Ivano-Frankivsk Maltese grants a field kitchen to Mariupol

The team of Maltese Aid Service volunteers from Ivano-Frankivsk returned from Mariupol. 12 people have worked 12 days. They left a fitted kitchen and trained volunteers.

The team of Maltese Aid Service volunteers from Ivano-Frankivsk returned from Mariupol. 12 people have worked 12 days. They left a fitted kitchen and trained volunteers.

- Our Maltese volunteers are students, teachers, entrepreneurs, businessmen. All of them have completed the “Field Kitchen Chef”and“First Aid Response in Emergencies” courses. We’ve acquired all these skills due to our German partners from the Diocese of Trier,” says Roman Yaruchyk, head of the Maltese Aid Service in Ivano-Frankivsk. “Besides, the team is very friendly, working together in camps, pilgrimages, on Maidan (107 days, 400 thousand servings of food and more than a million tea cups). Our kitchen has been working in Kyiv by the present, at the IDPs Assistance Center on Florovska street. The Kyiv branch of the Maltese Aid Service that is working there nowhas been staffedwith our volunteers on Maidan. They prepare 300-500 portions of soup plus tea for refugees daily.

The Maltese volunteers from Ivano-Frankivsk went to the east in two minibuses with a trailer –the field kitchen. The team has four drivers. According to Roman Yaruchyk, they travel on their own, without any accidents, unaccompanied, with no problems at checkpoints, without stopping for the night, driving in shifts.

The Maltese says, answering what was the purpose of their trip: “Deploying the field kitchen –previously we have completely cleared and equipped the littered warehouse, working in the kitchen –we cookedsome 500-700 food portionsdaily. In addition, we trained local volunteers to work in the field kitchen, and then gave the kitchen and all the equipment tothe local volunteer community. The kitchen and most equipment were purchased through our German partner – the Diocese of Trier. The transportation costs, maintenance costs, money for food were provided by the Archeparchial Church in Ivano-Frankivsk, with personal support of the UGCC Primate, Patriarch Sviatoslav and Archbishop Volodymyrof Ivano-Frankivsk.

“Our impressions of the trip are very different,” says Roman Yaruchyk. “Mariupolis one hundred percent Ukraine, none of us have ever heard any anti-Ukrainian statement, and on the contrary, there was full cooperation and understanding. They are the same people as we are, a little special for us, just as we are for them. But this is terrible ... just terrible Constant attacks on our guys and checkpoints on the lines of defense. The bombardment of Mariupol, seen by the whole worldis just one hundredth of how our guys get bombed every day. Mariupol is reliably defended by our military. We felt pretty safe there. The whole situation in the east is under control of local authorities, probably local tycoons. People are very afraid of their authorities, superiors, checks. This will change gradually. On the whole, our efforts now must be directed to the east. Everyone should make his small step, gesture, action, donation, anyone that can ... Local people lack our love and warmth very much. A little of our attention and understanding, and they immediately understand which side to take.

The Maltese of Ivano-Frankivsk have plans for the next trip. “We will make all efforts to support the kitchens there. We will deploy them in other problem areas. To do this we need help, donations, products,” says Roman Yaruchyk.