The Rukla camp, where 500 migrants will be staying, is being finished: the photos show the real living conditions.

Not only will women with children live, but also their men

Rukla is becoming a hub for migrants seeking a better life. The long-established refugee reception center currently houses more than 300 migrants, with another 500 people settling in a camp near the center, which is nearing completion. It will be fenced, residents must stay inside. The camp will be guarded by agents of the Public Security Service, the police and the army, and a rapid response company will be on duty at all times.

It is already known that this camp will receive the first refugees from next week. As the cold season approaches, the cabins will house pregnant women with children, as well as unaccompanied minors.

When the Ministries of the Interior and Social Affairs and Labor announced plans to establish a migrant camp in Rukla, it was mentioned that accommodating a sufficient number of newcomers in the camp should not cause a disturbance. It is said that women with children and adolescents will live here, there will be no young men, who usually cause confusion, do not avoid confronting the officials who protect them.

When a journalist from the Delfi portal visited Rukla, it became clear that this was not an absolute truth. Men will also live here, if they came to our country, they crossed the state border illegally with their children. It would simply be inhumane to distinguish families: women with children in one camp and their husbands in another.

The migrant camp, which will begin operations next week, will consist of 125 huts. They can accommodate 4 or 6 people, depending on the size.

Many of the cabins are already installed, others are being finished. The director of the Refugee Reception Center, B. Bernotienė, was pleased that the prisoners, who are allowed to work freely, also help prepare the camp for the accommodation of migrants. Inmates do auxiliary work, bring furniture and other equipment, and help workers.

The conditions are modest, for the bathrooms and showers it will be necessary to go outside

Visiting the huts, where the migrants will soon be staying, quite modest living conditions come to mind. Metal construction bunk beds, it seems that some place is already used, and in other places new mattresses, several metal lockers for clothes, a table, chairs, a trash can, a fire extinguisher and a small refrigerator. Here are those supplies waiting for the residents of the camp. Admittedly, there is not much room for a family of four in such a cabin.

B. Bernotienė, the director of the Refugee Reception Center, admits that probably the biggest drawback awaiting new residents is that the toilets and showers are installed in separate modules. To get to them, you will need to get out and walk to the edge of the camp.

This will not be very convenient for families with young children, but there is no other way out, as migrants rush to provide better living conditions as the cold season approaches.

According to B. Bernotienė, the camp will welcome migrants according to their nationality and religion or denomination. This is done to avoid unnecessary tensions among the population.

On the one hand will live the Iraqi Kurds, who constitute the majority of migrants, on the other, Africans, citizens of other countries. Efforts will be made to accommodate Christians, Sunni Muslims and Shiites in separate parts of the camp.

However, migrants of different nationalities will not be separated from each other by internal fences, they will be able to move freely within the fenced territory and communicate.

They will be able to cook for themselves

The head of the refugee reception center mentioned that most of the discontent in the migrant camps is due to the food that does not suit them. In Rukla, it is planned to solve this problem by installing kitchen premises, where the migrants themselves will be able to prepare the desired dishes.

They will be able to buy food in the store right here, which will be supplied by the company that wins the current bid.

“We will shape the assortment of food products according to the wishes of the residents themselves,” B. Bernotienė, director of the center, told the Delfi portal.

Children will be visited by teachers and Lithuanian languages ​​will be taught.

According to the head of the refugee reception center, the children, who will make up the majority of the camp’s population, will be able to spend their free time on the premises. They may be able to use the nearby stadium, play soccer, basketball, or other games.

Although most migrants do not associate their future with Lithuania, training courses will be organized for their children, teachers will visit the camp and classes will be held. This is required by the laws of our country.

“Premises are provided for the employment of children. With the help of volunteers and our staff, we will also organize the education of the children. Starting on October 1, teachers will come and teach the Lithuanian language to refugee children, ”said B. Bernotienė, director of the center.

The residents of the migrant camp are promised to provide a service that is especially important to them: installing wireless Internet access points.

An Arabic-speaking doctor, a former refugee, will work

The director of the Refugee Reception Center acknowledged that the construction of a new camp was a challenge, since so far there have not been a large number of migrants in the center.

Translators for the main languages ​​spoken by the newcomers have already been provided. With the help of foreign partners, translators of the main Kurdish dialects, Arabic, will work here.

In addition, all the staff at the center speak English and Russian, and are fluent in French, which is spoken mainly by Africans from the former French colonies.

B. Bernotienė was pleased to have been able to find and invite fluent speakers of both Arabic and Lithuanian to the center. He is a former refugee from Afghanistan, educated in Lithuania and licensed as a doctor. A nurse from Pakistan will also work here.

“We will try to listen to all migrants, talk about their concerns. Our social workers will work in the camp, there will also be a psychologist. I believe that communicating with people and providing them with all the information that matters to them will help reduce tensions,” said B. Bernotienė, Director of the Rukla Refugee Reception Center.