New Year at a Refugee Center in Latvia | Easy Russian 61

Hello, dear friends, and welcome to a new episode of Easy Russian. Behind my back is the former building of the railway station, which last year turned into the Common Ground Refugee Assistance Center. This is a special refugee assistance center. It exists for private donations. Unlike other centers, which mainly provide material assistance or help with legalization, with obtaining visas, this center is a little different, about what goes behind it. It helps people to get used to a new country, a new place, to cope with the stress and horror they have experienced. It was organized by art historians, who spent every summer in Riga the Biennale of Modern Art. However, after the start of the war, they decided that now is not the time for the Biennale, but the time to help people. Today I will show you and tell you about how this center celebrated the New Year and Christmas, as well as just tell you about it in general. Let's see. With the help of editing magic, I moved to a warm place, because my camera is not able to work in the cold for a long time. I will say right away that this issue will not be similar to our traditional street interview. It seemed to me that it was not quite appropriate to distract adults and children from the long-awaited holiday, which will help them to forget for a while about their experiences, and, in general, about the horrors they are still experiencing. One of its founders, a resident of Latvia, Inessa, will help me to tell about this center, as well as its coordinator, the Ukrainian refugee herself, Anna. The New Year holiday for children and adults was held for charitable donations. As in general, all the activities of this center are provided by such donations. For example, these gifts were bought, collected, packed and delivered to the center by a Latvian businessman. He held a charity auction to raise funds for them. There are about a hundred gifts here, all with their own hands. Then they came and showed us these ones with stars, this is for babies, this is for girls, this is for boys. Without such bows, there are already older ones. There are also such cool soft toys for the little ones, they are on the table for teenagers. These are not just sweet gifts, but I chose them so that the children would receive a gift from Santa Claus. The center is basically based on charitable donations. Everything that is here, everything from toys to filling cupboards, offices, all this is what people donated or was bought for the money that was transferred to the accounts. These gifts, as well as a festive performance, workshops on making toys and decorations, a disco and even a meeting with Santa Claus, all this is intended to please children. Although, as Inessa admits, adults do not have a New Year's mood. There is no festive mood at all, I'll be honest. But first of all, these are our personal problems, the children are not to blame for this. Therefore, we all have to hold on to the miracle. If not for ourselves, then at least for the babies. As you can see, they are very happy about the holiday, they were waiting. Therefore, let's celebrate the New Year, it is very important. It is very important to find joy every day in any situation, no matter where you are and what circumstances you are in. And I am truly and sincerely sure that this horror will end soon, and I wish everyone the same. And I am sincerely sorry that we are in this situation at all. A separate joy is caused by the appearance of animals. The fact is that many refugees had to leave their pets. They left their homes in such a terrible atmosphere and in a hurry. Now communicating with cats and dogs helps them to experience a sense of home for a while. The Common Ground Center was opened soon after the beginning of the war, when the first refugees began to arrive in Latvia. This is not the only center, but it is special. Its activity is designed for a long distance. Everything these people do is designed to help refugees get used to the new, well, in general, a foreign place. We just want to express some kind of human support. Either it is a holiday for children, or it is a preparation of a common meal, or just to be together, to support as much as possible, to find help, to find a job. This is just important, because many of those who come, there are those who have friends, colleagues, relatives here, but many come without having any connections with Latvia before. And it is important for us that everyone who comes here feels this support and understands that we are all there. Here they can help to find a job, find circles for children, find new friends, well, in general, at least somehow feel the ground under their feet. The center is here to spend time, get to know people, socialize and understand that you are not alone in Latvia. Because it is very difficult for a mother who comes, literally one mother and one child, when they come to us, they say, God, what a happiness that we found you. Because, firstly, you can always talk to us, with volunteers, meet someone else. You understand that you are here with friends, you are not alone here. That is, people in this way, well, their eyes light up, these children begin to smile. And when I take pictures of everyone, and when I see these photos processed, these happy children's eyes, I understand that we are doing everything right. During the work of the center, a lot of people went through it, says Inessa. We counted, at the moment I can say, that before autumn it was more than 10,000 people. Now the figure is even higher. But there are different people. There are those who have been with us since the beginning of March. There are those who left in August, hoping that the children will be able to go to school in Ukraine. But now, unfortunately, they are returning. And, oddly enough, we are very glad to see them, because these are also human relations that are being built. There are those who really come often, use the premises, come to the event. There are those who come only a couple of times, and then they have to change the situation, or they go further, or return to Ukraine. That is, yes, it's hard to say. We don't count everyone. But the center, as you can see, is quite full, especially when there is an event, in the evenings and on weekends, when there is no school or work, and people are looking for communication, support. One of the best methods to overcome stress is, of course, learning foreign languages. And if you are learning Russian, be sure to use our special exercises, which we prepare for each issue every time. Follow the link in the description, study with us, and support us so that we can shoot new videos for you. On the big board of announcements, at the entrance to the center, you can find offers for work, invitations to courses in foreign languages, mugs for children, and much more, including psychological consultations. By the way, the center itself has a psychological assistance office, where professional psychologists regularly accept both adults and children. In March, together with the Children's Hospital Foundation, we had the opportunity to hire a therapist who works. We also have emotional support groups, and there is also an opportunity to sign up for a therapist. I myself came to this center as a volunteer many times over the past months. Sometimes these are quite complex and busy days, and sometimes very quiet. Then you just sit and do nothing, just chat with different people. And after a while, I realized that these days cannot be called useless. The fact is that all our conversations are a kind of group psychological assistance. The coordinator of the center, Anna, is Ukrainian. She was on vacation with her family when the war began, and she never returned home. The center is engaged in leisure. What we give is the time where you can come and do something interesting, meet people. For example, we have computers, you can come to work or, when children come, just play. We have a laundry room where you can come to wash. We have a free store where you can buy clothes if you need them, and we try to keep it clean. If something is not beautiful or dirty, we clean it up. People bring things to us for free, people donate. Many people write and ask if they need it. We always write that they need clothes, tops, anything you need. You can find anything there, even shoes. We have a children's store and an adult store. They often bring brand clothes, beautiful, expensive, good. Once I took four designer dresses. It was just summer and the girls were very happy. Very beautiful dresses. They understand everything and bring joy to people. We have a children's playroom where you can come and play with your child. A mother can sit, drink coffee, chat with her child. We have different events and workshops almost every day. On Monday and Friday we have yoga, shaping, stretching, different exercises for strength and relaxation. You can come and practice for free. There is a space for co-working. If there is no place to work, we have several people who are uncomfortable at home because they live in a one-room apartment. It is impossible to work at home. You can come and work in these rooms. We have a lot of them, thank God. You can even sit alone with Wi-Fi everywhere. There is a library. You can come and read or take a book home and bring it back. We don't record it. You can come and read. We have two pianos. Sometimes we have a queue and musicians come to play. Not everyone has an instrument. If someone leaves, the instrument remains. Not only Ukrainians come to this center. You can meet people from Russia and Belarus. Everyone is happy here. The name of the center is Common Ground. It is a place where you can find common language even with different people. This center was built because Russia attacked Ukraine. There is a momentary crisis where a lot of people fled to Europe. More than 40,000 people came to Latvia. It doesn't end there. Every day a lot of people cross the border. We are very happy to see everyone who comes and is ready to help. I don't ask for a passport because I think if a person comes and is ready to help, we have the same idea about good and evil. Human values are more important. This is a place where they help you to fight loneliness. I think it is a noble and important mission. This is my video about the Refugee Aid Center. I wanted to show you how people help others and how together they fight evil. I hope you liked it. 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