AMCHAM.lu plans for Ukrainian displaced persons support:
All of Luxembourg has opened its heart and accepted 4,000 Ukrainian displaced persons and temporary protection status as I write this. Many individuals and families have opened their homes, providing spare bedrooms with offers of free lodging. Our good friend Guy De Muyser has even installed heat on his third floor and built an attic apartment for some lucky family to use. One of our former Committee Chairpersons has converted the office in the second bedroom of her apartment back into a bedroom. Many people and companies have donated food, clothing and paid for petrol for trucks driving to the Ukrainian border. I join in the chorus of thanks to our fellow countrymen and women who have helped within Ukraine, at the Ukraine border in Poland and Romania, and here in Luxembourg. We honor all of these many efforts by people and companies.
Within AMCHAM, we have been involved both internationally and locally. In coordination with our colleagues within the AMCHAM European network, we are working to support displaced persons and funding satellite internet access to ensure access to information and communication both within Ukraine and between Ukraine and the outside world. I express my sincere thanks to two AMCHAM member companies who have joined us by offering to fund two of the Satellite Internet Kits purchased from Elon Musk, who has provided these kits at his cost without making any profit. The AMCHAMs in Europe network is also working with AMCHAM Ukraine to supply logistics requirements, including 20 million military food packs and an extensive listing of other food supplies and logistics equipment (see Ukraine food shortages article). We invite companies or individuals interested in supporting this effort to contact us.
We have partnered locally with the Luxembourg Chamber of Commerce, Spuerkeess, ACL and Luxembourg Times to relaunch our Russian language 5-hours Newcomer orientation course to support Ukrainian displaced persons. We have considerable relocation and integration experience, with this Newcomer orientation course being an updated version of the same class we developed and taught over past years under EU sponsorship. It will be offered to Ukrainian displaced persons for free to help them settle into Luxembourg and will be taught in Russian, one of their preferred languages of communication. Newcomer attendees will also be offered free one-year AMCHAM individual memberships and free AMCHAM member benefits club (MBC) cards to help them buy what they need at discounted prices.
We also will offer our Ukrainian guests access to our free Languages of Luxembourg Training course applications materiel to help them become conversant in the five major languages of Luxembourg: Luxembourgish, French, German, Portuguese, and English.
Lastly, we are launching an updated Russian Language version of our very well-received Doing Business in Luxembourg book, at least in a digital version online (with the possibility for a paper version if we can get funding support).
We believe this initiative package will help integrate these new arrivals positively, including work and their establishment of new companies as entrepreneurs.
