Wolja e.V.

"Wolya" means freedom and will translated from Ukrainian. The German-Ukrainian association was founded on April 5, 2022, at the very beginning of the war. At first, Ukrainian women living in Witten joined forces to provide Ukrainian aid: there were peaceful demonstrations, fundraising campaigns, donation transports for Ukraine. Going to the authorities took a lot of energy, but the absolute openness of the society was overwhelming. Ukrainian women experienced a lot of solidarity and love during this time. We were able to make good use of the volunteer network that was created for cooperation with the city of Witten when the need for translators for Ukrainian/Russian became great. Our volunteers were also everywhere for the city of Witten: in the immigration office, in the social welfare office, job center, etc. For the refugees in Witten we founded a Telegram platform, and today we can reach up to 600 people through it. We regularly publish important local information, educate Ukrainians on various issues. At the moment there is a great housing shortage in Witten, and this is also what concerns the Ukrainian refugees the most.