8 MARCH AT THE RED CROSS RECEPTION CENTRE IN SANT BOI
Today as WOMEN'S DAY we share the reflection of the professionals of the reception center of The Red Cross of Sant Boi de Llobregat:
In the last year the image of a refugee has taken over the faces of the women of Ukraine; women who leave their country, carrying with them children and suitcases, their life story, and leaving behind loved ones.
The majority of people who are currently refugees in the Red Cross shelter in Sant Boi are these women with daughters and children in their care.
They are women who arrived in Spain a year ago, with the beginning of the conflict in their country, forced to embark on a migratory journey and the Red Cross seeks and creates a safe space for themselves and the children with whom they have crossed half of Europe. Once here they encounter the difficulties of the language, of an unknown environment, and the need to move forward, alone or with their children. Some want to return, they have left loved ones in their country of origin; others are beginning to imagine a possible future here, but they need to build a network, learn the language or start looking for work, challenges that can become very complicated and that they have to combine with family care.
The strength with which they nevertheless face the everyday, with the uncertainty, the willingness to learn and the energies to move forward, and the support they provide to each other in the small acts of everyday life (keeping the plate of food for the companion who comes late, taking the children of the neighbors to school, organize to go out together in the park) are acts of genuine courage and solidarity.
They are not the only refugees from Sant Boi, however, when they stop living in the center, more will come, and they will come from all over, to start the same process, this stage of reception in our center where, temporarily, they live in the center with the social accompaniment that aims to facilitate the entry into contact with life here. There are so many other people, and so many other women too, from all over the world, that for various reasons they are forced to leave one place, one people, and reach another, accepting the reality of moving forward whatever it is, for them and for the people in charge, here, with them, or wherever they have stayed.
In the last year the image of a refugee has taken over the faces of the women of Ukraine; women who leave their country, carrying with them children and suitcases, their life story, and leaving behind loved ones.
The majority of people who are currently refugees in the Red Cross shelter in Sant Boi are these women with daughters and children in their care.
They are women who arrived in Spain a year ago, with the beginning of the conflict in their country, forced to embark on a migratory journey and the Red Cross seeks and creates a safe space for themselves and the children with whom they have crossed half of Europe. Once here they encounter the difficulties of the language, of an unknown environment, and the need to move forward, alone or with their children. Some want to return, they have left loved ones in their country of origin; others are beginning to imagine a possible future here, but they need to build a network, learn the language or start looking for work, challenges that can become very complicated and that they have to combine with family care.
The strength with which they nevertheless face the everyday, with the uncertainty, the willingness to learn and the energies to move forward, and the support they provide to each other in the small acts of everyday life (keeping the plate of food for the companion who comes late, taking the children of the neighbors to school, organize to go out together in the park) are acts of genuine courage and solidarity.
They are not the only refugees from Sant Boi, however, when they stop living in the center, more will come, and they will come from all over, to start the same process, this stage of reception in our center where, temporarily, they live in the center with the social accompaniment that aims to facilitate the entry into contact with life here. There are so many other people, and so many other women too, from all over the world, that for various reasons they are forced to leave one place, one people, and reach another, accepting the reality of moving forward whatever it is, for them and for the people in charge, here, with them, or wherever they have stayed.
