The first sixty Ukrainians who reported to the emergency shelter in the Microlab at Strijp-S in Eindhoven have now landed in their place. The doors of the shelter opened on Friday. The atmosphere is good, according to Thijs Eradus of the Springplank040 shelter. “It’s a real community.”
Children playing hand in hand, parents cooking their own food and adults sharing their fierce stories. The refugees seem to have found their safe haven at the emergency shelter in the office building. “You can see that they really have something in common.”
Yet Eradus knows that it can also be different. “You can feel that those people come in with a lot of despair and sadness. Friday I had a lump in my throat because of the sadness I saw. Now the atmosphere is different and I notice that there is a sense of community. New people are now a bit more pleasant. within.”
The Microlab currently houses more than sixty mainly female Ukrainians with their children. That number is growing every day, reaching a maximum of one hundred. “We had the doomsday scenario in our head that would be full last weekend. I am also reassured in that regard.” Eradus hopes that the municipality will quickly find temporary housing, so that there will be room for new refugees.
The newcomers mainly come in via the railway, aliens and regular police and the employees of Eindhoven Airport. Refugees who come to Strijp-S on their own have also been considered.
In the evenings, the colors of the Ukrainian flag are projected onto the building and three spotlights shine into the sky. “So that people from Eindhoven can send the refugees here.”
The property is guarded 24 hours a day by security guards. “The police informed us in advance about the danger that women are recruited by criminals and end up in prostitution. We don’t have those signals yet, but we are alert to them.”
Even if they notice that volunteers register with the wrong intentions. “We screen everyone. People with wrong plans don’t come in here.”
Springplank040 has received a number of suspicious registrations in recent days. “We’re not 100 percent sure, but we have our reservations about some emails.”
He gives an example: “We received an email: ‘I would like to take one woman into my house.’ That doesn’t feel right. They are assumptions from us, but we want to be on the safe side. Those people do not receive an invitation for a conversation.”
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