“The first night I could not sleep because the water was slamming on the walls. I kept thinking, ‘I am in the water! I am under the water!’” What life is like for one Ukrainian family living on a Cold-War era gunboat in Rotterdam's harbor
Julia arrived on the M.L.V Castor on March 16, assigned her berth by the Rotterdam municipality after staying for a few weeks in a cramped room where Vladimir had been doing building work. While the couple are separated, they worked together for the best interests of their child. Julia recalls her first thoughts on seeing the 150-foot gunboat, restored to its original 1947 spec including three mounted cannons. “Is it really possible to live here?” she thought as she crossed gangplank.
“The Ukrainian people never realized that it is also possible to live on a boat,” says the jovial Dutchman. “One family actually left in the middle of the night. They got seasick.” The M.L.V Castor is one of four river cruise boats that the municipality is hiring for three months to house Ukrainians. It even persuaded a cruise liner to sail one of its vessels into port, and 1,400 Ukrainians are now living aboard.
The municipality funds the catering aboard the Castor, and every day there is a communal breakfast and dinner, served up by Van Parijs’s wife Eelke as Ukrainian mothers dodge in and out of the galley to make meals for fussy children. When she goes out to her jobs in bars and cafes, she is incredulous that people can be out having a good time, and wants to ask them what they are doing, how they can carry on.
The immediate need, however, is housing. Julia and her family must leave the M.L.V Castor on June 16. Nobody yet knows where they will go. There seem to be few plans in place beyond the temporary solutions, but Ukrainians cannot live on boats for more than a few months, and the thousands of people across Europe who have housed Ukrainians in their own homes are starting to feel the strain. Karremans says they are working on solutions, but concedes that they have not found them yet.
Australia Latest News, Australia Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
Lindsay Seers & Keith Sargent - Cold Light review: A beguiling showDon’t expect to emerge with a clear sense of what this exhibition means, but do expect to be absorbed and even enthralled
Read more »
Durham schoolboy who wrote to Ukraine president gets replyThomas, 12, wrote to President Zelensky after his school donated goods to help Ukrainian refugees.
Read more »
The Ukrainian children at the mercy of UK’s refugee schemeUnder-18s travelling alone not permitted to be hosted under Homes for Ukraine programme, leaving them with no route to UK
Read more »
Why the Ukrainian war is also a domestic political issue for BidenThe Democratic party is encouraging president to be more forward-leaning as he broadened US objectives in the conflict
Read more »
‘Babushka Z’ says Russians have made her a ‘traitor’ by erecting statue in her nameAn elderly Ukrainian woman has unwittingly become focal point for Russian propagandists – but she appears to regret it, and the war entirely
Read more »