Malaga province prepares to welcome hundreds of Ukraine refugees with open arms

Malaga is preparing to take in an indeterminate number of Ukraine refugees, and the EU’s decision to grant temporary residence permits to people fleeing that country will have a special impact in this province, which has the third highest number of Ukrainian residents in Spain: 11,400, after Madrid and Barcelona and almost the same figure as Alicante.

Refugee associations believe hundreds of people will be arriving from Ukraine in the next few days, but “we actually think it will be many more than anticipated,” says Ruth Sarabia, Malaga’s councillor for Migration.

Last night the bus chartered by local businessman Vicente Jiménez, whose son was born in Ukraine, arrived from one of the refugee camps in Krakow with nearly 50 people on board. Most were women and children. They were given a meal and then taken to hostels and apartments run by the Spanish Refugee Aid Committee (CEAR).

“They are in shock,” says Resurrección Hernández, the director of social innovation centre La Noria, which has beds available for refugees when needed: “Many of them still have family in Ukraine and they fear the worst”.

The Accem organisation, an NGO which specialises in helping refugees, says people who come to Malaga are helped to integrate fully, learn the language, provided with counselling, and helped to become financially independent. “When they leave our accommodation, they will be assisted in renting a property,” says Cristina Rodríguez, the head of Accem in Malaga province

Sources at Cruz Roja say the Ukrainian community in Malaga can ease the pressure on the associations. “Many of the refugees will move in with their relatives, although we know from experience that there can be a limit to that and after a while they ask the organisations for help, so we need to be prepared,” says Miguel Domingo García.

Although the government will accommodate Ukrainian refugees as quickly as possible, without them having to go through the normal bureaucratic process which can last between four months and three years, in order to be stay they will have to file their application for international protection. They will be doing so in a province which is welcoming them with open arms.