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Life inside refugee camps, container houses of Vietnamese people leaving Ukraine

The refugee camp where Ms. Thuy lives is a two-story building. It gathers longtime refugees from Arabia, Afghanistan and many other African countries.

It’s been almost a week now, at 5pm, Ms. Le Thi Thanh Thuy hugs her phone and accesses an online German class.

Despite trying to concentrate, learning a new language at the age of 51 with this woman is not easy. “The first lessons revolved around the topic of greetings, familynumbers …, basic grammatical structures, but I studied forever but couldn’t find them”, Ms. Thuy shared with PV Dan Tri.

The reason why Ms. Thuy “learns forever and can’t get into any words” is because her mind is always on Ukraine. The land that she considers as her second homeland is buckling every day against bombs and bullets.

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Many Vietnamese are living in container houses in Germany waiting to be issued documents (Photo: Thanh Thuy)

Thuy is a Vietnamese who has lived in Ukraine for more than 30 years. The war between Russia and Ukraine broke out, she left her house and fashion glasses shop in the city of Kharkov, spent 3 days struggling at train stations and border gates to come to Germany as a refugee.

Due to the impact of the fighting, her family of four had to be in a situation where everyone went their separate ways. Her eldest son is a refugee in Poland, Thuy and her 17-year-old daughter are on the journey from Ukraine to Slovakia, Czechoslovakia and then stop in Germany. Thuy’s husband was the last person in the family to leave Kharkov and follow the relief flight home.

Thinking back to the chaotic run, Thuy still cries and is afraid. “The most haunting thing was when I was crowded to wait for the train at the station, when I heard the siren. Thousands of people were standing and lying on the ground. The plane kept flying overhead. The sound of gunfire was all around. dong,” recalled Thanh Thuy.

These days, reading news about Ukraine, her heart tightens. A friend of hers had to be on dialysis every day, so she got stuck in Kharkov and couldn’t leave. Every day, listening to your story, Thuy loves you infinitely.

“My friend said that she heard the sound of bombs and bullets so much that her nerves were haunted. Now her mind is always buzzing like a firecracker in her ear”, Ms. Thuy teared up.

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Fixed refugee area where Thuy and her daughter are living (Photo: Thanh Thuy).

In Germany there are many camps that accept refugees from Ukraine. On March 9, Thuy and her daughter went to a refugee reception camp in Munich city. Seeing the rush of people coming here, Thuy knew that it was difficult for her to get a vacation for a few days as planned.

Because this camp was full, in the afternoon of the same day, Thuy’s mother and daughter were transferred to another refugee refugee camp. Here, she was arranged to live in a container house. Each container has 4 beds, with enough tables and chairs, wardrobe, fireplace. Although a bit cramped, but in each row of container houses, there are toilets, bathrooms, kitchens… to serve daily activities.

During 5 days in the container house, Ms. Thuy felt the love of the German people. In addition to food and clothes, Ms. Thuy was also given a free phone sim card to use as a means of communication for 3 months. I feel that I receive sincere help and sharing, but certainly not the grateful and contemptuous attitude of anyone…

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Thuy’s current bedroom has 2 bunk beds (Photo: Thanh Thuy)

However, this woman’s heart cannot avoid feeling empty and empty. She was anxious and did not know where she would be transferred.

One morning, Thuy received a notice that she would be transferred to a permanent refugee camp in Olching (in Fürstenfeldbruck, Bavaria, Germany). With Thuy’s group that day, there were 7 Vietnamese and 13 Ukrainians. The place Thuy was taken to was about 10km from the transit camp.

This camp has better facilities. It is a two-story building. This place gathers long-time refugees from Arabia, Afghanistan and many other African countries… My team arrived quickly to fill up the rooms that had been vacant for many years. My mother and I were arranged in a room with 2 bunk beds. Living with us are two Vietnamese mothers and children who also fled from Ukraine,” Thuy said.

According to Ms. Thuy, here, food will be distributed once a day. Families will go get food for the whole day. The house has 2 floors with about 40 people living. On each floor is a kitchen and a toilet. As for the bathroom, there is only one area on both floors (6 rooms, 3 men and 3 women), so they are often overloaded during peak hours.

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Food is distributed once a day and families send people to pick it up by themselves (Photo: Thanh Thuy).

In order to limit the jostling and crowding in these common spaces, Thuy is forced to take advantage of the time when refugees who have lived here for a long time go to work to cook, heat food, bathe and wash. … On Sundays, she cooks really early or late compared to other families in the camp.

“I arrange the hours of my activities to be slightly different so that I don’t have to wait. When I take a bath, one person takes care of the other in case something goes wrong. Living with many people in many places, we are also afraid. Life has been turned upside down quite a bit, but now I’m completely content because it’s good to be supported in such chaotic conditions.

I know that many Vietnamese refugees in sparsely populated areas are also arranged to live in their own apartments, well provided. I am really touched and grateful to the people of Germany, Germany and Vietnamese compatriots who have helped and raised us,” Thuy confided.

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Thuy’s mother and daughter (left) and Vietnamese compatriots are spending a lot of time learning German to integrate into a new life (Photo: Thanh Thuy)

Currently, Ms. Thuy is hoping to soon have papers to go to vocational training or apply for a part-time job to take care of her daughter’s schooling. However, perhaps due to the large number of refugees from Ukraine, Thuy has been waiting for many days. She said: “The paperwork is usually from 3 weeks to 1 month. I have been waiting for 3 weeks now but nothing has happened yet”.

Coming to Germany as a refugee like Thuy, Ms. Truong Men (38 years old) does not know when she will be transferred to a permanent refugee camp. The couple, along with their 8-year-old son, have gone through several camp transfers.

The family of three stayed in a makeshift tent at the stadium for four days before moving to the current Marktheidenfeld refugee camp. Ms. Men said she did not know if this was a permanent refugee camp for her family. “All my assets have been lost. This time, I take advantage of learning the language and wait. In the long run, I don’t know what to do?”, said Mrs. Men sadly.

Many Vietnamese are also living in refugee camps in Germany like Thuy and Men. Every day they are provided with adequate food and drink, are arranged in a clean and safe place, but in their hearts are always worried, playing with them. Everyone is anxiously hoping to get documents from the host country soon to settle down soon, start over from zero.

According to Dan Tri

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