If you have been on Facebook or Twitter recently within the post month, you may have noticed the popularity of the hashtag #AfricansinUkraine. By using the hashtag, I found #BlackForeignersinUkraine.
I talked to Janine Anthony and Jewel Addy who are part of the media team for Black Foreigners in Ukraine.
Newly formed organisation, Black Foreigners in Ukraine has successfully helped marginalised immigrants leave the war-torn nation. The organisation started out as a group of strangers on the internet united by a common cause- to fight the injustice experienced by anyone who isn’t white in Ukraine.
Addy said: “We were told that it was women and children first, then men, then whoever was leftover…Black people.”
The duo explained that there is a great need for helping those that are in the midst of war; social media is the main tool to help these foreigners.
Janine Anthony explained that Telegram, an app similar to WhatsApp, is popular in Eastern-Europe and so they have used the app to help get the students to border points.
Besides informational support, Black Foreigners in Ukraine support those displaced in the war with medical care, transport and food supplies.
Addy said: “They needed money for food but the atms were out of cash and so were able to rely on Crypto. We were able to use that to pay for things when there was no money in the country, so we worked to develop a MetaMask wallet guide that helped teach students how to download crypto wallets so we could send them crypto funds.”
The brilliance of the charitable organisation goes beyond crypto as what they are doing is changing lives. They are trying to fight xenophobic discrimitation experienced a several border points in Ukraine.
One thing they are doing is creating partnerships with Universities so displaced students are able to continue with their studies when leaving the Eastern-European nation.
Addy said: “Migrant, Black, African, Indian, Asian students who were so young , ventured far from home to pursue an education, doing medicine, STEM, engineering… They have gone through super traumatic events having just escaped war and yet their first focus is how to finish their studies. And if you don’t want that kind of individual in your medical program or as your future doctor I don’t know who you think is better suited for the task.”
After widespread support for Ukraine; it must be recognised that they are not the only ones that require our attention. Addy and Anthony had highlighted ‘the dangers of a single story’ and the need for us all to recognise bias within ourselves.
Whilst you are supporting Ukraine, consider also supporting organisations that seek to help those that are forgotten about, like Black Foreigners in Ukraine.
Click here to support.
#blackforeignersinukraine #AfricansinUkraine #Racism #War #Ukraine
