Introduction

War does not happen without the loss of lives, homes, health, and separation from relatives, friends, and acquaintances. The highest number of human lives lost is among civilians who are not part of armed forces. War erodes life’s certainties. The life of every person affected by war changes beyond recognition. Fear, anxiety, and uncertainty caused by war create lifelong trauma. History remembers war conflicts that have permanently changed later peaceful coexistence between the warring nations. A multi-year local civil war in Ukraine grew into nationwide dimensions. In the first week of the war, a million refugees crossed the border from Ukraine. To help, professionals and volunteers came and continue to come; volunteers, through their activity, provide first-line social work for suffering Ukrainians.

Volunteerism focused on helping refugees

Volunteering can be encountered in several areas of life. We understand it as non-paid activity. “It includes all forms of volunteer activities, whether formal or informal, long-term or short-term, carried out in one’s own country or abroad.”1 It mainly requires a willingness to help and serve people in need. Any education in social work, psychology, and other fields is not necessary for the performance of volunteering. Of course, it is helpful for volunteers and can involve passing on knowledge and prior experience to others. “Act No. 406/2011 Coll. on volunteering regulates the legal status of the volunteer and legal relations in the provision of services and volunteer activity by volunteers. It defines a volunteer as a natural person who, based on her own free decision, in her free time and without entitlement to compensation, provides another person with a volunteer service.”2 Under Act No. 406/2011 Coll. §3 point (1) letter a), volunteer activity is considered to be activity for persons with disabilities, foreigners and stateless persons, persons while serving a prison sentence or protective education and after release from serving a prison sentence, custody, and protective education, drug-dependent and otherwise dependent persons, dependent children, persons in need of care by others, seniors, persons suffering from domestic violence, and unemployed persons, as well as in the provision of public-interest activities and other activities in the areas of social affairs and healthcare. The law also provides for volunteering carried out for foreigners.

Volunteering expands the reach of social work directed at people made vulnerable by war in their homeland. Professional social workers alone are not sufficient from a capacity and time perspective. Volunteering here represents the extended hands of social work. “The benefits of volunteering can essentially be expressed as values that have meaning for the volunteer herself.”3 This also applies to volunteerism on the Slovak-Ukrainian border dedicated to refugees fleeing the war. Here humanity toward the vulnerable and the need for peace in the world become visible.

Situation of refugees from Ukraine

Ukraine is administratively divided into 24 regions. After Russia, it is the largest Slavic state in Europe. At present, through the border4, refugees from all regions of the country are crossing. No areas are exempt, including civil-war-affected areas from 8 years ago.5 From fear, refugees also flee from places and villages that are not affected by the war. Frequent sirens and civilians hiding in cellars confirm the exceptional state of the country. Refugees6 also come from these areas, despite the calm situation there.

The border crossing at Vyšné Nemecké is divided into three parts for receiving refugees. The first part receives Ukrainian refugees by car and Third World nationals. The second part of the border (through which one goes from Slovakia to Ukraine) is where pedestrians arrive. The third part of the border checks trucks that need to get to western Ukraine, through which they want to move on to other countries.

Crossing the border is currently easier than usual. This is an exceptional wartime situation. Refugees who do not have a valid travel document also have the opportunity to pass. Immediately at the border there is the first stop, where refreshments, food packages, toys, diapers, and color pencils with coloring books for children are provided. At the border, members of the Slovak Police Force and the Armed Forces of the Slovak Republic are helpful.

Volunteers are also being released from the P. P. Gojdič priestly seminary, where seminarians and students of the Greek-Catholic theological faculty of Prešov University in Prešov prepare for their future priestly vocation. “In this case, we can also state that volunteering stimulates young people toward active citizenship and participation in addressing social and societal problems; at the same time, by working for others they gain self-reflection and feedback. Yet perhaps the most fundamental benefit is that they increase their value in the labour market and in society, gain a sense of meaningfulness7, and thus strengthen personal satisfaction and life values.”8 Such benefit is part of all volunteers dedicated to refugees and serves as motivation for this type of social work.

Performing social work by volunteers on the Slovak-Ukrainian border

Refugees crossing the border because of the war there are predominantly women and children. There are significantly fewer men, and they are usually over 60 years old.9 Some men younger than 60 years cross the border only with special authorization. Among the first negatives of war comes the separation of fathers from families. Experience shows that emotional coldness of parents, absence of their presence, and lack of communication with children causes psychological and moral disorders in young people.10 The absence of fathers and a male role model due to war, separation of fathers from families, and deaths at the combat front can later cause the mentioned pathological phenomenon to appear in families.

Tents are available that provide needed clothing, refreshments, information about further travel to accommodation, and child supplies. Refugees are supplied with food, necessary clothing, medication, and other items for children. Under the border, buses await refugees and take them to further Slovak towns and EU countries. Heavily frequented are countries where Ukrainian communities and relatives of refugees live.11 These include: the Czech Republic, Poland, Austria, and Germany. Some remain in Slovakia and apply for asylum.

Volunteers performing social work for refugees consist of social workers, health professionals, armed forces personnel, clergy and seminarians, teachers, university students, the unemployed, and others. Helpful are volunteers from towns and municipalities not near the Slovak-Ukrainian border. Ukrainians living close to the border are also helpful.

Benefits and demands of volunteer activity

The demands of volunteering with refugees lie in its amount, occasionally in the language barrier, in being confronted with suffering,12 guiding disoriented refugees,13 acquiring new information for assisting refugees, in patience in communication, which in such cases is more demanding. “Social communication is a basic component of interpersonal relations and ties; it is a condition for the existence of society. The art of communication in a helping profession is helping the communicating partner—the client—to feel that they are accepted as an equal and have the right to truthful, complete, and accurate information.”14 The same applies to volunteer activity carried out for war refugees and asylum seekers from Ukraine. If the war conflict in Ukraine continues for a longer period, another wave of refugees should be expected. Every volunteer has limits. In addition to volunteer activity, each volunteer has other responsibilities. We assume that over time fatigue and a shortage of volunteers may occur. New personnel need to be found.

There is a growing need for social bonds and human contact in contemporary society. This is mainly due to individualism typical of current times. A lack of interpersonal relationships leads to impoverishment of life, frustrations, and often unmet purpose in life. Volunteering here represents a possibility and an effective tool for shaping social ties and eliminating individualism in society. Volunteering strengthens social cohesion. Volunteer work creates space for the social inclusion of marginalized groups, or for active participation of children and youth. During the performance of volunteer activities, people from different social strata meet.15 They are united by the desire to help those in suffering and to do good for them and for society.

Conclusion

A refugee fleeing war runs to a neighboring country or nearby surrounding states where there is no war. The goal is to preserve one’s existence. This is now being confirmed at the beginning of the war between Russia and Ukraine. People are fleeing from fear for their lives even from peaceful areas where no explosions and gunfire are heard. Fear is nonetheless justified.

Volunteering on the Slovak-Ukrainian border represents the initial social work intervention to reduce the suffering of people affected by war. Social work support, including psychological and pastoral support, will follow with temporary and/or permanent settlement of refugees. War brings negative lasting consequences to human lives. It is each of our tasks to reflect on how to help refugees and reduce their suffering.

Autor: Mgr. JUDr. PhDr. Stanislav Bujda, PhD. Vysoká škola zdravotníctva a sociálnej práce sv. Alžbety

LIST OF USED LITERATURE

Z. č. 406/2011 Z. z. o dobrovoľníctve BUGRI, Š. BEŇO, P., ANDREJIOVÁ, L (etc.).: Dopady hospodárskej krízy na kvalitu života, zdravia a sociálnu oblasť. I. časť. Prešov : Ústav sociálnych vied a zdravotníctva bl. P. P. Gojdiča v Prešove, 2013. 517 s. ISBN 978-80-89464-23-4. BUGRI, Š. BEŇO, P., ANDREJIOVÁ, L (etc.).: Dopady hospodárskej krízy na kvalitu života, zdravia a sociálnu oblasť. II. Časť. Prešov : Ústav sociálnych vied a zdravotníctva bl. P. P. Gojdiča v Prešove, 2013. 502 s. ISBN 978-80-89464-22-7. BUGRI, Š. BEŇO, P., ANDREJIOVÁ, L (etc.).: Spolupráca pomáhajúcich profesií – determinant kvality života populácie. II. zväzok. Prešov : Ústav sociálnych vied a zdravotníctva bl. P. P. Gojdiča v Prešove, 2012. 594 s. ISBN 978-80-89464-10-4. HARDY, M., DUDÁŠOVÁ, T., VRANKOVÁ, E., HRAŠKOVÁ, A. (etc.): Sociálna patológia rodiny. Bratislava : Vysoká škola zdravotníctva a sociálnej práce sv. Alžbety v Bratislave, 2011. 365 s. ISBN 978-80-8132-000-2.

1 BRIŠŠÁKOVÁ, J. MAJCHRÁNKOVÁ, Z. MADAROVÁ, E. HARDY, M.: Dobrovoľníctvo v žilinskom regióne s akcentom na OZ Návrat. In: Dopady hospodárskej krízy na kvalitu života, zdravia a sociálnu oblasť. I. časť. Prešov : Ústav sociálnych vied a zdravotníctva bl. P. P. Gojdiča v Prešove, 2013. s. 236. 2 BRIŠŠÁKOVÁ, J. MAJCHRÁNKOVÁ, Z. MADAROVÁ, E. HARDY, M.: Dobrovoľníctvo v žilinskom regióne s akcentom na OZ Návrat. In: Dopady hospodárskej krízy na kvalitu života, zdravia a sociálnu oblasť. I. časť. Prešov : Ústav sociálnych vied a zdravotníctva bl. P. P. Gojdiča v Prešove, 2013. s. 236. 3 CINTULOVÁ, L.: Iniciatíva a hodnoty vysokoškolských dobrovoľníkov. In: Dopady hospodárskej krízy na kvalitu života, zdravia a sociálnu oblasť. I. časť. Prešov : Ústav sociálnych vied a zdravotníctva bl. P. P. Gojdiča v Prešove, 2013. s. 215. 4 Border crossing points at Ubľa and Vyšné Nemecké. 5 The Donetsk and Luhansk regions. 6 For example, some refugees from more distant parts of Ukraine traveled for 4 days to the Slovak-Ukrainian border in order to cross into a peaceful country. Due to stress they did not sleep the whole time, including children. 7 It also includes spreading Christian values and acquiring meaning in one’s future profession. 8 CINTULOVÁ, L.: Iniciatíva a hodnoty vysokoškolských dobrovoľníkov. In: Dopady hospodárskej krízy na kvalitu života, zdravia a sociálnu oblasť. I. časť. Prešov : Ústav sociálnych vied a zdravotníctva bl. P. P. Gojdiča v Prešove, 2013. s. 210. 9 Because of the state of defense duty proclaimed by Ukraine, men aged 18–60 remain in the state. 10 Compare DUDÁŠOVÁ, T., STEMPELOVÁ, J.: Spoločenské podmienky a ich dosah na rodinu. In: Sociálna patológia rodiny. Bratislava : Vysoká škola zdravotníctva a sociálnej práce sv. Alžbety v Bratislave, 2011.s. 81. 11 Mentioned above. 12 From which one needs to detach oneself. 13 Caused by fear of war and abandonment of the homeland. 14] DŽAČOVSKÁ, S., CHOVANEC, J.: Ľudský vzťah ako súčasť komunikácie pracovníka pomáhajúcich profesií. In: Dopady hospodárskej krízy na kvalitu života, zdravia a sociálnu oblasť. II. časť. Prešov : Ústav sociálnych vied a zdravotníctva bl. P. P. Gojdiča v Prešove, 2013. s. 210. 15 Compare MICHEĽ, R.: Dobrovoľníctvo a jeho výhody pre spoločnosť. In: Spolupráca pomáhajúcich profesií – determinanty kvality života populácie. II. Zväzok. Prešov : Ústav sociálnych vied a zdravotníctva bl. P. P. Gojdiča v Prešove, 2012, s. 32.