A 19-year-old Harvard student created a website that connects Ukrainian refugees with people who are willing to host them.
Within a week of the invasion, the 19-year-old Harvard University student and his friend conceived, developed, and launched UkraineTakeShelter.com, a website that seamlessly connects Ukrainian refugees with people willing to host them. The website is essentially a public bulletin board to help Ukrainian refugees find available hosts. It’s similar to a scaled-down version of Airbnb that caters solely to refugees.
People from all over the world can sign up as potential hosts and include information such as where they are located, how many people they can host, what languages they speak, and if they can assist with transportation.
Refugees are not even required to sign up. They can go to UkraineTakeShelter.com and enter their city, and the site will find the closest possible hosts.
A search for a single person in Kyiv, Ukraine, for example, yields potential hosts in neighbouring countries such as Poland, Romania, and Lithuania. The names of the listings include “Couch available for mother with kids” and “Bucharest – 1 room in flat.” They are labelled with information such as “2 spaces available,” “Russian Speaker,” “Pets Allowed,” and “Kid-Friendly.”
When a refugee selects a listing, he or she is given contact information for the host and can make arrangements from there. The listings are automatically translated based on who is accessing the site, making it extremely simple to use regardless of your native language.
According to Schiffmann, the website was specifically designed to be as simple and intuitive as possible.
He stated that the intention is for anyone who has previously used the internet to be able to use it. The site has been reviewed by cybersecurity experts and is designed to prevent refugees from entering personal information.
As of Sunday evening, nearly 1,000 people from all across the world had signed up as prospective candidates, according to Schiffmann, but that number is doubling every 12 hours. In addition to Eastern Europe, hosts have listed listings from the United States, the Netherlands, Iceland, France, and many other countries.
According to Schiffmann, several of the listings are in the West, but they’re making progress to spread the word in Eastern Europe, reaching out to celebrities, professors, aid organisations, and media outlets.
