Caritas mobilizes efforts to address the humanitarian crisis in Avdiyivka
As Caritas-Ukraine told to RISU, the team of Caritas was the first humanitarian organization to have arrived in Avdyiyvka, already on January 31 it deployed a heating tent beside the tents of the State Emergency Service of Ukraine at the stadium ‘Chemist’ in Avdiyivka.
At night, Caritas delivered in Avdiyivka 1,000 food parcels and 1,000 hygiene sets from Mariupol. Now, by their own efforts it loads 2,000 sets, camp bed, blankets, warm clothes, medicines that tomorrow, on February 2, will go from Mariupol to Avdiyivka. Today, the Caritas team in Kramatorsk forms humanitarian aid and leaves for Avdiyivka to replace their colleagues.
The Caritas tent in Avdiyivka is intended to house 50 people at a time, but after a critical situation it holds many more people. It distributes hot meals, warm clothes, medicines. At a temperature of about -20 there is neither light nor heat, nor gas to Avdiyivka. There are significant problems with mobile communication. In addition, the shelling is constantly ongoing.
Caritas collects clothing and medicines to help the civilian population of Avdiyivka. Mariupol receives aid from different Ukrainian cities that are further transferred to Avdiyivka.
According to Fr Rostislav Sprynyuk, the Director of Caritas in Mariupol, organization’s teams in Mariupol, Kramatorsk and Zaporizhzhia have joined efforts and are working in shifts to most effectively provide assistance to all those in need. A physician and social workers of Caritas are constantly working on site..
Military and civilian authorities have evacuated 77 children who will be further settled in Svyatogirsk in the sanatorium “Pearl of Donetsk.” Employees and volunteers of Caritas are ready to receive the children. The children will be offered material and psychological support within the effective Caritas projects for children and families affected by the hostilities.
“This is yet another example of sacrifice and solidarity that Ukrainians show each other and the entire world community – in a crisis situation we join efforts to help the needy,” Andriy Vaskovych, President of Caritas Ukraine has said.
Ukraine is a member of Caritas Internationalis – the association of more than 160 national Caritas branches that help every year to tens of millions people in need in nearly 200 countries. Since the foundation of the first Caritas in Germany in 1897 and nowadays Caritas listens to people in need and provides them with the means to change their lives for the better. The profound moral and spiritual principles of dignity, justice and solidarity are the basis of Caritas today. The first Caritas organizations appeared in Ukraine in 1992. Since then, hundreds of thousands of needy Ukrainians have received material, social, psychological and legal assistance. Almost 1000 employees and volunteers are working on the basis of more than 20 regional organizations in 16 regions of Ukraine.
