A UK Lifeboat for Eastern Europeans

WVoN spoke to four women who help East European women who are in the UK and need support.

Most women who settle in the UK from Eastern Europe find work and are happy here. But some need support.

Barka UK is an organisation that helps vulnerable Eastern Europeans in Britain.

Barka is Polish for barge and the organisation provides a lifeboat for people who are homeless or out of work in London.

It also runs a national telephone helpline where women can get immediate support and advice.

Dorota Harembska, who runs the outreach and resettlement service, says that 90 per cent of the homeless people they come across are men, and they often suffer from severe drug and alcohol addiction.

Most of the people who call Barka UK's helpline however, are women.

Agnieszka Baczkiewicz runs the helpline, and receives calls from Eastern European women, not just in London but from across the country.

“I can have a call about something simple like free school meals, but there are quite a few calls about legal issues such as housing benefit, finding a private landlord that will be willing to accept them, or finding a council willing to house them.

“We are not always able to find services that can reconnect people to their home country.

“Someone living in the middle of nowhere can find themselves homeless with no language services.

“A lot of the phone calls come from women, because women are quite pro-active in looking after their families.

"They are worried about things going wrong,” she said.

Malgorzata Bachmiak runs the Social Economy Centre, which provides support with vocational training and job seeking.

“We know quite a few people who were paid under the minimum wage.

"They were paid £6 an hour which is illegal and were not being paid National Insurance,” she said.

Although most of her clients are men working in industries like construction and catering, Bachmiak says that most Eastern European women work, and they tend to return to work very quickly after having children.

“I had this woman she had never worked before, she lived here for two years she had three kids and then she got pregnant again.

“She went to the Jobcentre and applied for JSA, but she wanted to get some work and get some rights.

“She had to return to work after two weeks [after giving birth].

"It was very difficult, as she had a caesarean. She gave her baby to her mother to look after.

“It's quite difficult, especially for single mothers, the father runs away, what should they do, should they go back to Poland?

"They are in a different country. Maybe the kids are not three years old yet, so they can't go to pre-school, but there is nothing for them in Poland,” said Baczkiewicz.

She said her helpline receives some calls about domestic violence, but not as many as she would expect.

“Perhaps women are afraid, they just put up with it. Perhaps its not so much of an issue, but I don't think so because of all the alcoholism. Maybe they find other services,” said Baczkiewicz.

The women thought Barka UK offered a unique and valuable service to their community.

“We are different from other services first of all because of the language. We are able to communicate with people from Eastern Europe, some of the staff speak Russian as well.

“We are closer to them culturally. We know their situation better,” said Monika Zerbin, who worked as an outreach worker for the charity.

However Barka UK has recently faced worrying funding cuts.

Lambeth Council and the City of London decided not to continue commissioning it to provide reconnection services for Central and Eastern European migrants living in these boroughs, although they will still be able to access Barka's helpline and Social Economy Centre, which are funded from other sources.

Lord Roberts of Llandudno, President of the Friends of Barka UK, wrote last month: “Such decisions make little sense since migrants from countries such as Poland account for nearly a third of London’s homeless population, a figure which may rise when barriers to Romanian and Bulgarian workers are lifted next year.

"Barka UK must be allowed to continue making a difference.

"London councils need to realise that organisations that know what they are doing in this difficult area should be supported in these tough times.

"Now, more than ever, we need to reach out and help migrant rough-sleepers on the streets of our capital.

"And we must ensure that inspirational groups such as Barka UK can continue to do their unsung and indispensable work.”

Story published on Women's Views on News, 7 May, 2013