In the Pools Hoogte restaurant, in the woods on the Hondsrug, chef Firas al Bilak is busy preparing Syrian lentil soup. When he fled to the Netherlands from Ukraine, he immediately looked for work. “I can’t sit at home,” says the 47-year-old.
In Kharkov, the cook ran a thriving restaurant. “The restaurant was bombed. I lost my house, my job and the restaurant there”, Firas looks back. It is not his first time that he had to flee. Firas is originally a Syrian and fled to Ukraine when war broke out in his native country.
Firas lives with his wife and children in a room in the former Fletcher hotel in Emmen. The Ukrainian is grateful that he can work as a cook here in the Netherlands. “I like to give something back for the help that the Netherlands offers,” he says. Owner of the Pools Hoogte, Martin Venema, finds it very valuable that he can help eight Ukrainians. “But they also help me. We wouldn’t have had enough staff otherwise.”
It has been almost a year since Russia invaded Ukraine, forcing people to leave their homes. Looking for a safer place, hoping for a quick return. Some 3,300 Ukrainian refugees came to live in Drenthe, some in shelters, others in people’s homes. Many of the Ukrainians are now working. What does working mean for Ukrainian refugees?
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