“Life should not pass by, and every day can be full” is the motto of the team of the Association Ukraine Schweiz Bern, which helps with psycho-emotional and social support for Ukrainians currently living in the so-called Feuererfeld container city in Bern. The housing for Ukrainians was built in the summer of 2022. It is designed for a thousand people. The Association joined in to help integrate the elderly, who are rarely targeted by integration initiatives. In Feuerfeld and other places, this project is being implemented by the Association with the financial support of the Ukraine Hilfe Bern Foundation.
“Living in Switzerland is not just about obtaining protection status and social assistance, which provides Ukrainian refugees with housing, health insurance, and money for daily expenses and food,” says Svitlana Manzer, head of integration projects at Ukraine Schweiz Bern, a psychotherapist. ”The most important thing is for people to understand that social adaptation is necessary for a sense of fulfillment here and now.
The Association has been providing psycho-emotional and social support to Ukrainian refugees since the first days of the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine. During this time, many Ukrainians, regardless of age, profession and life experience, have become participants in various projects. The Association's specialists started working with people in the container town at the beginning of this year.
“There are still people living there who settled there in the first days of its opening,” says Svitlana Manzer. ”There are also people who are not looking for separate housing because they are waiting for the war to end or at least some stability in the region from which they came. Then they will return home.”
The residents of the container town are waiting for their documents to be checked and for them to be granted S status. This process has been quite lengthy lately, so some have been waiting for the cantonal authorities' decision for more than six months. “The hardest part is the state of uncertainty,” they say. “How can we realize ourselves and live a full life if it is not clear what will happen tomorrow?”
Another group is people who have just arrived. “All questions are important to them, because these Ukrainians do not even understand where to go for various issues,” adds Svitlana Manzer. For a person who has just arrived, the entire Swiss state system is something big and unified. At the same time, specialization and profiling in Switzerland are very serious phenomena. So, for example, a social worker will not help you with the nuances of medical care. And the migration service, which issues documents confirming your identity and status in Switzerland, will not help you with housing and money for food. There are also a lot of questions about children's education, which is very important for those who came with schoolchildren.
The Association also organized creative meetings for people. Under the mentorship of professional artists, refugees can paint and remember their Ukrainian heritage. Right now, there are master classes in Petrykivka painting. This is a combination of art therapy, communication between forced neighbors and the creation of works of art. Ukrainians get emotional pleasure and can realize their creative potential.
“In addition to the integration meetings,” adds Svitlana Manzer, ”we create videos with the necessary information, flyers, booklets, which we also distribute there. We also provide psychotherapeutic counseling to help those who have experienced traumatic events.” The meetings are part of a project funded by the Roman Catholic parish of Bern and the region.
