Dmitry leads the relief team supported by the Danish European Mission. The team helps those in need in villages close to the front, but also war refugees from the villages who have sought shelter further away from the front. The Danish European Mission's field coordinator is present at the meeting and translates into Danish.
Dmitry talks about the humanitarian situation: "I had thought there would be fewer refugees, but in the last six months there have been more. They are fleeing from towns very close to the front towards Poltava, which is a little further inland. The villages along the front are becoming more and more destroyed. We were in a village where there wasn't a house that wasn't destroyed or damaged."
The bags put food in the bellies of those in need
"We go out to the villages with the emergency aid that you provide. Many people are actually in a situation where they don't have much left. Even clothes have been lost in the attacks, and if you don't have a job, you can't buy new clothes. Therefore, people start to save on food, so they go hungry. There are some who can grow vegetables, but it's just survival."
"The bags of food mean that people in need get something to eat, and the money the food would have cost can be spent on other very important things," Dmitry tells us.
The emergency aid consists of:
- Bags with an average of eight kilos of food are distributed throughout the year. It costs 112 kr. to distribute a bag of emergency aid.
- Bread ovens so people can easily bake bread at home. Distributed in both summer and winter and costs 509 DKK each.
- It costs 311 kr. to distribute a gas bottle with a top burner for cooking.
Distributed in summer and winter, they help if the central energy supply is hindered by Russian attacks. - Electric heating blankets cost $307 each, are distributed in winter and bring relief and prevent illness in cold houses or apartments.
"Everything seems so impossible, and then suddenly God sends you"
Our field coordinator regularly makes the not-so-dangerous journey to eastern Ukraine to encourage the team and oversee the relief project not far from the front. In one village on his last trip, he met a woman named Zhenja who exclaimed: "Everything seems so impossible, and then suddenly God sends you. Praise be to God, and thank you so much for the gas bottle and the food." Dmitry says that the villagers sometimes say: "For us, you as a church are a sign that God is helping - and we have also asked God for help. " And the help fulfills not only physical needs, but also spiritual needs. In times of war, people seek God in a different way than in times of peace.
Dmity ends our conversation by sending this greeting to Danish European Mission's improvers and donors: "Dear friends, I want to tell you that you probably don't fully understand the help you are giving to people in need in Ukraine. The aid is not just a small blessing, but it shows the recipients that there is someone behind them who thinks about them and cares for them. It gives them hope and relief in their hearts. It's a great testimony to them that God does not forget them."
