The feminist organisation Strajk Kobiet support Ukrainian refugees.
Warsaw April 2022.
On 24 February 2022, the Russian military attacked Ukraine. Millions of civilians fled the conflict.
This conflict the Ukrainian people will have to endure for several years, questionned myself about my role as a citizen. What can I do in this situation, how can I help?
The answer lies in the intimate choice I made few years ago in becoming a photographer: To bear witness.
Experienced, embedded photojournalists are in Ukraine.
On my side, I was confused that the situation didn't affect the daily life in France much more whereas a tragedy was unfolding on Europe's doorsteps. Business as usual. I wanted to understand how it was in the neighbouring countries of Ukraine.
After several weeks of reflexion, I contacted a friend of mine, Bartosz, a Polish activist and volonteer who help refugees. So, I left Paris for Poland and followed Bartosz in his action.
He was in touch with a feminist organization since he supported them during the strikes in September 2016. Strajk Kobiet organization decided to use their infrastructure and budget to help Urkrainians refugees.
We agree to meet and see how they organized the support for refugees.
6th of April morning, in a still cold and misty day in Warsaw we moved to the Stajke Kobiet organization premisses.
The 3rd of March 2022, one week after the beginning of the Ukrainian war raised by Putin and the russian army, "Ogólnopolski Strajk Kobiet" - The organisation that grew out of the eponymous social movement that fights for women's rights, particularly abortion rights, which Agnieszka Czerederecka is one of its founder and its operational responsible in Warsaw office - started to provide help to the refugees coming in mass and they set-up a "free-shop".
The refugees' trip experience has been awful for the majority of them. They arrived in Poland after hours of a chaotic trip in the train circulating now on the Poland rails. Their non-expected and a non priority traffic drove them to spent more than 20 hours without any services of accommodation. Arrived in Warsaw, disoriented and exhausted, they were transported to the reception center downtown or the greatest refugees reception centre in the suburbs of Warsaw.
They fled their country bombed by the Russian army abandoning their entire life for a undefined time. They left their men (husbands, fathers, sons or brothers) - mobilized - their families and friends who they don't know when they they'll be back together. They have lost goods, flat or house.
These women, often with kids and sometime with a grandmother, came to this shop to find vital and basic food and furnitures.
This is a "store/warehouse", no distribution here. People order/choose what they need. It aims to help these women and their families to restore themselves both physically and psychologically. It helps to keep some dignity in this forced wandering.
Some of the volunteers were managing the in/out flow of people in order to limit the number of people within the premisses. Today, 6th of April 2022, the number of people receiving aid is much lower than in the first weeks of the conflict, when the street in front of the organisation's offices was filled with hundreds of metres of refugees. The flow of new arrivals has dried up.
They are registered as well as the purchases they make to ensure a good spread of the stock to the recipients.
There's no proselytising here no posters of the organization inside, today and for one month and a half the battle is elsewhere. Only students, volunteers support people and provide the food, furnitures and clothes in a commercial local down the stairs.
A small food, personal hygienic and cleaning shop with few small racks containing basic food (Pasta, rice, tomato sauce…) nothing really exciting but essential.
Another greater space is used for clothes, organized by age and gender, a stock of nappies, few caddies.
The atmosphere in the local is quite and benevolent.
Few small rictus which seems to be smiling on tired faces when few women who looks clothes proposed by the volunteers and Agnieska who left a moment her organizational activities. She knows that talking about trivial things and receiving kind attention is comforting for these women. She came to visit people, the shop she set-up and the volunteers team. A natural behaviour she has: discret and benevolent giving humanitiy without being tired or jaded after these too long weeks of the continuous flow of migrants.
Some of the volunteers are speaking Russian or Ukrainian to facilitate the communication and to give information or advises.
Few screaming of kids marvelled by a game in the children part of the shop. For the lucky one, who didn't experienced the war atrocities and the ravages from too close, their refugees situation does not seem to affect them a lot, as if they where in holidays. But it's just a decoy to cope with the separation, the lack of a reference point, the absence of the father too.
Story context:
Agnieszka Czerederecka is a woman rights activist struggling notably to allow the abortion which the right was on danger in Poland because of the right-wing at the power and the Catholics pressure. She explained that with 2 other women, she is the responsible of a popular and social movement: Ogólnopolski Strajk Kobiet .
Agnieszka Czerederecka is a woman rights activist struggling notably to allow the abortion which the right was on danger in Poland because of the right-wing at the power and the Catholics pressure. She explained that with 2 other women, she is the responsible of a popular and social movement: Ogólnopolski Strajk Kobiet .
The story of this movement started in 2016 with the Black Protest of pro-abortion women movement in reaction to the bill raised by the anti-abortion movements to tighten restrictions on abortion. This strike had an international coverage. The bill has been withdrawn. But the anti-abortion movement opposed the constitutionality of the existing abortion law denouncing eugenism.
This struggle is done in a Political Crisis context. Indeed, European Commission refered Poland to the European Court of Justice because "by 2020, fourteen of the Constitutional Tribunal's fifteen judges had been appointed by the Sejm since the 2015 return of Law and Justice to power. Its domination over all branches of power has created this political crisis and has led" to the action requested to the European Court of Justice.(1)
(Bartosz joined the movement providing logistics help to the demonstrators sitting-in number of days and met Agnieszka from this period.)
(Bartosz joined the movement providing logistics help to the demonstrators sitting-in number of days and met Agnieszka from this period.)
Now, Strajk Kobiet and so Agnieszka are involved in the help to refugees in Warsaw. With the organisation she leads and the support of volunteers, mainly students, she manages a ”Free shop” where refugees, women and their kids are coming to make shopping for free. The idea is to make them comfortable, so they keep feel as much as possible being consumers and not beggars.
This "Free Shop" has been financed by the Organization funds collected and donation at least till July 2022.
This "Free Shop" has been financed by the Organization funds collected and donation at least till July 2022.
At the beginning, the free-shop has been installed in emergency in the office of the organization located in the building in the floors. But it was not a comfortable situation, the usual work of the organization was drastically disturbed, a lot of people circulated in the building waiting in the stairs.
After few weeks the decision has been taken to rent a commercial local in the same building but having a direct access on the street.
After few weeks the decision has been taken to rent a commercial local in the same building but having a direct access on the street.
Since the organization is well connected with other human rights organization, when the refugees need medical, psychological, administrative support which is not the mission of this organization they are in position to make the mediation.
