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Lutheran Disaster Response

Roma refugees from Ukraine face racism, discrimination

Three women sit next to each other in chairs, the oldest women on the left holding a microphone.

Holocaust survivor Mariia Simian, her granddaughter Anzhelika Bielova, both from Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine, and Phiren Amenca staffer Anna Daroczi at a memorial for Roma victims of the Holocaust,

Mariia Simian, from Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine, is living through war for a second time. Just three years old when World War II tore across Europe in the 1940s, she says the memories haunt her.

“I remember everything,” she says. “I often remember. My mother hid our whole family from this horror wherever she could – in the basement, in fields behind the house – because the Nazis were looking for Roma.”

Simean, who is Roma, spoke at a recent remembrance ceremony for Roma victims of the Holocaust, hosted by ELCA partner organization Phiren Amenca in Budapest. As many as 500,000 Roma people were among those murdered by the Nazis during World War II.

Speaking in Ukrainian, with her granddaughter Anzhelika Bielova translating into English, Simeak continued, “I really want everyone to remember these horrors of war, the crimes against humanity, against Roma people…Evacuation, frightened people fleeing from death, mass graves of civilians, destroyed houses, all this is now in Ukraine after 80 years.…I want peace, only peace, and a better future for all of us and for new generations.”

Europe’s largest ethnic minority, the Roma people – descendants of tribes from northern India who migrated to Europe in the Middle Ages – experience a great deal of discrimination and racism. In one recent survey 95 percent of Roma youth said they have observed discriminatory words, behaviors, or gestures, and more than two-thirds reported having personally been the target of such discrimination, according to Marietta Herefort, managing director of Phiren Amenca, a Roma advocacy organization with offices in Budapest and Brussels.

Roma people often face discrimination accessing housing, employment, education and other services, Herefort added, and Roma refugees from Ukraine have been treated differently than their white counterparts across Europe.

 

A woman standing behind a microphone in front of an old train car.

Marietta Herefort, managing director of ELCA partner Phiren Amenca, speaks at a remembrance for Roma victims of the Holocaust, August 2, 2022 in Budapest.

“It’s a justice issue”

Thousands of Roma people are among the roughly 7 million who have fled Ukraine since the war began in February 2022, but many report that the reception in neighboring countries has been far from warm. In Hungary, ELCA works with Phiren Amenca and the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Hungary (ELCH) to ensure that Roma refugees are treated with the same dignity as others arriving from Ukraine.

It’s a justice issue,” says the Rev. Rachel Eskesen, ELCA area desk director for Europe. “Anti-gypsyism, discrimination against Roma communities and individuals, remains a prevalent form of racism across Europe.”

Attila Meszaros, coordinator of the ELCH refugee response, says before the war, the church might help about 300 refugees per year. That number has more than tripled as refugees poured across the border from Ukraine, he says, and about 90 percent of those served by the church are Roma people who have had difficulty accessing services elsewhere. With support from the ELCA, they have hired additional staff to manage the increased caseload, including a social worker who is herself Ukrainian and can assist when there is a language barrier. The church helps families with rent, groceries and assistance in finding employment, and each social worker is usually in touch with about 50 families per day.

One mother of three burst into tears when she received a grocery voucher, Meszaros said. The family had lived underground for a month in Ukraine subsisting on packaged food. She rushed out to buy fresh fruits and vegetables for her children.

 

Serving Roma People

A woman on the left of the photo, holding a piece of paper and speaking to a crowd.

Rev. Márta Bolba, pastor of Mandak House in Budapest, Hungary, speaks to a crowd gathered outside the church for donated food and clothing

Ministry to Roma people is not new for the ELCH. Mandak House, a Lutheran congregation and social ministry in Budapest led by Pastor Márta Bolba, has a longstanding program donating food, clothing and other necessities to the most vulnerable as well as a long history of advocating for equal treatment of Roma people. In fact, Bolba said, they recently relocated the donation center to another site as the ministry had outgrown the space at the church.

While Phiren Amenca did not have previous experience in refugee assistance, Herefort said they quickly found a way to respond to the growing need as neighbors from Ukraine began arriving in Hungary last spring. Working in partnership with other organizations serving the Roma population, they delivered food, toiletries, cleaning supplies and clothing to refugee centers and transit shelters along the border, organized donation drives in 30 municipalities, and assisted families with navigating the process to register for asylum in Hungary. They even housed a family for a time in their Budapest office, until the family could find a more permanent situation.

“Anti-gypsyism is very high,” she said, referring to the slur often used against the Roma people. “They are rejected because they are Roma, and for Ukrainian Roma it’s even worse because they often have big families with lots of kids,” so it’s even more difficult to find suitable accommodations.  “Even if they are earning money they often are not able to set up a normal life because they are rejected in many ways.”

“Racism—a mix of power, privilege, and prejudice—is sin, violation of God’s intention for humanity,” wrote the authors of the ELCA’s social statement on race, ethnicity and culture. “The resulting racial, ethnic, or cultural barriers deny the truth that all people are God’s creatures and, therefore, persons of dignity.”

In simpler words, the American civil rights leader Fannie Lou Hamer famously stated, “no one is truly free until everyone is free.” As we continue the work of dismantling embedded racism in our own culture, facing and confessing our own sins, so too we walk alongside our European colleagues and our Roma brothers and sisters who struggle for equal treatment and equal rights.

 

 

Emily Sollie is a freelance writer, editor and communications consultant. She lives in Washington, D.C. with her husband and 4-year old son, and is a member of Lutheran Church of the Reformation. 

Situation Report: Belarus Refugee Crisis

A map of Poland and Belarus

 

Situation:

Since the beginning of November, refugees from Afghanistan, Iraq and Syria have been stuck at the Belarus-Poland border. To retaliate against European Union sanctions, Belarus is granting refugees seven-day visas, then forcing the refugees into other countries, such as Poland. Polish soldiers aren’t letting the migrants into the country, leaving them in limbo at the border. They are experiencing a lack of food, medical supplies and shelter and are facing winter weather with no place to go.

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Response:

The Evangelical Lutheran Church in Belarus is providing assistance to refugees by distributing warm clothes, food and other essential items. There are also volunteers who speak Arabic and other languages to help communicate with the refugees. Further support from Lutheran Disaster Response will allow the church to provide mattresses, bedding, clothes, food and hygiene items to over 1,000 migrants.

 

 

 

 

 

Be a part of the response:

Pray
Please pray for people who have been affected by the refugee crisis in Belarus. May God’s healing presence give them peace and hope in their time of need.

Give
Thanks to generous donations, Lutheran Disaster Response is able to respond quickly and effectively to disasters around the globe. Your gifts to Lutheran Disaster Response (Middle East and Europe Refugee Crisis) will be used to assist refugees seeking safer lives.

Connect
To learn more about the situation and the ELCA’s response:

  • Sign up to receive Lutheran Disaster Response alerts.
  • Check the Lutheran Disaster Response blog.
  • Like Lutheran Disaster Response on Facebook, follow @ELCALDR on Twitter, and follow @ELCA_LDR on Instagram.
  • Download the situation report and share as a PDF.

Carry Each Other’s Burdens

Children in the Zaatari Refugee Camp, located near Mafraq, Jordan. Opened in July, 2012, the camp holds upwards of 20,000 refugees from the civil war inside Syria. International Orthodox Christian Charities and other members of the ACT Alliance are active in the camp providing essential items and services.

Children in the Zaatari Refugee Camp, located near Mafraq, Jordan. Opened in July 2012, the camp holds upwards of 20,000 refugees from the civil war inside Syria. International Orthodox Christian Charities and other members of the ACT Alliance are active in the camp providing essential items and services.

Carry each other’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ.

– Galatians 6:2

Conflict and high levels of violence have continued throughout Syria. It has caused one of the largest refugee/migrant incidents the world has seen in decades. Over 3 million Syrian refugees have fled to neighboring countries. About 1.5 million of them have fled to Jordan with roughly 12,000 still waiting outside the border to gain entry. The number of refugees in the country has put a strain on the Jordanian economy. The lack of financial support coupled with the impossibility of attaining work visas has created a sense of hopelessness among the refugees. To help restore hope in the people, our partners Lutheran World Federation/ Department of World Services have established the “Peace Oasis” in Za’atari Syrian Refugee Camp in Jordan. At the Peace Oasis, Lutheran World Federation offers Syrian refugee youth and young adults psychosocial support, conflict mitigation, recreational skills. They also offer informal education and vocational training. They are being taught skills such as hairdressing/barbering and sewing that will leave them with income-generating skills for the future.

With all of these efforts, the majority of refugees are still living far below the Jordanian poverty line and there is still an overwhelming number of people who are failing to meet their basic needs. Bishop Elizabeth Eaton recent visited the camp and said, “We believe that the cross of life is where there is suffering. It certainly is in that camp in Jordan.” As a body of Christ, we are called to carry each other’s burdens. And thanks to your generous donations, the ELCA has committed another $70,000 to respond to this continued crisis. These funds will go towards providing cash assistance to help with basic needs such as rent, food, clothes, etc., for the most vulnerable in Jordan.

 

To Give to the Syrian Refugee Crisis please visit the Middle East and Europe Refugee Crisis Give Page.

For more information on Bishop Eaton’s Visit:

http://www.elca.org/News-and-Events/7806

For more information on the Syrian refugee crisis in Jordan visit:

UN: http://www.unhcr.org/569d17876.html

LWF: https://www.lutheranworld.org/content/jordan-0

LDR: https://blogs.elca.org/disasterresponse/syria-cold-temperatures-warm-hearts/