April 18, 2022
Here are some news tidbits that have not been posted or were just briefly featured on Facebook. I thank all of you for helping support our efforts through your generous contributions. The people who are helped thank you for not abandoning them.
We are working with three areas and have almost daily Messenger or WhatsApp communication with them.
- In the West, in Transcarpathia. This area is relatively safe.
- Here, we are assisting the “Revival” Centre of Rehabilitation for Disabled Children that we have worked with for more than 25 years.
- We have family in Kharkiv which is in the east as well as family in the West.
Van used to transport refugees from Western Ukraiam coties to the borders of Romania and Slovakia
First, in the West
We work with the churches that we have befriended over the past three decades. We can wire money to banks. People in Khust are helping to resettle refugees coming in from the East who need to get to the border with Poland, Slovakia or Romania. Some are being resettled with families in Transcarpathia. We have the use of a few vehicles to get people that need to get out of the country. We are purchasing another ambulance/transport vehicle in Germany shortly.
People in the United States, Canada, and Australia are offering to take in families. I’ve had a number of families in the United Church of God offering to help. There are upwards of ten million people who have fled Ukraine. But, they do not want to go far. Where they want to go is back home. Many are staying close hoping that the war will be short and they can return.
Some Ukrainians have relatives or acquaintances overseas and would prefer obviously to stay with them.
Chernihiv
In Chernihiv the main bridge across the Desna River destroyed.
Chernihiv has been heavily bombed and 70% destroyed by the Russians. The Centre has had only one staff member killed, but many in the city have perished. The main bridge to the south of Chernihiv across the Desna River has been destroyed cutting off traffic headed for Kyiv 100 miles south.
There were about 50 children at the Center along with about 30 staff. For many days there was no electricity, heat, and water coming in only by truck sporadically. Cooking was done in the courtyard. Latrines were dug in the courtyard. Communicaiton was sparse. But, the Russians retreated. Sporadic electricity is back. LifeNets has inverters coming in a week or so to provide more stable power. Elon Musk has opened Starlink up to help the “Revival” Center and others have better Internet communication. We are grateful always for any relief. The biggest relief was a cessation in bombing, but fears are that they will return.
Relatives
Kharkiv is the area where my mother came from. All her family still lives in that area. My cousin Victor lives about ten miles out of the city center. The compression from the bombs had blown the glass in the windows in his house. We finally convinced him to LEAVE Kharkiv and head for western Ukraine. Cousin Victor left with his wife Anna and another relative Tatiana with her six-month-old son. Trains are running, mostly at night with all lights out on changing schedules and alternate routes, They eventually made it to Dubno and are staying with the Kubik side of the family. They have had offers to go to Italy and stay with people that they knew in the past. Victor has daughters who live in Sweden and in Vancouver, British Columbia.
Camilla is now safely with her mother in the Czech Republic
In Dubno they are living my in-law Olga and are close to others in her family who have made them welcome to stay for now.
There are so many tragic stories in Ukraine at this very moment. So many people in the world and helping in the midst of destruction and death. At LifeNets we have focused our assistance on three areas, the West, Chernihiv, and help for our families who are being dislocated from Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city.
His daughter-in-law and her daughter Camilla had left Kharkiv earlier and have settled in the Czech Republic. Victor’s son Victor was not allowed to leave. All males aged 16 to 60 are required to stay in Ukraine and be ready to defend the country. Young Victor stayed in Kharkiv. He volunteers to do cleanup after the bombings.
Cousin Victor’s nephew Roman died in an aerial attack in Kharkiv. They found and identified the body this past Thursday. A day of sadness and grieving for all. Many many people are grieving in Ukraine right now. There are so many bodies found that there is not enough morgue space to accommodate them. People are putting bodies into refrigerators until they can identify them.
The hospitals are full of people who are injured and wounded.
While Victor and company escaped the bombing in Kharkiv, they still hear faraway explosions where they live in Dubno.
Other links of interest with relevant information about the war:
Personal from the President March 17, 2022
Personal from the President April 7, 2022
Podcasts:
