS, Iraqi Hezbollah, we have many enemies,” another migrant briefly summarized.

Although the camp tries to organize employment for the children, they will even teach them the Lithuanian language, the migrants themselves called it a simulation of efforts to help them.

“We want our children to go to Lithuanian kindergartens, maybe schools. Then you should do something, communicate with your peers, learn your language. And what is now – the children imprisoned in the camp, what they see – the same huts and fences.

After all, children are not to blame for suffering them, we want the best possible future for them, ”said the migrants, who mentioned other problems, the most important of which was the lack of adequate medical care.

Wants to work and get out of camp

“I am a programmer, a web developer. I don’t want other people to give me money. No, I want to earn money myself. Either here or in another country, “Shilan Salim, an Iraqi Kurd who lives with her brother at the Rukla Refugee Reception Center, told Delfi.

When asked if she would like to stay in Lithuania, where there is a high demand for IT specialists, or perhaps travel to other European countries, where perhaps there are already established relatives, the migrant replied succinctly.

“I want to live and work where it is safe. If Lithuania does not accept me, they will say that you do not have a job here, they will not let you go, you will have to go to another country. But not to my homeland, “said the Iraqi Kurd.

The girl clarified that after living for three months in the refugee reception center, she did not see Lithuania, so it is difficult for her to say if she would like to stay here. The only source of knowledge is still the Internet.

“Sometimes we read the news, but all the news is bad for us. I read that the refugees will have to stay in the camps and will not be able to leave until June, but this is more than 6 months (official detention period for illegal immigrants – ed .). We are not criminals, we do not wish evil on anyone. We are good people, we have skills that we can use here, “thought the girl.

The migrant woman expressed her despair in a drawing that she donated to Monika Ošmianskienė, a visiting MP who was visiting along with other members of the Seimas Human Rights Committee.

Other migrants also spoke about the desire to work rather than live on a modest allowance that barely enough for food. The middle-aged man said that he had worked as an excavator operator, learning to handle heavy construction equipment, so he wanted to work in Lithuania and support his family, because the current situation demoralizes him.

He escaped from his homeland in search of a safe life.

“I am in Lithuania for the third month. I see nothing but soldiers, officers and refugee center staff. I don’t even have a computer, I am afraid I will lose my IT skills. Such a life is very sad. I hope it will allow me to work. , get out of here, but I’m still a prisoner here, “Sh said to the Delfi portal. Salim.

A migrant from the Yazid ethno-religious group said life in Iraq had become too dangerous, so she decided to leave. Representatives of the ethnic minority that profess their religion, Yazidism, have long been the target of radical Islamists. Accused of worshiping Satan, Yazidis have been massacred more than once, most recently by a terrorist organization that has already been crushed, the so-called Islamic State ISIS.

After graduating from Iraq with a degree in information technology, Sh. Salim did not find work by specialty. Traveling to another city, the interlocutors said, was too dangerous because Yazid girls are being kidnapped by Islamists still active in the region.

“We have experienced genocide 74 times in our history. Our (Yazid – ed.) Girls are kidnapped, enslaved and men and boys are killed. That is why I escaped from my country, I did not want to become a slave in the future. Unable to continue living in Iraq, I decided to go to any other country that would accept us, where we could live and work safely, “said Iraqi Kurdish Sh to the Delfi portal Salim.

Revealed how the illegal migration mechanism works

The girl said that the trip to Europe was expensive. To raise the required amount, the family sold a small house where Sh. Salim with brother and mother.

“My mother moved into her older brother’s house and we spent the money we received at the house for a trip to Europe,” the Kurdish said.

When asked how much the trip cost, he calculated and converted the coins with his brother for a long time and adjusted the final amount – 10 thousand. per person.

“It cost my brother and me 20 thousand. Euros,” said Sh. Salim.

The migrant says she took a plane to Belarus, lived in a hotel with her brother for a few days, until a black bus finally arrived to pick them up.

“Then they took us to the border and said we could go, here in Lithuania, Europe, go. We did not know what a man was, he was dressed as a soldier with military clothing, “the Iraqi Kurd told the Delfi website.

He mentioned that the group of migrants had no problem crossing the Lithuanian border, there was no physical barrier, they had to cross a forest road. In Lithuania, migrants who crossed the state border illegally were detained by border guard agents, who applied for asylum in Lithuania by Sh. Salim and his brother were taken to the Rukla Refugee Reception Center.

At night, he freaks out with gunshots and explosions.

“We have not seen any other city in those three months, we do not know anything about the country and its culture,” said the migrant.

She mentioned that the only connection to the outside world is the smartphone that she shares with her brother. The newcomers try to follow the news on Lithuanian internet portals, translate the texts into their native language, but they said they only saw bad news.

A Lebanese who works as an Arabic translator at the Rukla Refugee Center explained later that we often face misinterpretations and we have to explain to migrants that they did not understand everything correctly. This is because Google Translate literally translates sophisticated literary expressions into Arabic.

Both Sh. Salim, like other migrants living in Rukla, mentioned that they were intimidated by the heavy military equipment that surrounded them, shots and explosions at night, and sometimes flares lighting up the sky.

After explaining that both Lithuanian soldiers and allies deployed to the military base established in Rukla during the Soviet era, the migrants could breathe easier. They said they thought the shooting and military equipment were trying to demoralize them.

The problem of food prices was solved after the visit of the parliamentarians

“We have red cards in this camp, which means that we cannot go out. Therefore, we cannot go to the store to buy food for ourselves. People with children and babies also live here.

We ask social workers to buy food for us, we provide them with lists. But they often buy only half of what we order and the prices are quite high. “The money we receive is not enough for our food,” said the migrant.

An Iraqi Kurd has mentioned that a person receives 38 euros and 40 cents for food for two weeks. These amounts would be sufficient if food were available at prices available in supermarkets or online.

Other residents of the center mentioned that merchants take advantage of the situation and act dishonestly. The owner of a car shop who went to the refugee center asked between 20 and 25 euros for a mobile phone charger, which costs about 5 euros.

It seems that after the visit of the members of the Seimas Human Rights Committee, the situation has changed substantially. Beatričė Bernotienė, director of the Refugee Reception Center, reported that now all migrants living in high-rise buildings are escorted to the tent that operates in the modular house camp by social workers.

Representatives of the Red Cross organization that works with migrants mentioned that together with the Bank of Lithuania they decided how to make asylum seekers have bank accounts and can shop online. Now they can’t open accounts because they don’t have personal documents.

If this hurdle is resolved, according to the center’s director B. Bernotienė, problems with food prices should no longer exist. Migrants will be able to buy food at the same prices as all Lithuanians.