By Anastasia Lapteva | Project coordinator
Our dearest friends, thank you so much for all your concern and help. We would like to share some news about our recent work with Ukrainian refugees and IDPs.
This month started with our volunteers visiting the villages in Kyiv and Vinnytsia regions to support internally displaced families who came under fire. They were provided with medicines, adult diapers and food. The situation in the villages remains critical, as many pharmacies, shops and houses were destroyed by the fighting.
Marking World Refugee Day on June 20th, the Women's Federation held a few actions in Ukraine and Poland for almost 200 refugees and IDPs. Two projects went in Warsaw and Wroclaw Cities in Poland, with the support of Japanese partners. Forty four Ukrainian refugees took part in a psychological-cultural meeting in Warsaw. While adults were listening to practical advices from the psychologist on how to overcome stressful situations and respond to life circumstances, children were enjoying origami workshop. Participants also had music and dance performances, a master class on making Japanese sushi and roles.
One hundred and thirty Ukrainian refugees took part in a cultural program in Wroclaw with traditional Japanese performances and master-classes. Everyone received calligraphy of their names from a Japanese master. All families also received financial support, and kids got sweets, toys and kits for sports and creativity.
On the eve of World Refugee Day our Japanese partners visited Ukrainian refugees in Germany, listening to their tearful stories of escaping death in Bucha and Gostomel Cities.
And in Ukraine forty internally displaced persons got grocery gift sets on the occasion of World Refugee Day.
As we get more and more calls for help, the scale of our activity expands every day, as well as our hearts expand in listening and empathizing to plenty of deep and tragic stories. One of our recent beneficiaries was an aged couple of Hanna and Anatolii who were evacuated from Severodonetsk, Luhansk region, “a dead city”, which was destroyed for more than 70 percent. Anna and her husband were rescued from the rubble after a direct bomb hit on their house and evacuated to Ivano-Frankivsk City. They could hardly survive in their 85 and had to go through a few operations after that. Our volunteers visited them and provided them with necessary medications, a blood pressure monitor, a TV set, and a vacuum cleaner. Hanna and her husband are regularly visited by our volunteers, who bring some food, clean their apartment, as well as communicate with them, trying to give psychological support.
And one of our long-term regular activities is art therapy workshops for refugee and IDP kids. One of the workshops that were especially loved by all small participants was the "Mother's Handkerchief" online meeting, held in cooperation with the Kyiv Municipal Family Center on June 11. Mrs. Tetiana, the Kyiv Municipal Family Center psychologist, prepared a presentation on the Ukrainian handkerchief. Poems, colloquialisms, songs related to this item of clothing and the talisman of Ukrainian culture were also mentioned. Participants created drawings with their unique scarves and talked about them.
According to estimates by the Ministry of Health of Ukraine, at least 60% of Ukrainians need psychological support today due to Russian aggression. We thank the partners for their support in conducting art therapy, psychological and practical support for Ukrainian refugee and IDP families.
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By Anastasia Lapteva | Project coordinator
By Anastasia Lapteva | Project coordinator
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