At the beginning of May, Cecilia Tresoldi had the opportunity to travel to Bucharest, Romania, where I met our colleagues from FDP – Protagonisti in Educatie, as well as the Ukrainian refugees and local host families they serve.
One year after the outbreak of the war in Ukraine, AVSI, with its historical partner AVSI Polska and thanks to a donation from the banking group Intesa Sanpaolo, has trained and placed 150 Ukrainian women in permanent positions on the Polish job market.
From February 17th to 22nd, Anastasia Zolotova, the Director of Emmaus (AVSI’s Ukrainian partner), traveled to New York and Washington D.C., to share her experience as a war refugee and new life in Italy. Anastasia’s rich background includes more than twelve years of walking with Emmaus orphans, making her days with us here in the United States truly a gift.
We cannot forget the Ukrainian children who are living in Eastern Ukraine, in areas under Russian military control. They, too, need support and help. Due to the restrictions (on the movement of humanitarian staff and the blockage of relief supplies across the front line), however, we have no way of knowing how they are, and what they need.
We can’t forget them.
Barbara Gagliotti shares the story of Dona Maria. Dona Maria, an elderly woman, and her disabled husband were boarded unto a bus in Zaporizhzhia and transported to Romania, leaving everything and everyone they knew behind. We met Dona Maria during a visit to AVSI-USA supported activities in Poland and Romania as part of our emergency campaign on behalf of Ukrainian refugees. Read more.
The Spring of 2022 will always be a reminder of the darkness of the Ukrainian Crisis, but it will also represent the incredible generosity of our donors. This unexpected wave of contributions taught us that the act of giving transforms us: it fulfills an innate human desire, immerses us in hope, and renews our motivation to love selflessly.
It is freezing in Ukraine. Thousands have been sleeping in subway stations and makeshift bunkers to protect themselves from bombs. For over a million people, the time has come to flee. Across the eastern part of the country, women, children and the elderly daily board any bus or train they can find heading west and south, either to cities like Lviv (Leopoli) near the Polish border, or continuing further into Poland, Romania, and Moldova. How long will they be gone?
Living in an orphanage in Ukraine is usually a traumatizing experience, even in peaceful times. Estimates put the number of youth in orphan care in the country at about 90,000. The majority are social orphans, meaning they have been placed in institutions because their parents could not care for them on account of extreme poverty, abuse, or abandonment. Around age 16, orphans must leave the boarding schools or other care institutions because state funding runs out. Yet, having spent their whole lives without parental love and care, most are woefully unprepared for independent adult living.
Since the outbreak of the conflict in Ukraine on February 24, thousands have fled their homes, crossing borders to find refuge with family and friends in neighboring countries. AVSI-USA asks you to join us in this urgent appeal so we can respond quickly and directly to help Ukrainians fleeing from war.
