March 13; Evacuate, Accommodate, Support, and Donate - Bulgaria for Ukraine
Looking back at the first two weeks of BG4UA, and what the future holds 🇧🇬🇺🇦🙏🏼
Hello friends,
Another week has gone by, and we’re on Day 18 of Russia’s senseless and heartless war on Ukraine. What started as a trickle of people in the first hours of the attack on February 24, has today reached the number of 2.7 million people at the time I’m writing this. That’s the number of displaced persons from Ukraine, fleeing to safety from the destruction and terror inflicted by the Russian armed forces.
Here in Bulgaria I’m getting various numbers from people in our government, roughly based on the count from the Bulgarian border police; approx. 60,000 Ukrainian citizens entered Bulgaria since the 24th, and approx. 20,000 have exited, most likely on their way to other refuge destinations. This leaves us with 40-50k people, almost exclusively women and children, whom we’re trying to host and accommodate in Bulgaria.
At BG4UA, the volunteering platform and network we launched together with Ellie on the first day of the war, we’ve so far been able to assist but a small fraction of these people. We’ve arranged or coordinated transport for approx. 500 and have managed to accommodate approx. 1,000. These are both individuals as well as mothers with children, so the total count is somewhat higher, probably double. All of this would have never been possible without the fantastic BG4UA team of hundreds of volunteers, and the hundreds of people and organizations that have donated over 6,000 accommodation units, out of which we’ve been able to match suitable rooms, apartments, and houses to house our incoming guests from Ukraine.
Today, more than two weeks since the start of the war, we’re moving on. From the beginning, we have been collaborating closely with the National Crisis Center of the Bulgarian Prime Minister’s Office, with the aim of transferring our assets and processes to them, once they’re ready to take over. We are now testing the new accommodation booking system, provided by technology partners from FlatManager, and the professional call center for displaced persons, set up by our partners at AIBEST, the association of Bulgarian BPO businesses. In the coming days, we’ll also migrate our evacuation efforts to the National Crisis Center, as the Bulgarian government is launching regular train and bus services from locations in neighboring countries, where large numbers of Ukrainians have come together, waiting for a shelter destination.
One of the shifts we’re witnessing as the entire national effort scales up is the rapidly increasing need for funding. As the volume of people we’re processing and accommodating rises, specific needs come up, like certain foods for people with dietary restrictions, medications that aren’t easily available, transport needs to reunite families, and much, much more.
To this end, I’m incredibly grateful that we’ve joined forces with BCause Foundation and our friends from America for Bulgaria Foundation, launching BG4UA donations, where any contribution is welcome and will be used to assist in the process of accommodating Ukrainians in Bulgaria. You can contribute any amount, and whatever you can help with will be deeply appreciated:
All we should hope for at this point is for the insanity of the attack on Ukraine to end. All the displaced Ukrainians I’ve spoken to in the past weeks keep telling me the same thing, especially when I talk to them about long-term plans, like finding a job here or signing their kids up for school in Bulgaria: oh thanks, but no need for that, we’re going back soon, this will be over quickly.
The biggest thing I hope for is that they’re right about that last bit. 🙏🏼🇺🇦
Thanks for checking in today and talk to you next Sunday!
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