A friend in need – Serhiy & Anatoliy

A friend in need – Serhiy & Anatoliy

A long, dusty road leads through the steppes of Kherson Oblast: it brings us to Zahradivka, a small agricultural village. The settlement has 406 residents, one shop-post office, a primary school and one support point – run by Hungarian Interchurch Aid (HIA) with financing from the Ukraine Humanitarian Fund (UHF). Here, various services and types…

Volodymyr, the farmer: Cultivating new land, cultivating hope

Volodymyr, the farmer: Cultivating new land, cultivating hope

Volodymyr had always been a man of the land. In the Popasna district of Luhansk, farming wasn’t just his livelihood—it was his life. Every furrow plowed, every seed planted held the weight of generations of work. But when the war came crashing down on his doorstep, he was forced to abandon everything. With his family,…

Multipurpose hub with healthcare, administrative & postal functions inaugurated in Synyak

Multipurpose hub with healthcare, administrative & postal functions inaugurated in Synyak

The settlement of Synyak and formerly occupied areas of Kyiv oblast were liberated in the spring of 2022 following the withdrawal of Russian forces. The multipurpose administrative building aims revitalise the hromada, and to provide the highest possible level of support to these communities affected by the war – all in one place. In order…

Finding Hope in the Mountains: How Camps Are Bringing Relief to War-Affected Families

Finding Hope in the Mountains: How Camps Are Bringing Relief to War-Affected Families

In a time when conflict casts a shadow over everyday life, two camps—DISCOVERY Camp and HAPPY FAMILY Camp—have emerged as beacons of hope and recovery for war-affected families in Ukraine. These camps, organized by Hungarian Interchurch Aid, and financially supported by ACT Alliance, provide not only much-needed respite but also offer psychological support to children…

Returning childhood to a Zaporizhzhia community shelter

Returning childhood to a Zaporizhzhia community shelter

With 22% of the population being internally displaced and over 5000 of them living in community shelters, the city of Zaporizhzhia is in dire need of accommodation. Those that had to leave everything behind are not picky, but the need for improvements is felt in most of the temporary accommodations housing internally displaced people with…

Speedy Stepania: The Superhero of the Carpathians

Speedy Stepania: The Superhero of the Carpathians

Life in the picturesque villages nestled at the foothills of the Carpathians in Ivano-Frankivsk Oblast can be challenging, especially for the elderly. But thanks to the incredible dedication of social workers like Stepania, things are getting a whole lot brighter. For over 20 years, Stepania has been the go-to person for residents in three neighboring…

Fostering resilience in a community shelter for displaced people

Fostering resilience in a community shelter for displaced people

As the war goes on in its third year, Ukrainian civil society organisations do everything they can to support the people suffering from it. Believing in the power of community, Hungarian Interchurch Aid – in cooperation with Ukraine Response Consortium partners World Vision and ACTED and with financial backing from USAID, have introduced community-based grants…

Resilience amid ruins: restarting life in war-torn Kherson

Resilience amid ruins: restarting life in war-torn Kherson

Hailing from the village of Kizomys in Kherson Oblast, the Zelinsky family led an almost idyllic life at the Dnipro estuary. Before the war, they dreamed about a big family trip, but this became reality for all the wrong reasons. Fleeing the occupation, the Zelinskys have lived in several shelters all over Western Ukraine before…

From Kherson to Kherson through Estonia: Yulia’s story

From Kherson to Kherson through Estonia: Yulia’s story

Yulia’s past two and half years have been particularly difficult, even for Ukrainian standards. She endured occupation, then their house in Oleshky was flooded, and they lost almost all of their belongings. Finally, she was able to flee with her family through 3 countries before returning to Kherson oblast, only a couple of kilometres from…