Thread by @tanjamaier17

A volunteer just wrote about a family who arrived with an autistic child recently from Ukraine, are in that “temporary” dorm in 11th district. The child only ever eats apples, boiled sausages, and bread. The family asked charity on site if they could help with food, they said no.

I told the volunteer I will personally give the family a Hofer card. If anyone would like to send me a €50 card for this particular family (well and many others if you are feeling generous) please DM me for my address. I can imagine how stressful this must be.

Just got off the phone with the mom. Sharing with permission.

K is from Berdyansk, Zaporozhya, 90km from Mariupol. She fled with her 9yo son who has severe autism and her mother. In Zaporozhya, a volunteer convinced them to get on a bus for Austria. Why? To fill the bus.

When the bus reached Lviv, K asked about Poland, because a woman she knows from Ukraine social services back home is now in Krakow, and suggested K to go there. Again, she was told, the only place for you is in Vienna. Bus brings the family here.

Here in Vienna she is told she will be taken to a dorm where there will be people able to help her and her son with special needs. Except, it is simply the temporary dorm in the 11th district and there are no special services. They have been there 5 days.

Now K has been told she must get on a bus to Linz in the coming days. What awaits her in Linz, no one told her. I warned against getting on any bus when you don't know where it is taking you, and K is afraid of being left homeless if she doesn't.

She needs our collective help.

I will meet the family tomorrow and give them a Billa card (thanks to the volunteer who sounded the alarm and a kind twitter reader who sent me €50 to pay for the card). They want to go to Poland, to Krakow, and will need autism services. Does anyone how? I can do train tix.

If they stay in Austria (which I frankly don't advise given how much money is being paid out here and how long it takes to get it), please let me know if there are autism resources or organizations who might help. K says her son has a severe case: medication, overnight nappies.

Now I must connect K to other women in her building also coming to see me tomorrow to make sure they can find their way together on public transport. She has never been outside Ukraine before and is terrified, but doing the right thing, asking for help.

Also if anyone somewhere else in Europe wants to help a 9yo autistic boy, his mom and grandmother, please get in touch. I will put them on a train. I can do that. I am so worried about what will happen to them if they stay here. It is impossible without an advocate. Impossible.

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