MARCH 2018
LOVE IN THE MIDST OF WAR “Some 3.4 million men, women and children are locked in a dire humanitarian situation right on Europe’s doorstep.”
Mission Without Borders is calling on the public to not forget about Ukraine!
— Thomas Weiss, IOM (the International Organization for Migration) Ukraine Chief of Mission
February 20th marked four years since conflict broke out in Eastern Ukraine. Even though media have been quiet on the issue, the US special envoy to Ukraine recently described 2017 as the deadliest year in the region since the crisis began. [Source: Kurt Volker, ‘US Envoy, warns of spiking violence’, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, Dec 20, 2017]
Millions of Ukrainians living in the east of the country are currently living in fear, and the daily violence and intensifying deprivation continues to take its toll on ordinary families. The people of Ukraine all across the country need support now more than ever. After four years of conflict, the coping capacities of civilians are depleted as savings run out, jobs are lost and pensions cut off even as prices continue to rise. As a Christian organization, we wish to raise awareness and support for those being affected by this conflict, and are ultimately praying for peace and stability for our dear friends in Ukraine. Mission Without Borders is uniquely placed to respond, due to the good and close relationships we have with local churches there.
Your donation this month will be used so that MWB can provide whatever help is needed, whether it be supporting refugee families who have fled west, or as we continue to work to bring humanitarian and compassionate aid.
Thank you for taking the time to read this “special issue” of our monthly newsletter, and THANK YOU for your continued generous support of MWB! Sincerely,
Bonnie Borowetz SPONSORSHIP COORDINATOR MISSION WITHOUT BORDERS CANADA
A donation of just $20 = food & necessities to people in need
Four years on, fighting between Russian-backed rebels and the Ukrainian army has killed more than 10,000 people, wounded 23,000, and displaced 1.8 million people. Ukraine has lost 7.2% of its territory and 4,097 km of their border is out of Ukrainian control. Millions of Ukrainians in the east of the country are living in fear, and peace remains a distant prospect. Here are some heart-wrenching statistics … • 4.4 million people are affected by this crisis. • 3.4 million people have required humanitarian assistance and protection. • Food insecurity has doubled since 2016, with 1.2 million people food-insecure. • There are escalating cases of multi-drug resistant TB, HIV and even polio.
“Whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.” — Matthew 25:40
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Donations and Sponsorships will be used where most needed to effectively help individuals, families and communities.
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60% of the people living along the 457 km “contact line” are affected by shelling on a regular basis, with 40% affected every day.
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As of August 2017, according to estimates, the number of conflict-related missing persons ranges from 1,000 to 1,500.
The elderly makes up almost 30% of people in need. Unemployment rates have skyrocketed to 18% in the conflict-affected areas (as of early 2017). Education facilities are often shelled, particularly along the “contact line”, where more than 220,000 children, youth and educators are in immediate need of safe and protective schools. From January to November 2017, some 56 educational facilities were damaged, destroyed or temporarily closed in both government and non-government controlled areas. This is in addition to some 700 educational facilities damaged since the start of the conflict. In 2017 alone, within 5 km of the “contact line” up to 66% of health care facilities reported damage. The continuous conflict has resulted in over 40,000 homes being damaged. Approximately 25% of displaced people in the government-controlled area also have inadequate shelter, placing them at risk of further involuntary displacement.
[Source: Ukraine—Humanitarian Needs Overview 2018, published November 2017, by the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs]
While MWB focuses its work in Western Ukraine, the conflict in the east has provided opportunity for our Ukrainian team to send urgent aid to the conflict zones and to develop partnerships with the local churches who are playing a key role on the front lines. Our donors have responded strongly to the call to help and since fighting broke out in 2014, MWB has sent: •
4,000 Operation Christmas Love parcels – filled with food and household essentials like hygiene items;
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3,000 litres of bottled water – there are frequent water shortages in the conflict zone as water pipelines and water filter stations are damaged repeatedly by shelling;
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20 tons of roofing materials and 3 tons of furniture;
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50 mattresses and 20 beds;
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3 tons of hygiene items such as washing powder 600,000 pensioners have been deprived of access to their pensions and consumer prices have seen a rapid increase;
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20,000 Bibles – as the churches we partner with reach out to people in the conflict zone.
MWB has also supported families who fled to the west of the country, through our Family sponsorship program, and gave opportunity for refugee children to have a break from stress & upheaval at summer camps.
“The 2017 Ukraine Humanitarian Response Plan was only one third funded, ($69 million of the $204 million required). That is a terrible indictment of the response to an ongoing conflict in Europe.” [Source: Carnegie Europe, ‘The Downtrodden in Ukraine’s Conflict’, January 8, 2018]
This past December, members of our Ukrainian team once again travelled into the conflict zone. This is their story …
“CHILDREN LIVE HERE” Reaching people for Christ in the conflict zone of Eastern Ukraine Passing the last military checkpoint on the approach to a village in the conflict zone of Eastern Ukraine, Christian volunteers and MWB staff fall silent. Huge bomb craters suddenly become visible and on each side of the almost impassable muddy road appear ruined industrial buildings. Four years ago, this was a beautiful place where agriculture thrived due to the fertile black soil, but now, existing on the frontlines of war, everything here has changed, and it is impossible to know where safety can be found. During this time, no one has come to this village other than military troops and volunteers from the local church. They come here armed, not with weapons, but with faith and first aid kits, to reach the poorest who have nowhere else to go. “The poor people here,” one volunteer says, “are between a rock and a hard place. Last winter the roads were on fire from shelling. We came to help, but guns were turned on us and we only escaped by turning off our headlights and getting away as fast as we could through the dark.”
Today, the village is tense but calm, and the people slowly emerge onto the main street. Each day they live under the fear of missiles that could strike at any time, so you can understand their deep caution. Thanks to the support of MWB donors, food parcels and baked bread are given out to the villagers to help them survive the harsh winter months ahead. The leader of our team along with a local pastor and lead volunteer prayed with and spoke to each of them, and shared family photos with one another. There is no talk of war and conflict between east and west, but things that they all have in common – family and children. The local pastor ends by speaking about the bread of life, saying: “If people had true understanding of God`s will and love, no one would fight and participate in this war.” Looking at the villager’s eyes, it is hard to understand what they think. During the years of war their faces have forgotten how to smile. Caution is in every move. Today there is no bombing, but tomorrow, in the news, it is likely that conflict will be reported in
this area. But these people are survivors; their stoic thirst for life—and their need of help and protection— is reflected by what they scrawl on their gates: “Children live here” or “People live here.”
As soon as the weary men & women receive the aid, they give thanks, but depart in haste into what appears to be a normal Ukrainian evening. But instead of the sound of children playing, the ringing of cattle bells or a rooster crowing, there is only dead silence, interrupted now and then by exchanges of automatic gunfire.