I am one of those Ukrainians who had to flee from the war and happened to be in Slovakia since March last year. This February I celebrate 20 years of work for the UN.

Veronika Frolova is a Resource Management Officer and working for IOM is her way to help Ukrainians in need. Photo © International Organization for Migration (IOM) 2023.

I always felt privileged having an opportunity to help others in need through my work. But this case is too personal and too special. The normal life routine of every Ukrainian was ruined on 24 February 2022.

Now each of us is looking for a way to help each other.

For me, it is my work for IOM Slovakia, ensuring that winter clothing, sanitary kits, kitchen equipment and other items are timely procured, paid and delivered to Ukrainians in need.

Veronika Frolova, Resource Management Officer

Kristina from Emergency Responce Unit IOM: Seeing the bravery and resilience of people fleeing the war in Ukraine makes me hopeful for a better tomorrow

Seeing the bravery and resilience of people fleeing the war in Ukraine makes me hopeful for a better tomorrow.

Kristina Lenárt was part of the team providing much-needed shelter for people in need of a roof over their heads. Photo © International Organization for Migration (IOM) 2023.

Thanks to the partnership between the IOM and Airbnb, our team has provided much-needed shelter for people in need of a roof over their heads. Every day, we had the opportunity to positively contribute to the lives of people forced to leave their country behind.

"Thanks to the positive feedback we received from the people receiving the aid we could have seen the imminent impact of securing short-term private accommodation for the most vulnerable people."

It is not only a much-needed haven - it is a new hope for building a new life in a new country and I am grateful for being part of IOM Slovakia assisting people fleeing the war in Ukraine.

Kristina Lenárt, Emergency Responce Unit, IOM Slovakia

Head of HR in IOM Slovakia: I’ve realised how fragile our current standard of living is, and how important it is to throw away prejudices and support each other

The war in Ukraine was already in its seventh month when Zuzana Hantak joined the International Organization for Migration (IOM) as a Head of Human Resources in Slovakia.

What satisfies Zuzana Hanták is that by joining IOM, she can make a positive impact by recruiting the best people for the organisation. Photo © International Organization for Migration (IOM) 2023.

When considering various opportunities, Zuzana was convinced she wanted to use her 15+ years of professional HR experience in a meaningful area. “What I’ve been experiencing in IOM so far is that this critical situation made us stronger, and it is motivating us to work as a high-performing team to ensure optimal support for displaced Ukrainian people,” she says.  

As a member of the IOM Slovakia Resources Management team, she is coordinating resources so that IOM’s frontline operating staff can better provide help to people crossing the border and seeking assistance in Slovakia, thus positively impacting refugees’ lives. 

What satisfies her is that by joining IOM, she can make a positive impact by recruiting the best people for the organisation.

“What’s happening in Ukraine is very sad, and I am sure that by working for IOM, we can make a real difference,” she thinks.

Working for a humanitarian organisation in critical moments like this brings many professional as well as personal challenges. “I’ve realised how fragile our current standard of living is, and how important it is to throw away prejudices and support each other. I would never have believed that our neighbouring state would experience this kind of situation in the 21st century, and I truly hope Ukrainians will soon have an opportunity to start living their regular lives in their beautiful country again,” Zuzana Hantak, the Head of HR in IOM Slovakia, concludes.

Zuzana Hantak, the Head of HR in IOM Slovakia

Trainer in Modern Slavery Prevention from IOM: Human trafficking always occurs in places where people are very vulnerable

In the context of the conflict in Ukraine, the issue of human trafficking and labour exploitation has also "resurfaced". 

While until now IOM's activities have focused on this topic from the point of view of protecting Slovak people, it is now necessary to change the optics and set up a system of protection and prevention activities to protect Ukrainian men and women who seek safety in our country.

Zuzana Čačová trains police officers, firefighters, psychologists and labour inspectors in human trafficking prevention. It is important that people of first-contact are able to recognize red flags of possible human trafficking and help if needed. Photo © International Organization for Migration (IOM) 2023.

Our activities on prevention of modern slavery are mainly preventive and advocative. In my team we train police officers, firefighters, first-contact people at the border, psychologists, aid workers, labour inspectors and, of course, our staff. In total, almost 500 professionals have been trained.

"Human trafficking or modern slavery always occurs in places where people are very vulnerable. Through our activities, we try to draw attention and sensitivity to red flags to look out for when working with people coming from Ukraine."

Zuzana Čačová, IOM Capacity Building Coordinator

Yelizaveta Halina, IOM Border Operation Coordinator: I am worried about my family, but IOM is my daily motivation to live a new day no matter what is going on in the world

I joined IOM after fleeing the war from Ukraine to Slovakia being quite lucky to find a job vacancy on IOM’s webpage when I was searching for information about temporary protection and how it works. I started to work as a consultant in the field providing informational assistance for people fleeing the war and arriving at a new destination - Slovakia. 

Yelyzaveta Halina provides information about temporary refuge to a woman from Ukraine. Photo © International Organization for Migration (IOM) 2023.

It is important for me to assist people from Ukraine because I feel like it is my contribution to solution of current crisis and as a result, I can help them by providing clear and comprehensive answers to different questions regarding life in Slovakia. My colleagues and I deliver winter clothes and hygienic supplies to the spots where IOM is currently operating and where our beneficiaries can reach out and get necessary things for their daily lives. 

IOM has become a new page of my life being a refugee in a new country. I am happy to understand that I spend my time on useful activities that make people’s lives better. I am working in a friendly environment with amazing colleagues that are ready to support me when I need that. A part of my family is in the eastern part of Ukraine.

"Of course, I am worried about them every day and that’s why IOM is my daily motivation to wake up and live a new day no matter what is going on in the world." 

Yelyzaveta Halina, IOM Border Operations Coordinator

Natalia Kolomiiets, IOM's Legal Counsellor: It is my mission to provide help and support to people from Ukraine

As a Ukrainian, after the war started, it was especially important for me to work for an organization that supports people from Ukraine. IOM (International Organization for Migration) has high ethical standards of work and an impeccable reputation, and the organization's values have resonated with me. 

 Nataliia Kolomiiets with the Ukrainian flag. Photo © Nataliia Kolomiiets / International Organization for Migration (IOM) 2023.

I have extensive experience in migration and corporate law from Ukraine, as well as in giving legal pieces of advice to foreigners in Ukraine, therefore working at the IOM Migration Information Centre is exactly the place where my skills and qualification fit.

While working at the IOM, I have acquired new knowledge, and skills and gained experience in an influential international organization and used my potential to provide qualified assistance to immigrants. 

Since April 2022, I have had the opportunity to become part of the IOM MIC (Migration Information Centre) team and provide written and personal consultations on Slovak migration law for Ukrainians and third-country nationals. Since the beginning of the war, the activities of our centre have expanded significantly, and now we additionally support a hotline for Ukrainian and Russian speakers and organize workshops and seminars for Ukrainians on topical issues of legal stay in Slovakia and safe employment. In addition, the IOM MIC Center provides a unique service, namely legal support for Ukrainian citizens in the humanitarian centre in Gabčíkovo.

Quite often, people have lost everything, so it is particularly important for them that the services of our centre are provided free of charge. 

“Every Ukrainian fleeing the war is a person with a story of survival and adaptation in other countries, a story full of the pain of losing loved ones or homes, overcoming confusion and fear, and finding hope and faith in the future while the previous life has been completely destroyed.”

That is why I genuinely want to help Ukrainians adjust to lives in their new country, I want them to feel safe, I want them to know their rights and obligations and feel supported in a situation of uncertainty. It is my mission to be part of our big project and to provide help and support to people from Ukraine. This is my way of helping my country and its people. 

Ukrainians who came to Slovakia found themselves in a different environment with a different language, a new culture and new laws, rules, and regulations. That is why the purpose of my work, and our main objective is to support those people who have just arrived and help them with integration and adaptation to life in a new country. Most Ukrainians, once they find themselves in another country, experience psychological difficulties, a language barrier, distrust of strangers, and limited employment opportunities including restricted educational opportunities. 

Communicating with people in their native language, explaining their rights and obligations, providing legal advice, and helping them to find employment - all of this contributes to the comfortable adaptation of Ukrainians to their life in a new country. People need to feel that the country providing them with temporary protection status is embracing them and is doing everything possible in terms of legislation to provide guarantees of security and assistance.

Undoubtedly, the war in Ukraine caused shock and stress not only for me but for everyone in the world, because it is impossible to prepare for war in advance. Like other citizens of Ukraine, I left my country and my home, lost my business, and went through my way adapting to the new realities of life in another country. In Slovakia, I received incredible support and assistance from the Slovaks, found my new home, realized my potential and I am also doing what I enjoy. Having gone through this difficult path, I am happy to be in Slovakia, to have the opportunity to be part of the International Organization for Migration team, and to feel involved in a common great cause - supporting other Ukrainian refugees.

Nataliia Kolomiiets, IOM Legal Counsellor

Slavomír Buchedr, IOM's Frontline Worker: I realized the value of life, freedom, and safety

During my university studies, I felt the need to help people I was around. I became a regular blood donor as well as a volunteer for various youth organizations that focused on helping young people and informal education. After the outbreak of the war in Ukraine, I joined the volunteers in Kosice, where I became a member of the IOM staff and become more familiar with the organization's work and mission in Slovakia. 

Slavomir, a member of the IOM frontline team, assisting at the Košice Hotspot. Photo © International Organization for Migration (IOM) 2023.

As one of the members of the IOM Frontline Team in Košice, I try to represent IOM Slovakia on a professional level. I provide refugees and displaced persons with advice and services in the field of work, and education and always deliver up-to-date and objective information on migration and asylum.

In the very first months of the war, I tried to help with the organisation and coordination of the refugee centre, which was set up provisionally next to the railway station in Kosice. In the very beginning, frightened and disoriented people came to us in need of psychological, social, material and technical help. 

Each one of us, including myself, longs for acceptance, whether in the family, at school or in the workplace. It was with these people, who had to take the difficult decision to leave their family, their home, and their country, that I realised that, first and foremost, they needed and longed for acceptance, for love, for the closeness of another person. They needed to be sure that they would be accepted in a foreign country. This is how they can realise their value and uniqueness, creativity, and a sense of health importance and self-confidence. 

The story of a lady who fled the war in Georgia to Odessa, Ukraine, has remained in my recent memory. She lived there for more than ten years, unfortunately, she had to flee the war again, from Ukraine to Slovakia. Together with my colleagues, we helped her to safely return from Slovakia to Georgia.  

"Thanks to my work, I realized the value of life, freedom, and safety, which we can lose at any time."

I try to treat every person with respect and dignity. As a worker of IOM, I have become more empathetic towards people and have the opportunity to offer them friendly support in the difficult life situations they are currently going through.

 Slavomír Bucher, IOM Frontline Worker

Olena Khomych from IOM Frontline Team: It is nice to realize that I can be of service to Ukrainians

I was born and lived in Luhansk oblast in the town of Lisichansk. Since the start of the full-scale invasion, my hometown has been very "hot", with a 15-degree frost. Because of the ongoing war and my city under occupation, I had no other option but to leave Ukraine in mid-March 2022. All I took was my family: my parents, my son, and my dog, and we went to Slovakia.

Olena Khomych, a member of the IOM frontline team, assists Ukrainian people at the border point of entry. Photo © International Organization for Migration (IOM) 2023.

The first thing I saw at the border of Vysne Nemecke was a banner with information about help from IOM. I am a highly qualified psychologist and worked under contract with IOM in 2015-16 in my hometown on the war line with people who were mentally affected by the war events that started in our region back in 2014. I wanted to bring help to my fellow citizens in Slovakia as well, so I wrote a CV and sent it to IOM. A month later, I joined the team of field advisers at the borders and registration centres for people fleeing the war in Ukraine.

I genuinely like my job. It is nice to realize that I can be of service to Ukrainians in Europe in such a challenging time.

"Ukrainians are often compared to bees; very hardworking and sincere. Now, the most important thing is to give these bees a safe hive and plenty of flowers for nectar; to direct them in a good direction. Then, they will be of good use here."

Thanks to the help of organizations like IOM and our work as field workers, this is possible.

Thank you, IOM, 

Olena Khomych, IOM Frontline Worker

The views presented herein do not necessarily represent the opinions of the International Organization for Migration (IOM).

With the support of: