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John,
I can’t begin to tell you how much your support means to our team and the families we support, especially during this season of gratitude and giving.
Your support is helping families in crisis around the world who have been forced to flee their homes. To give you an idea of how much that support means, I wanted to share some short stories and photos that I recently came across. When I saw them, I thought of you immediately.
The stories below are from women and children who left Ukraine, seeking safety after the war escalated. And I hope the next time you read about the news in Ukraine and surrounding countries you think of Oksana, Evelina and Nataliya — and remember that you’re helping to make a difference.
Thanks as always for your continued support.
— Hank, IRC 💛
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| "You know, when you leave your own home, you leave everything. Sometimes you think that everything is over. Sometimes you think... that life has stopped, but a program like this gives us hope for the future; enables us to continue living." |
| — Oksana, Poland |
| Oksana is a mother and grandmother from Sumy, Ukraine now living in Poland. Oksana and her grandson Davyd attended an IRC-supported Safe Healing and Learning Space (SHLS) at a cultural center. As a retired kindergarten teacher, she sees the inherent value of the SHLS for Davyd and the other children at the cultural center. "We visit lots of different places with the children. We have excursions. We have various activities going out into nature... we experience something new every day." |
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| "I wouldn't change anything about my life. Frankly, I would only like that my family and I did not plan to live in Germany but planned to live in Ukraine. But it's cool and good here, too." |
| — Evelina, Germany |
Evelina, 10, used to live in the east-Ukrainian city of Rubizhne, but she fled to Germany with her mother and father when the war in Ukraine escalated. During the 2-weeks IRC summer camp called Huckepack, she made a lot of friends, but she still misses her friends from home and calls them often. She hopes that her relatives and friends are happy and that she can reunite with her cat, Lolita, who stays with her grandmother in Luhansk.
In the future, she wants to become a doctor like her parents. In her free time, she learns German on her phone. She will soon attend school in Germany but the German language sounds very unusual to her ears and so it is challenging for her to learn. If she was president for one day, she would try to make everyone happy. Evelyn said she enjoys Germany, but she also hopes she and her family will return back home to Ukraine after all. |
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| "You see, it is about what is given to someone, to spend on food, clothes and so on. You have this freedom to be able to manage things for yourself." |
| — Natalia, Poland |
Natalia was evacuated to Warsaw, Poland after her home in Odesa, Ukraine, became too unsafe to live. After arriving in Poland, she started volunteering at a children's school for Ukrainian refugees to help them learn and heal through art therapy. Unfortunately, like many Ukrainian refugees forced to flee their homes to neighboring countries, Natalia did not have access to the money she needed to pay for food, accommodations, and basic necessities when she first arrived.
With cash assistance, she could provide for herself and her mother while continuing to focus on helping refugee children process their trauma from the conflict.
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Since the escalation of the conflict in February 2022, the IRC has been supporting families in Ukraine by providing essential protection services, supplying health facilities with equipment and aid, operating two mobile health clinics, and ensuring families have cash and basic necessities for the cold winter months.
The IRC also provides safe places where women and children can connect with one another and get the trauma support they need.
Your support helps the IRC support refugees and displaced families, in Ukraine and 50+ countries around the world. Thank you.
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