Nearby frontline Berdyansk. Opening of the New Branch of the City Aid Center

In the beginning of the new 2015 year another wave of refugees flooded from Donets’k and Luhans’k. The continuing flow of people is trying to find rescue and peace in Zaporiz’ka oblast. Today among the displaced persons are those who would stay till the last days in their towns and villages, finding shelter in the cellars during shelling, having adjusted to the life in darkness and cold, with no medical aid and food, surviving on the preserved foodstuffs in their storages, yet on their homeland. However, everything has its limits and the end. Therefore even those who would withstand all the calamities of the war now fled to save their lives.  There are flashpoints in the zone of conduct of antiterrorist operation which are under constant indiscriminate shelling; hence people could get out of their shelters only in the night and for a short time. People have been living under stress, in the war which they experienced not from the pictures but through its full reality, and, of course, they suffered much more compared to those who left earlier.

Zaporiz’ka oblast has become a place nearby frontline, serving as a zone of life-saving. This is the nearest oblast where people can flee from war. And one of such rescue places became a town of Berdyansk. Situated only 50 km far from Donets’ka oblast boundaries, a quiet, tranquil resort town on the Azov sea shore, Berdyansk is now a home for thousands of refugees. The town was easy to escape to especially for the families with children and elderly. Those who have run to Berdyansk last summer had a hope that the conflict would be over before winter, so that they could get back home. But it did not turn that way …

It is hard to take many things with you when you have to leave your nest for a certain period of time, and even that would not be enough for long, therefore many of the displaced people have hard times in readjusting to the new place. For elderly people, children, disabled, single mothers it is especially hard to survive.

Zaporizhzhya City Aid Center continues its assistance to the internally displaced population, and early in 2015 due to the mass influx of the newly arriving asylum seekers from the ATO it was decided to set up a branch of our Aid Center in Berdyansk.

Berdyansk branch of the City Aid Center was opened on February 17, 2015. From the very early morning that day a long line of people has started to form. More than 300 people came to the center. After some minutes of registration process, people could get the food packages and other items of the basic necessities.

Warm reception, quiet and friendly atmosphere, a word of compassion and sympathy make people open to share about their concerns and issues, to tell their stories about war and life before resettling. All their stories differ; some are very complex, but all of them are unique in a certain way. One young lady told us that she had to live with two small children, 7 years and 10 months, on 5 hryvnas. They had nobody to ask for help, and among those who came that day to the Center there were many single mothers.

To date, there are more than 14000 IDPs in Berdyansk who require assistance. Their needs include the most essential things, like foodstuffs, medicines, hygiene, warm clothes, blankets, beddings. The team of the City Aid Center, making every effort to address the needs of the displaced people, continues assisting these people.

We prayerfully trust that through us God shows His endless love and care towards all the needy.