Uprooted by Conflict

More than a year into the ongoing Ukraine-Russia conflict, Benjamin Gilbert (Team Leader, International Projects Office) reports on his recent visit to the Ukraine/Hungary border region where he met Ukrainian Roma families who have been supported by The Salvation Army.

Ljuba remembers life in Kyiv as it was before the conflict, selling bunches of flowers to busy city workers. Now she resides in Zakarpattia Oblast after being forced to flee her home and travel 770 kilometres, along with her husband and son, when the bombing in her district became too dangerous.

This is as far as she can go without crossing an international border – one that would demand identification papers and a passport she doesn’t have. Ljuba is from a Hungarian-speaking Roma community living inside Ukraine, and is now one of the 5.35 million people who have been internally displaced by the Russian invasion.

War is brutal, stripping away people’s choice, particularly the poorest amongst us. 8.1 million people have been forced to leave Ukraine for other countries within Europe, while those without adequate finances are forced to move internally to find safer shelter. The situation is never that simple, however. Families sometimes choose to stay, or return to conflict areas for a number of reasons such as family ties, and property, land and assets.

Ljuba, her husband Djima and son Sergei now live in a storeroom of a church given freely to them by a church community who, like her, are Hungarian speaking and of Roma heritage. Materially they have little to offer, but the community ties are strong and the church’s single storeroom is dry and safer than Ljuba’s bombed-out home in Kyiv.

The Salvation Army in Hungary has partnered with Pentecostal Aid in Budapest who are running a project that brings food supplies, blankets and clothing across the border into Ukraine to 18 churches providing shelter to people impacted by the war. The project focuses on Roma communities who, in this location, speak Hungarian as their first language. Not all are internally displaced like Ljuba and her family, but the conflict has meant that many daily wage jobs are now rare, forcing families further into poverty.

Being part of the Roma community has meant that many have been overlooked by ‘aid’ intended for those impacted by the war.

‘Sometimes this is the only food I eat all day,’ says Elizabeth, a Roma mother with two young children. She brings her daughters to a meal project providing nutritious cooked food to children in the community.

The Salvation Army’s one-year project in partnership with Pentecostal Aid near Berehove, Ukraine, supports 1,750 Roma with hot food and basic supplies.

Each day about 50 children play excitedly outside, and when told to come into the church hall they quickly fill the tables which hold prepared bowls of steaming potatoes, chicken and vegetables.

Once fed, a few of the children will ask for more to take back to their families, whilst another collects the left-over chicken bones, stuffing these into his pocket so his family can make a broth.

The project not only exists to meet people’s physical needs. Pastoral care and psychosocial support are also available to help people work through and recover from the trauma they have experienced.

The Salvation Army is now planning an extension to this project and aims to broaden the programme to support families with secure livelihoods, education and training. This project is one part of a large-scale response by The Salvation Army and other organisations with whom we have partnered. To date, The Salvation Army has provided vouchers to almost 150,000 people and distributed over 97,000 food parcels. More than 73,000 people have received hygiene kits and over 7,800 people have been sheltered in Salvation Army facilities.

As the conflict in Ukraine continues to claim lives, to displace people from their homes and to impact global relations and stability, we must continue to act, providing support as it is needed, speaking out against aggression and violence – and praying.

We pray for peace, for healing, for wisdom in how to move forward and for compassion for one another.

In times of conflict, it is easy to see the brokenness of the world. However, we can also see the light of God’s love through the darkness. It is visible in simple acts of service, in the strengthening of community and in the perseverance of humanity to choose hope in moments of despair.

By Benjamin Gilbert