Photo: Mathias P.R. Reding | Pexels
Even as war rages in Ukraine, online platforms such as Host a Sister, Ukraine Take Shelter, Host 4 Ukraine, RefugeBooking, and other small, local platforms, offer help from people all over the world. When the Irish government set up a website for people to offer accommodation, so many hosts signed up on the first day that the website crashed. “War brings out the worst and the best in people,” says Lynda Elliott, founder of the Refugee Buddy Network. Rashvinda Kaur, a daycare owner in New Orleans, started Host a Sister in 2019. It connects women looking for friendships and a safe place to crash, for free, and is now nearly a quarter-million women strong. Within hours after the Russian invasion, a surge of offers started filling the site. Many refugees land in neighboring countries but potential hosts come from Madrid to Berlin, Italian hamlets and villages in the South of France. Farmers in Alabama, mothers in Connecticut and dentists in Sydney have all posted offers of free accommodation, sometimes including assistance with travel fares.
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