"The world has to understand that even after six months of war, people still have nowhere to return," Erik Heinonen (CRS) on visits to Caritas-Spes Ukraine centers
Russia's invasion of Ukraine changed the lives of Ukrainians, but it did not break their spirit. While our soldiers are firmly defending our freedom and independence of our Motherland, the Caritas-Spes Ukraine Mission for six months has been conducting large-scale humanitarian work in 42 centers in different parts of the country.
Recently, a representative of the Catholic Relief Services (CRS) partner organization, Erik Heinonen, along with the team members of the National Office of Caritas-Space Ukraine - logistics manager Vitalii Pazdrii and security manager Oleksii Shevchenko - visited Caritas centers in various regions. We talked about the results of the trips to Lviv, the final city of our trip.
"Half a year passed since the beginning of the full-scale invasion, and we understand that many people have found relatively safe places to stay, but now they face new needs for the autumn and winter period," Erik explains the purpose of the trip. Since February 24, when the lives of millions of Ukrainians changed drastically, internally displaced persons had only one need for the first three months. Now, in September, they have other needs. Therefore, we visited different centers in order to better plan our further work, budget and resources.
Caritas-Spes is not just an organization that receives humanitarian goods and provides aid on the ground. The Mission has to be sensitive to people and help those in need. We have to be realistic: not all people from the start of the full-scale invasion needed food kits, for example. But such help can really make a difference, when a person arrives empty-handed in a completely unfamiliar city."
Erik added that partners and donors of our Mission allocated assistance for a certain period of time, so for further cooperation it was necessary to compare forecasts with reality. Oleksii had visited the Kyiv-Zhytomyr Diocesan centers before, but it was his first trip being so far-reaching.
Security manager, Oleksii Shevchenko, who accompanied the group, emphasized that the centers in different regions differ among themselves in the dynamics of their work, and this is explained by the number of forced migrants the city receives in general. "So we saw quite substantial work, for example, in Dnipro. For all the points of contact, there are certain nuances everywhere. We understand that centers have different approaches to, for example, the delivery of humanitarian aid. Those who are reached out by thousands of people have developed an online registration system. Others register people manually in the order of the live queue. This shows the adaptability of our employees. We managed to collect a certain amount of information, and in the future we will develop a regulatory framework of recommendations on how to automate the reporting process. Of course, we take into account the specifics and experience of different regions," Oleksii added.
Our travel itinerary was as follows: Vinnytsia — Uman — Kremenchuk — Dnipro (where we were joined by the representatives of the Nikopol, Zaporizhzhia, Pavlohrad, Kamianskyi and Pokrovsk teams) — Kryvyi Rih — Kamianets-Podilskyi — Khmelnytskyi — Yasinia — Syniak — Bushtyno — Rakhiv — Mukachevo — Lviv.
The focus of attention of CRS representatives and the team was to understand how relevant our Mission's help is, and whether Caritas-Spes centers are provided with everything necessary for living. It was important for the "delegation" to talk to people who directly received help from our Mission, to ask how they learned about us and whether they were satisfied with the assistance provided. Although the visits were of a more work character, Erik and Oleksii were impressed by the people's stories.
Erik Heinonen, "When I talked to people and asked how they learned about Caritas-Spes, they started telling about their journey to a new city. I saw tears in their eyes. I could never imagine how difficult the story of Ukrainians moving inside the country during the war may be. Our foreign partners have to know that none of the forced migrants has "let go" the situation even after six minths. People keep reading news about their hometowns on a daily basis. Every day they worry about their abandoned homes, some homes remain intact, and they really dream of returning home.
The world community must understand that even though half a year has passed, people still have nowhere to return, as a large part of the territory of Ukraine remains under occupation. How to proceed if a person from Kramatorsk, Sloviansk, Sievierodonetsk, has no money and does not want to live under the Russian flag? This is a matter of urgent response.
The war really affected everyone. And the fact that I have the opportunity to communicate with people today is a miracle for me. My family was also evacuated abroad from Irpin. I could have never thought that we would also need humanitarian aid. When we crossed the border, we spent the next three days in the car and were very grateful for the support. Yes, we had some money, but you cannot buy anything standing in the middle of the road for three days. This was our reality."
Oleksii Shevchenko, "I remember an elderly couple from one of our Mission's centers for IDPs. The husband and wife, both over 80, found themselves making various accessories and decorating the place they lived in. These people did not get lost, but found activities to their liking. This causes respect."
Of course, it is possible for the organization to go through many stages in the course of six months, encountering ups and downs, but the Caritas-Spes Ukraine Mission does not stop, it continues to develop new projects, responding to urgent requests of those in need.
Erik Heinonen from CRS has been cooperating with our Mission for about two months, but he can already see significant progress of Caritas-Space Ukraine as an organization being able to create new centers, connect them with each other through logistical and communication means.
"Now, the RM Caritas-Spes is carrying out unprecedented, prior to February 24, scale of work. Not all international organizations are able to receive, register and distribute humanitarian goods in such a way. What is more, I can feel that all the workers and volunteers I met have big hearts and compassion. The Caritas people are very kind and really want to help. Over six months of such service, I saw many tired people, but their spirit continues to commit to values and faith," Erik Heinonen summed up his observations.
The Mission expresses gratitude to its partners for their support, accompanying and such an assessment of our work. Only owing to the participation of caring people, Caritas-Spes Ukraine is able to become essential support of the spirit and give hope.
