An aid worker has shared the harrowing reality of life at one of the camps on the Poland-Ukraine border where families are living in freezing conditions.
Joe English, a UNICEF emergency communication specialist from Oxford, was based at the camp in Medyka, where he was assisting with relief efforts.
More than half a million Ukrainian refugees – largely women and children – are believed to have fled to the area in the last two weeks.
In a video filmed at the base, tents full of supplies can be seen as Joe discusses what has been happening.
He says: “Over the last couple of days I’ve been here and spoken with many families – mothers, grandmothers with children.
“Many have journeyed for 20-30 hours just to get here. They arrive and are tired, they’re cold – it was minus 12 degrees this morning.
“The kids are exhausted and many of them are showing signs of trauma.
“Just yesterday we were at a registration centre where there was one young girl in the play area for kids – where they are able to colour and draw pictures and watch cartoons – and she was just sat to one side, glazed eyes, staring into the distance.
“These are the kids we are incredibly worried about because it’s clear that they’ve had traumatic experiences – either directly exposed to the violence in Ukraine. Fighting, bombing, we’ve seen schools and hospitals bombed, homes bombed, people fleeing in the night – or traumatic experiences along the way.
“It’s absolutely critical that we’re able to identify the most vulnerable children and get them the care and support that they need.”
Joe has since moved on to Lviv in Ukraine to continue helping.
He has worked for UNICEF since 2012 and has travelled to work on the crises in Syria, Somalia, South Sudan and the Caribbean.
In Poland, UNICEF has deployed child protection, emergency and water and sanitation technical expertise to establish eight blue dot hubs along border areas, in collaboration with UNHCR (The UN Refugee Agency).
The charity is also setting up 26 ‘Blue Dot’ safe spaces with the capacity to provide support to 3,000-5,000 people per day, per location, in Moldova, Romania, Belarus, Slovakia, Poland, Hungary, and Czech Republic.
Blue Dots provide support and protection services to families on the move, and the spaces have been set up in coordination with national and local authorities.
The spaces connect to one another in a sequenced way, as people move, to help support tracing and family reunification.
