“Oh, Angel, embrace us with your wings, Mother of God, bless all with your compassion, In our families, let there be love and esteem, To friends, always pay enough attention. Give us lasting health and contentment, Provide us with well-being, peace and happiness, Of our heart, make a residence of kindness.” This is what Lydia…
Olha and Dmytro have lost everything but their lives. Fleeing a small mining town in Donetsk region, they ended up in a shelter for internally displaced in Bohuslav, Kyiv region, hundreds of miles from their now lost home. As time passed, the shelter conditions became unbearable for them and their two sons, aged 10 and…
Hungarian Interchurch Aid (HIA) is a member of ACT Alliance with an active presence in Ukraine dating back to 1998. Having established country-wide operations in 2014, in February 2022 HIA has doubled down on its efforts to provide help to the victims of the war – both in Hungary and Ukraine. From tangible, in-kind aid…
“I get eight thousand hryvnias (about 200 euros) after two kids. I have to cook separately for my younger son for health reasons, and I can see my daughter has psychological problems after all that we have gone through,” says Natalia when explaining how she tries to look after her children. The situation of the…
One year ago, everything was going according to his plans. Dima – as his friends call him – just turned 18 in January, and was preparing for a long career in football. He had been doing quite well, climbing the ranks and playing regularly for the under-19 side of Mariupol FC, his hometown’s football club….
The Sopron branch of Hungarian Interchurch Aid has been supporting Ukrainian refugees living in the area since last summer. Aiming to build a community, the staff of the Social and Development Centre have so far held several community-building events for Ukrainian citizens fleeing the war. On Saturday, 28 January, the centre again hosted a community-building…
In cooperation with the Bishopric of Uzhhorod in Zakarpattia of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, Hungarian Interchurch Aid has delivered and distributed durable food and hygiene kits for more than 2500 internally displaced people living in and around Uzhhorod on 17 January. Most of them arrived to the westernmost region of Ukraine from the eastern, war-torn…
The liberation of Kherson came at a price. Upon their withdrawal from the port city in southern Ukraine, the Russian invaders cut Kherson off from public services depriving the tens of thousands of residents of electricity, heating and running water. Free as it is, the city now faces ever-increasing artillery strikes from the other, still-occupied…
War tears apart families, sweeping through the most important aspect of life like a storm, preying on the most vulnerable. An orphanage in Kherson, home to fifty-two children and dozens of staff members, was no exception. The family tree symbolizing the bond between the inhabitants of the children’s home stands now as a memory of…
With Christmas around the corner, people from all over the Christian world get together to celebrate the birth of Jesus. This is no different for the refugees that arrived from Ukraine: They congregated at the Christmas event of Hungarian Interchurch Aid in the downtown of Budapest, at the Support Centre for Ukrainian Refugees already on…