Jäneda Mõis welcomes refugees from Ukraine

Many Ukrainian refugees temporarily staying in the Estonian village of Jäneda have already found jobs and places to live.

This was reported in a short on-the-spot story by reporter Eva Klaas in the newspaper Järva Teataja.

The Eva Jäneda guesthouse is one of OÜ Jäneda Mõis’s shelters for Ukrainian refugees. As of Friday, 103 refugees were staying there temporarily, but the number keeps changing.

Managing director Enno Must said the company took part in a Ministry of Social Affairs tender seeking accommodation for Ukrainian refugees and turned out to be one of those awarded a contract.

“Since we had the opportunity to take people in and provide the necessary services, we of course offered ourselves,” said Must, adding that the most important thing was the wish to help.

Today, 12 April 2022, together with Senta Malva, an Estonian resident of Tapa who was one of the first to offer help to arriving Ukrainians in finding work, future housing and contact with the local diaspora, we visited OÜ Jäneda Mõis to meet the newcomers, talk with them, find out about possible problems and tell them about the Ukrainian community and ways to get in touch with it.

Jäneda Manor is a quiet, friendly little village with a wonderful view, a lake with swans and historic 19th-century buildings. Ukrainian families, mostly young mothers with children, are housed in the former dormitory of an agricultural college. We met the young people in the welcoming, spacious hall of the old Musta Täku Tall, where people are fed three times a day and then have free time to decide for themselves what to do. Most of the women are already actively looking for work and a future place to live. They are helped by people like Senta, local businesspeople and farmers.

People greeted us warmly, shared their impressions of Estonia and the places they had already visited and, above all, expressed sincere gratitude to the Estonian state and every one of its residents for their incredible support.

We exchanged phone numbers and Facebook pages to keep each other informed. We invited the Ukrainians to a concert of the Tapa Parish Music Days 2022 festival this Saturday at 17:00 at the Lehtse community centre.

Estonia has by now sheltered around 30,000 Ukrainians. Every family is trying to find its place and a way to lead an active life in the country.

It was nice to hear our compatriots speak Estonian words – they very much want to learn the language of their new home, the language of the state that has sheltered each of them, as soon as possible.

With the support of local Estonians, the Ukrainian community plans to organise language round tables and small gatherings where people can remember their homeland and sing their songs...

So, TERE TULEMAST, as we say here in Estonia – may everything go as well as possible for you and, most importantly, may Ukraine win this war as soon as possible! GLORY TO UKRAINE! ELAGU EESTI!