First asylum seekers to soon move to new centre in Vageva

Last week half of the extensive renovation of the new centre for asylum seekers in the village of Vageva in Estonia's Jogeva County was completed and soon 22 asylum seekers presently living in the Vao centre will be able to move in to the building, the regional daily Tartu Postimees reports.

The first residents of the new centre will be three Armenian families, one Afghan family and one Iraqi family. Twelve of the asylum seekers are children, six of whom are school-age and will probably start attending the Vaimastvere primary school located 10 kilometers from the centre.

According to a spokesman for the state-owned social welfare services provider AS Hoolekandeteenused, Tiit Tsarski, the asylum seekers' living spaces are to be modest and simple. Every family will have a separate room with beds and a refrigerator. There is also one kitchen per three families and all families share a children's playroom as well as a room for watching TV.

While the initial plan was to build a wire fence around the building for security purposes, at present the company does not think it is necessary and will resume the plan if something should pose a danger to the building's residents. At present a security guard works on the premises, Tsarski said.

At present 17 intellectually disabled people live in the other half of the building, but one by one they would be directed to live in other such facilities and after that the whole building would be used to house asylum seekers.

According to the Estonian Ministry of the Interior, in June, Greece has sent the files of four refugee families (20 people) to Estonia. Three families are from Syria and one from Iraq, and the biggest of the families has six members.

Estonia has now 27 refugees from Greece. Estonian experts have also conducted interviews in Turkey and the first refugee families from Turkey might arrive in Estonia in July.