Emergency Relief for the Crisis in Ukraine

In Hungary, we are supporting refugees in the village of  Máriapócs, close to the Ukrainian border, and in the border city of Záhony. 

In Záhony, we have been supporting refugees in cooperation with the city since last November. For more information about our support in Záhony, please click here.

Záhony station is the closest Hungarian station to Ukraine, and all displaced persons entering Hungary by train from Ukraine go through this station. Even today, eight trains a day run between Ukraine and Hungary.

Immediately after the invasion, many families were seen on the trains coming from Ukraine, but now most of the passengers are women and children, and adult men are rarely seen. This is because adult Ukrainian men are not free to leave the country during wartime.

Also, few men who left the country before the war to make a living or for other reasons return to their homeland to avoid being drafted into the army or to avoid the fire of war. For this reason, most of the passengers from Hungary to Ukraine are also women whose behavior is not restricted.

One woman who fled Ukraine with her family just after the war began said that she and her children have returned home several times to see her parents, who left her in the country because they are too old to movement. However, since her 17-year-old eldest son will soon reach the age for conscription, the time when she can return home is gradually becoming shorter, and she said, "I go to see them while I can."

They and their families are in a situation were meeting their families also comes with a time limit.

The refugee accommodation in the village of  Máriapócs village is still home to less than 30 displaced people. They continue to stay at the facility for a variety of reasons, including those whose homes were destroyed by bombing, those from occupied areas, and those who were forced to flee due to their own illnesses and the drafting of their children into the military. The owner of the facility said, "When we made the decision to accept refugees, we thought it would only be for a few months, but it has been 19 months. We cannot stop accepting refugees because some have returned to Ukraine, some families have moved further to Western Europe, and some have nowhere to return to.

However, compared to when we first started accepting refugees, the cost of utilities and gas has increased many times over due to inflation, and the facility is now in a difficult situation to operate. Although support from the Hungarian government is available, it is limited to one meal per day, which does not improve their lives. Terra Renaissance therefore purchases food, daily necessities, and medicines as needed, and delivers them to the accommodation on a regular basis. We have been very pleased with the support of bicycles, which have enabled the refugees to go shopping on their own, expanding their range of activities.And for those who need dental care, we also provide transportation to the dentist's office and provide for the cost of treatment. In this way, we provide support tailored to their needs and lead to improved livelihoods by offering extra support.

More than a year and a half after the invasion, it is difficult to predict the future situation, but they are living in their own places, holding on to their feelings for their hometowns, including their families left behind in Ukraine and their own real homes, which they are very attached to. We will continue to support the refugees and those who continue to support them so that they can live a comfortable life.

Links:

• Latest report of Ukraine project
• Latest report of Uganda project
• Terra Renaissance's homepage; facebook