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More from @tanjamaier17

Tanja Maier

@tanjamaier17

Feb 12

I bought tickets to a Ukraine charity fashion event in Vienna, thinking it would be fun to take my girls and also a good opportunity to distribute our Cards for Ukraine flyers in Ukrainian to a wealthy audience. Got all dressed up, arrive, discover it was yesterday. Like, how?

That has literally never happened to me before. Reminded me of the time in 1st grade some kid showed up a day early for my birthday party and I remember awkwardly opening the door in my PJs wondering what he was doing in front of my house.

Anyway, a very kind reader just handed me €200 from her mother. €150 will go tomorrow morning to three women in the arrivals' center, one of whom came with 4 kids (!). The last €50 card will go to a woman in a Vienna dorm where they only receive €40 per month pocket money.

Read 11 tweets

Tanja Maier

@tanjamaier17

Feb 6

A year ago today I landed in Kyiv for the first time. I fell in love from the first minute. Mesmerized. Today, it feels like a decade ago. I am also having the most bonkers day ever. 🧵 to come. Sometimes it’s hard to believe what life throws at you.

The morning starts with me planning to ask a quick question at the bank and then buy 8 Hofer cards, 1 of which I must deliver to an elderly woman at the arrivals center who does not have a smartphone. She is waiting for me at 11am and I have no way to tell her I may be late.

The bank takes forever. School holidays so no staff. The Viennese pensioners are freaking out over the long wait. I take my chances and wait it out: 45 minutes. Mad dash to the nearest Hofer, I buy 8 cards but no time to post them. I rush to arrivals center. 10 min to spare.

Read 27 tweets

Tanja Maier

@tanjamaier17

Feb 5

My waiting list is 25 and counting. I am going to start putting women forward and men back. Exception: handicapped, elderly. It’s interesting it used to be only women & kids, then many pensioners. Now it’s everything. You have to be fair but that also requires judgement calls.

When demand exceeds supply and I never know when the next card is coming. Some aid organizations only help women with kids. Those in villages usually have less access to help than cities. So you shuffle envelopes a bit. Not a science. To donate pls DM or paypal.com/paypalme/groce…

@badlogicgames

My small wait list are only those who texted me directly. @badlogicgames has a huge wait list from our website. You’ll see from the data we have already helped a sizable percentage of Ukrainian families in Austria (~50k+ in total from latest data I saw).

cards-for-ukraine.at/donate

Read 6 tweets

Tanja Maier

@tanjamaier17

Feb 4

It's not scandalous an infamous FPÖ politician made an openly xenophobic comment on TV to Viennese teens.

It's not scandalous ÖVP will send a nearly all male line-up to NÖ parliament.

It's not scandalous Russia could easily bribe some Austrian MPs.

All sadly very on brand.

Live a few days here as a woman who speaks German with an accent and has been helping some of the most vulnerable people navigate "the system" for nearly a year and NONE of this surprises you. People who vote for both parties know it and still keep voting. Private sector -- same.

I read this piece about Raiffeisen in Russia and thought good at least someone is finally reporting what we already know but should be talked about: creation of "shareholder value" vs having a moral backbone and being part of a war-mongering economy.

derstandard.at/story/20001432…

Read 6 tweets

Tanja Maier

@tanjamaier17

Feb 4

https://twitter.com/francisjfarrell/status/1621775370952507392

This is so beautifully written and contains layers of nuance I have totally failed to convey (I didn’t even attempt) in my retelling of my exchanges with Ukrainian refugees.

https://twitter.com/francisjfarrell/status/1621775370952507392

The $50 per person per month is true and it is the only official support for IDPs. There are tensions between Russian-speaking Ukrainians who sought safety in western Ukraine and felt ripped off by locals. There are heated arguments even online about which language to speak.

I’ve met many families from Donbas who were refugees in 2014 didn’t feel like they got a warm welcome in Kyiv and other cities back then and now it’s deja vu but in Europe. Ukraine is a huge country and yes: it’s complicated.

Read 4 tweets