Embracing the World volunteers help Ukrainian refugees
May 30, 2015 — St. Petersburg, Russia
April 2015, Russia
From July 2014 onwards, Embracing the World through its volunteers has provided aid through its Moscow and St. Petersburg centers in the form of clothes, food and medicines to the Ukrainian refugees. "Many of us felt that we couldn’t just stand around and see a humanitarian crisis of such magnitude unfold," says Tanya, an Embracing the World volunteer. Here are two incidents about these refugees and what our volunteers are doing to help.
Slaviansk and Pervomaisk are two towns in SouthEast Ukraine. In April 2014, an armed conflict in that area forced hundreds of thousands to flee their homes. Elena and her husband Oleg, who lost their son in the conflict, are two refugees who left to Russia from the town of Slaviansk that was badly hit during a military operation.
The couple found a distant relative in St. Petersburg who took them in while staying in a refugee camp. The relative being a single mother with limited income had limited means to provide for them. Elena was in a desperate situation being unable to obtain a residence permit for work and taking care of Oleg who had suffered from two strokes several years before and was bedridden. Embracing the World volunteers in Russia stepped in and began funding the couple’s basic needs including food and medicine.
Tatiana and her elderly mother Antonina left their heavily bombed hometown Pervomaisk and fled to Russia in the summer of 2014. They had packed for a few days thinking they would be back soon, but continued bombing and the cold Russian winter left them with no warm clothes and in a shared space with other refugees. Tatiana could hardly earn enough for rent or food. Embracing the World volunteers in Russia stepped in and helped them with warm clothes and medicines for Antonina.
Embracing the World volunteers in Russia collect funds and purchase cereals, canned food, condensed milk food and sanitary items for babies also. These products are distributed to refugees through the Red Cross.