HELP FOR AFRICANS FROM UKRAINE IN GERMANY

The group ‘Help for Africans from Ukraine in Germany’ (HAUG) brings together associations and individuals in the German-African community to support people who have fled the war in Ukraine and are currently seeking refuge in Germany.

The forum emanated from an All-Nigerian Community meeting of 15 March 2022, convened by the Nigerians in Diaspora Organisation Germany e.V., at which measures to support Nigerians from Ukraine were discussed.

The scope of the initiative, now jointly run by Horizon Resource Network e.V. and NIDO Germany e.V., was subsequently extended to cover all Africans and indeed all those in need of support.

The status of the people fleeing the war in Ukraine from third countries differs from that of the people with Ukrainian passports, which leads to a great need for clarification for the African refugees.

The aim of the initiative is to educate and to inform the refugees to the extent that they can make decisions as quickly as possible about their future.

We regularly disseminate information useful for refugees, especially third-country nationals, who are presently living in Germany.

We  also offer other forms of support, such as welcoming refugees at train stations, helping to find accommodation, providing relief materials and accompanying them to registration centres.

Moreover, we attend to individual requests to accompany them to government offices, finding them lawyers or linking them with counselling centres.

We are engaging with our members and wider networks to mobilise more practical support and resources.

And we make efforts to raise awareness and understanding among the public and officials of and for the peculiar situation of Africans affected by the war in Ukraine.

The major task facing us is how best to keep the impact of the war on the studies of the affected Africans as low as possible. This means that they have to find admission into German institutions or opportunities to receive training here.

We are grateful for your support.

Thanking you.