Japanese national in Poland opens home to Ukrainian refugee families

by · The Japan Times
Yugo Azuma (third from right), his fiancee, Marta Kierzek (second from right), and son, together with Ukrainian refugees staying at their house in Katowice in southern Poland | COURTESY OF YUGO AZUMA

Until recently, Yugo Azuma, 25, was just another graduate student in Poland, having moved there from Japan last summer, and was about to start working full time from April.

But his life changed after Russian troops invaded Ukraine in February, prompting more than 2 million people to flee to neighboring Poland. Stations in Katowice in southern Poland — where Azuma resides with his fiancee, Marta Kierzek, and son — were full of refugees, some sleeping on the ground with nowhere else to go.

It didn’t take long for Azuma and Kierzek to decide to take in refugees at their home.

“As a mother herself, Marta couldn’t bear seeing children out in the cold at stations, sleeping on the ground,” Azuma said in an online interview. “We talked about what we can do to help and decided to take in refugees.”

When Azuma posted on Facebook that he was accepting a family of up to three from Ukraine, he immediately got a response from a mother, and then four or five more in the five minutes before he could take down the post. He ended up taking in two families — two mothers each with two children — and they moved in on March 9. One of the families has now headed to Turkey to be with their relatives.

One of the mothers has not told her children that they left their country because of the war, instead saying that it’s just a game involving transferring from one train to another, so as not to scare them.

“The mothers try to keep a brave face for their children. They say it’s not the time for them to cry,” he said. “But I can see their sad expressions — just for a minute or two — when, for example, they are using their smartphones.”

Ukrainian refugees at Krakow Station in Poland on March 8 | COURTESY OF YUGO AZUMA

For Kierzek, the ongoing war reminds her of her great-grandmother, who died after being beaten by Nazi officers when Poland was under occupation during World War II, Azuma quoted his fiancee as saying.

“For Poland, it’s something that can happen any day for them,” said Azuma, referring to the Russian invasion. For Azuma, however, war is something in the past. A native of Okinawa Prefecture, he grew up learning about the 1945 Battle of Okinawa, one of the few ground wars in the last days of World War II, at school and from his grandfather.

He could barely comprehend the fact that someone could kill another human being — until now. From the accounts he has heard and the news he has seen on the deaths of civilians in his neighboring country, he now grasps just how possible that is.

Azuma is soliciting donations on Facebook to provide supplies to Ukrainian refugees, and a new project is in the works to open two day care centers from April so that mothers can start working. Ukrainian mothers have had to leave the fathers to their children behind because men from the age of 18 to 60 are not allowed to leave the country.

“The biggest victims are children,” he said. “To help the children, it’s essential to help the mother. That’s why I thought of opening day care centers.”

Azuma welcomes Japan’s efforts to accept Ukrainians who have fled the country and municipalities offering housing and other services to help them. But with only a portion of the refugees heading to Japan, he hopes aid can be shifted to refugees in Poland, where there is more demand.

Yugo Azuma (right) plays with his son and the children of a Ukrainian family staying at his home in Katowice in southern Poland. | COURTESY OF YUGO AZUMA

Prime Minister Fumio Kishida pledged Thursday to provide an additional $100 million (¥12.1 billion) in humanitarian aid, during his meeting with leaders of the Group of Seven industrialized nations in Brussels, doubling Japan’s contribution.

“The mother (of the refugee family staying at my home) says they are lucky to be able to live here, but I hope all of them will be able to enjoy a certain standard of living and not have to sleep on the ground.”

Now, Azuma is juggling perhaps more than he can handle — studying as a graduate student, hosting refugees and preparing to open two day care centers with the help of Kierzek. On top of that, he is becoming a liaison for Japanese companies and individuals who want to provide support for Ukrainian refugees but are unclear who to contact, and he will soon start working full time.

“I don’t know how many hats I’m wearing,” he said with a laugh. “What I know is that if I turn down those offers, the support will stop coming through.”

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