Ukraine emergency: distributing hope

We met Father Vyacheslav Hrynevych, director of Caritas-Spes Ukraine, when he was  visiting Rome.  He told us what is being done to support the Ukrainian people today, whilst also thinking of the future.

“The most difficult thing is that there is no end in sight to this war. In the last two weeks I have visited our centres in Chernihiv, Kharkiv, Getormel and the surrounding villages: there were poor people there before the war, but today they are even poorer because of the impact of all they have experienced. We want to organise psychological and spiritual accompaniment for them.  Our volunteers could provide this.” Father Vyacheslav (Wenceslas) is the young director of Caritas-Spes Ukraine.  He has a reassuring smile and the energy needed to endure and persevere in helping the population during this time of conflict in Ukraine.

Visiting the different centres and cities, he was struck by some images, such as that of the Kharkiv metro, which is like a parallel underground city: “Some people live in the metro, they have organised themselves,” he explains, “There is a food distribution point, with times for breakfast, lunch and dinner, there is even a medical point, but people, including children, are living in the carriages of the trains. And when we proposed setting up an evacuation procedure, they replied that they wanted to stay, because that is their home and it is important to them. This is happening in all the stations and when something is missing on one side, for example, something like sugar, you get it from another station nearby, through the connecting tunnels. This is a beautiful image of the organisation of the Ukrainian people, but also an apocalyptic image of a country at war.”

In the centres, besides providing meals for the day, there are also a number of different activities: some people stay with the children, others offer psychological support and some people distribute clothing: everyone is involved.

When we ask about the children, Father Wenceslas tells us how he is struck by the fact that they seem to have accepted the war but without understanding its tragic and brutal nature. “One child,” he tells us, “explained to us, in a simple way, the difference between the sound of rain and the sound of shelling.

For them and their families, psychological support is important and will be  afterwards too. I think that 80 per cent of the children, if not more, are separated from their fathers who are at war.  The women and children are either living outside the country or in shelters. One day we will have to do something to reunite these families. I have experienced this type of  situation in 2014. Even then, when the men came back, they were not the same, they suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder. This is a big challenge and support will be needed years and years.”

When we ask him about the end of the war, Father Wenceslas does not know how to give us an unequivocal answer: “The war does not end with an act of peace, the war remains in the memory, we will remember the bombings for the rest of our lives, the ugly images, the separated families, the dead friends… The war will end with forgiveness and we must work on this slowly, examining our consciences very deeply …”. Then a ray of hope breaks through: ‘I’m waiting for the day when I can go home and play five-a-side football with my friends. That will be a time of peace.  People will be able to pray in churches without listening for the sirens.  They will go to the churches to pray and for Mass and not to distribute or search for humanitarian goods and medicines, as is the case now. But at the moment, it’s hard to say what will happen. The situation is so dynamic and you can’t see any signs, any prospects of things ending.”

War  destroys people’s lives, and Father Wenceslas is grateful that at this time the Focolare Movement has chosen to stand alongside the Ukrainian people: “Seeing the faces of people who, in a very beautiful way, live the charism of the Focolare Movement, gives me a lot of hope.  With those among them who live in Ukraine and collaborate with Caritas-Spes we do a great job, from morning to night, with great respect. I would also like to thank those who cannot help financially, but who are close to us in prayer, thank you. Even during this time of war we experience God’s love.”

 Riccardo Camillieri & Stefano Comazzi

Contributions can be made to:

Azione per un Mondo Unito ONLUS (AMU)
IBAN: IT 58 S 05018 03200 000011204344  Banca Popolare Etica
Codice SWIFT/BIC: ETICIT22XXX

Azione per Famiglie Nuove ONLUS (AFN)
IBAN: IT 92 J 05018 03200 000016978561 presso Banca Popolare Etica

Codice SWIFT/BIC: ETICIT22XXX

Donations should be marked : Emergenza Ucraina