Spain – JRS welcomes Ukrainian refugees in Lviv
The Jesuit Refugee Service (JRS) in Ukraine continues to offer assistance to those most affected by the conflict. Their home for refugees in Lviv is welcoming displaced people seeking a safe place to rest after days of travel in dangerous conditions.
Jesuit Fr. Andrii Syvak SJ describes the situation: "At present, most of the people coming from Kiev, Kharkov, Mariupol, Crimea, Kherson, Wolnovachy and other regions are women and children. As a rule, men come only to accompany their wives, children, sisters and mothers to a safe place. Although there are also some who are exempted from military service for various reasons. Most of these people do not plan to stay here, they are looking for some opportunity to leave Ukraine, so the Jesuit refugee home is a transit point where they can rest after a tiring journey. They come to eat, sleep, wash, warm up and then resume route." "It should be noted that in recent days, due to the relatively safe situation in which Lviv is, more and more people are preferring to stay in Ukraine," adds Friar Andrii. "These people carefully follow the news about the development of the situation and intend to stay in Lviv as long as it remains a safe place."
The Jesuit refugee home in Lviv has the capacity to accommodate 35 people. JRS provides bedding, food and access to laundry and bathing facilities. It also offers clothing and medicine for those in need. They try to make people feel that they have arrived in a safe place and also offer psychological and pastoral support, as many of these people have family and friends who have remained in areas where hostilities continue, which places a severe psychological burden on them.
JRS has been present in Lviv since 2005. In 2008, it opened this home to welcome refugees from Iran, Iraq, Somalia, Palestine, Afghanistan and other countries. Since December 2014, displaced persons from the Crimean peninsula and the Donetsk and Lugansk regions also began to arrive.
JRS Lviv has already started to prepare, since December last year, for the possible escalation of hostilities by Russia, stockpiling food and basic medical supplies, and looking for alternative sources of heating and electricity. "In these tragic times for Ukraine, the experience of working with displaced people is a real blessing. It allows us to effectively help those who have been forced to flee their homes," says Friar Syvak SJ.
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Source: Alboan
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