Hosts are burdened: when living together with the Ukrainian families no longer works

Created: 05/24/2022, 06:03

By: Verena Moeckl

They share the kitchen: the voluntary host Thomas Fuß (right) has taken in the Ukrainian refugee Elmira Dolhij with her two children at his home in Dachau.

© hab

Many volunteers have taken in Ukrainian refugees.

But now the conflicts are increasing.

A host couple from Dachau reports on the problems and why they feel abandoned.

Dachau – When war broke out in Ukraine three months ago, Thomas Fuß and his wife wanted to help.

Not through donations, but directly.

They decide to take in a Ukrainian family at their home in Dachau.

"We wanted to see what our help would achieve and we also have enough space," says the 42-year-old.

He and his wife are among the approximately 600 voluntary hosts in the Dachau district.

Problems between host families and Ukrainian families: "In most cases, the hosts can no longer bear the burden."

The family they take in arrives in Germany in mid-March.

A 42-year-old mother with her 17-year-old daughter and nine-year-old son.

In the middle of the night, Thomas Fuß picks the three of them up from the main train station.

He accommodates his family on the second floor of his house.

You have two rooms and a private bathroom to yourself.

Only the kitchen is shared.

At first, living together works well, but then the problems increase.

The Ukrainian family leaves the lights on for about 16 hours, complains foot.

"The Ukrainians are used to the fact that electricity costs next to nothing at home." He knows that this is not a bad intention.

But it would still get on your nerves in the long run.

Also that their guests throw away so much food.

Now he and his wife Julia Fuß are looking for their own apartment for the Ukrainian family.

Because everyone involved is certain: they cannot stay there in the long term.

Five to seven hosts report to the district office every week because they can no longer bear the burden in the long run

Some of the hosts in the district of Dachau feel the same way as the Fuss family.

Five to seven families report to the district office every week, reports district press spokeswoman Sina Török.

"In most cases, the hosts can no longer bear the burden," says Török.

According to the district office, the most frequently mentioned reason is the narrowness in the long term.

For his family, the biggest problem is not the lack of space, but the language barrier, says Fuß.

The 17-year-old Ukrainian has no motivation to learn German.

One could hardly communicate with her.

The sorry foot.

He doubts that the teenager has understood that she and her family won't be able to go home anytime soon.

Kharkiv, the hometown of the Ukrainian family, has been largely destroyed.

The mother quickly realized, says Fuß, that she had to build a life with her children in Germany.

An own.

The hosts support the Ukrainian family as best they can.

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All administrative procedures are completed within the first week.

The mother attends German courses, has a part-time job, and the children go to school.

“We have managed of our own accord to establish a mainstay in Dachau for the family.

That cost us a lot of time and nerves,” says Thomas Fuß.

There is help from the authorities, but this is not manageable for working host families.

"We are volunteers who provide living space and not integration workers," complains Thomas Fuß.

Despite this, he and his wife are doing everything in their power to help the Ukrainian family.

Thomas Fuss feels let down by the district office

He and his wife feel left alone by the district office.

He had to beg to get information.

The district office firmly rejects this, but admits that there is a debt.

Anyone who contacts the district office with questions would receive an answer promptly, the district office defended itself.

"All in all, there was and still is a lot of communication," says Török.

The need is currently different than it was in the first five weeks.

The Fuss family sees things differently.

You want more appreciation.

Above all, they want better cooperation with the district office.

"We can only master this together," says Fuss.

In the meantime he has found an apartment for their Ukrainian guests.

On your own.