Tanja van der Zee from Landgraaf personally brought eight family members from Ukraine to Limburg at the beginning of March. After two weeks of shelter in a holiday home, her refugee relatives have now been given a place of their own.
They now live above Huub Minten’s gas station in Landgraaf.
Help action
Together with the parents of Tanja’s sister-in-law, Ton and Marjon Kropivšek from Brunssum, she started an aid campaign to help her family. First of all, money was collected for temporary accommodation in a holiday home nearby. With her aunt Olga Buchinska, she made an appeal via L1 for permanent housing in the neighborhood. Huub Minten heard this and didn’t think twice.
Also read: Brunssum’s family is looking for shelter for family from Ukraine
language barrier
Minten had been toying with the idea of offering the living space for this for some time, but the language barrier raised doubts. “When I heard that Tanja lived in Landgraaf and could act as an interpreter, I knew for sure,” says Minten.
Tanja, who has lived in the Netherlands for 21 years, was pleasantly surprised with the offer. “Especially I did not expect such a large space. Who takes in a family of eight people in a house these days,” she says.
Home feeling
Her aunt, Olga, was initially afraid that they would have to go to a large refugee shelter. “You have no privacy, it’s crowded, people are panicky and anxious. When we heard from Tanja that accommodation had been found for us, we were very happy. When we came here to clean and decorate the house, we got a bit of a home feeling. Which made us feel at ease,” says Olga.
work and school
Olga and her family also want to work and send the children to school and childcare for social contacts. They can register with the municipality on Friday. Then the process can be started.
Uncertain future
Although the situation in Ukraine continues to cause uncertainty, Huub Minten provides the family with certainty. They can stay above the gas station for as long as they want.
The family themselves want to go home as soon as possible, but when is the big question. “You don’t know how and what or when it will end. The Ukrainian news says this, the Russian news that and the Dutch news says something else. So you have no idea how long it will take, but we want to go home as soon as possible,” says Olga.