3/7

CMA Ukraine showed us around their warehouse and office and it was inspiring to see what they are doing. They have grown from a small group of Christian doctors to a large organisation that the government trusts to help with logistics and humanitarian aid. Their story is quite amazing and I will share more of it as we put the documentary together. But let me say that their president Dr Rudi is nothing short of inspiring. He is so young yet manages this organisation with a wisdom and grace beyond his years. His approach is one of the greatest transparency and accountability and I have seen very few organisations that I would trust as much as this one. That is why I am happy to raise funds for them and to say without a doubt that every cent you send here will be well used to provide highly efficient, effective and accountable humanitarian aid to the people of Ukraine. I accompanied their team on one of their mobile clinics to de-occupied areas ( later in the blog) and the gratitude of the people who have suffered under Russian occupation is quite moving to see. CMA also provides food, water, hygiene products, diapers, medical supplies, medical equipment, medical training, paramedic supplies for the frontline, ambulances and drivers to the frontline as well as their mobile clinics. Very inspiring and I would encourage you to give to them even if it is as little as the cost of a cup of coffee as they appreciate every little bit. Even if you can’t give right now – please share the page to others who might be able to. Regular giving of even small amounts that helps them plan is very much appreciated too. GIVE HERE.

4/7

Off to Uzhhorod on the Ukrainian-Hungarian border to visit people providing aid to the war ravaged East and working with orphans and vulnerable children.The plan was to get a taxi to the train station for a 6 a.m. train. I went out early at 5 a.m. to be safe but there were no taxis or uber willing to come into the Old Town at that time of the morning. I calculated that if I walked, I could get there in time so had a nice 40 minute walk to the train. The train was solid but one of those old-style trains with hard seats that swayed from side to side making it hard to even stand up when it was going. The scenery as we approached the Transcarpathians was incredible. Beautiful forests and rivers, mountains and villages and farms that looked like they hadn’t changed in 100 years. The land was so bountiful too with acres of assorted vegetables and grains being hand-tended and fruit trees everywhere.

I then got to spend time with Leah learning about her work. She told me that the population has really grown with a massive influx of Internally Displaced Persons (IDP’s). This is one of the safest places to come during the war.

She works with government run ‘orphanages’. 80 per cent of orphans have one living parent with rights- that means they can’t be adopted. For their region it was 92 per cent before the war. Part of her job is to coordinate medical intervention.

It can take a long time to build relationship with the parents and get permission. Funding is also an issue. Less than 0.06% of government funding for institutions goes to medical care.  They try to bridge the gap. They also aim to work with parents to help them be able to keep and care for their kids.

What often happens is a child is born with a medical condition- the family then wants to leave the child with orphanage to get better care as they don’t know what to do.All the kids develop a kind of ‘institutional autism’. Their organisation is invisible to the institution – it’s a personal relationship with the director that helps them to do their work. They partner with Rudi from Family of Christ – they get a lot of support from the USA. Ukrainians are innovative and creative but we bring that formalisation process and administration skills. It is important to have a system and help coordinate the team. They work with family of Christ because they are Ukrainians – it’s a two way relationship.

They are not registered in Ukraine yet so helps them be efficient and be low profile on the ground.

They want to open a resource centre outside of town as a place that families can come and get support to keep their child.

They also want it to be a hub for medical professionals that want to come. There are more than 200 people with medical needs under their roof- one of the institutions is for more complex needs. They are 3.5 hrs away on a rough road.

The war definitely has impacted things. When orphanages in the East were evacuated, the children were sent west. This meant many of the kids they had worked with who had changed so much with their care and relationships were suddenly moved out of the country to make room for the refugees and it broke her to see them go. Also the deinstitutionalising process was disrupted by the war. They had to reopen institutions to take the influx from the war zones. Kids were even more separated from any surviving parents.

The kids sent over the border for safety were most at risk of trafficking and they had to advocate for local organisations in the area to get involved and protect them.

The kids do have a high mortality rate. Mostly from a ‘broken heart’. Malnourishment, heart defects, undiagnosed problems, the ones with family do much better. Institution situation is fight or flight. They have no sense of childhood. The biggest medical need is paediatric therapy – bedridden need lots of allied health OT and Physio.

Caregivers don’t have the time to do much with the kids- they are overwhelmed one to like 16 high needs kids. There are no resources for individualised care.

Parents see institutionalisation as normalised from the Soviet era. It is culturally difficult to keep children with special needs. There is no government support for this- even less so now that there is a war.

It is truly inspiring to see the work that people are doing in these difficult times.

I then got dropped off to Becky who was catching the train back with me to Lviv. She was at a building site that she was supervising through her organisation.

She has been working in this region to introduce new building technologies that are quicker and cheaper to address needs. It has been a cultural shift as people here don’t think wood framing is quality and always want to build with concrete.

All the guys we saw on the site are Ukrainian Christian’s working on the building and they come from Apostolov which is in an area that has been hit hard by shelling and also now has no water since the destruction of the Khakhovka dam by the Russians.The buildings they are doing now are for a missionary to build a community of housing for IDP’s who have nowhere to live. Becky has trained them in this in 2008 and now they are able to do this and the guys ( church leaders) started their own construction business using these techniques and manufacturing their own local materials. Ukrainians are very creative. A lot of the builders left the country. The war prompted the Christian’s to get a frame construction factory going and all the building is now going to be local.

Becky told me that the war has broken down barriers to churches working with government and getting bureaucracy to accept their solutions e.g. wood framed buildings and generators. Controlling, ex-communist hgovernment suddenly became much more open to churches and Christian’s. (Their has also been a change of government of course). The church in Apostolove gave local councillors the chance to work in their church when there was no power. Many of these people have become Christians including the acting mayor now. Now they have lots of open doors with government for humanitarian work.

Now the mayor is calling the Christian leaders to help with their water problem after the dam blew up. Taps have run out of water and as I was talking to Becky she got the message that the well digger had arrived. . They have 24 containers/ tanks that can be filled with water and distributed throughout the community. The builders on this project are from Apostolov and they travel 15 hours to stay here for a few weeks and then go back home again for a bit. One of the builders turned up with a bad complexion and it was because he hadn’t been able to wash in his home town with no water. He also came back with his wife’s washing as they could not wash clothes at home.

When these builders get home they get on to solving problems at home in the east too and these guys are helping with the well when they go home tomorrow.

Vlad said to me “We have to rely on ourselves and on God.”