The Entry Hub is in danger because the budgets of the aid organisations are running out and the energy of the helpers and volunteers is drying up. However, to make the Entry Hub Zahony fit for winter, it is of utmost importance to act now. The „tent“ that has made such a big difference is not energy or cost efficient and can only withstand a very small amount of snow. Therefore, it is not suitable for winter use in the long term.
Three main factors affecting the Entry Hub in Záhony:
Waiting area of the Refugee Info Tent.
Waiting area of the Refugee Info Tent, unfortunately not winter-proof the part
1) continuing war without end in the foreseeable future
2) strong indications of further increase in asylum seekers as more and more towns in eastern Ukraine are evacuated and according to UNHCR there are already 4 to 6 million displaced people in the northwestern areas of Ukraine. Their already precarious living conditions are continuously deteriorating.
3) Third-country nationals fleeing the Ukrainian war are increasingly being turned back into Ukraine from all other borders and are only allowed to enter Hungary.
What we plan to do:
So with the money from the Freedom Train project, as well as your donations, the necessary steps will be taken to make the Entry Hub in Zahony fit to remain a special place with all its benefits during the winter months. For the winter of 2022/2023, temporary emergency measures will be taken to winterise the existing spatial configuration as much as possible. The simplest solution will be to buy containers, which is costly and involves avoidable transport. Therefore, we see this solution only as an emergency solution.
In order to be able to offer a higher quality of stay all year round in the longer term, we are already working on a more advanced solution for the next season together with Christoph Lachberger, an architect who teaches at the Vienna University of Technology. The aim is to avoid the cost-intensive and ecologically questionable use of the usual prefabricated container modules. Therefore, we are aiming at the new development of an ecologically and socially sustainable container construction plan for the production of the required modules directly on site and from locally available, recyclable or already recycled materials. Such a container module should be easy to build with local labour and can thus increase the value of the donations many times over, as the money for materials and labour can be used directly in the region. Furthermore, the hub solution should be standardised for combination with solar modules, water filter systems, wind energy and communication modules and be as flexible as possible to be adapted for other purposes. The resulting blueprint can be used wherever necessary. To realise this new development, we are currently working on a collaboration with the Vienna University of Technology, Faculty of Architecture and Spatial Planning.
Ideally we will be able to finance part of the running costs through the collected donations in order to keep the hub as good as possible, such as the continuous supply of hot food and drinks to the refugees, charging stations for mobile phones or free internet access for the arriving persons.
