Br Leopold in July helping clean up destroyed houses

Now that the siege of the city had been entirely lifted, the main bridges repaired, and the frontline has stabilised at some 500 kilometers to the East, Chernihiv is busy healing the wounds and moving forward.

Second half of July, I teamed up with Bo mozhemo or “Because we can”. It is a thriving association of local volunteers who are providing their know-how, energy and time to help poor families clean up the ruins of their homes and provide them with decent accommodation before winter comes. Every day they single out one or two sites and work patiently and tirelessly between 4 and 10 hours to sort the rubble, fix what is still fixable and plant the foundation of new homes.

You certainly breathe a lot of dust and ashes here but still more joy, dynamism and solidarity. And from the side of the affected families, who host the activities, it is sheer determination to start over again. Could this be the real victory, a visible sign of the Risen Christ acting in the world? In my Father's house, there are many dwelling-places. I will go and prepare you one, said Jesus to his disciples at the beginning of his Passion.

Work is aplenty. It definitely takes more energy and dedication and organisation to build than to destroy. But Bo mozhemo, Sokolyky and others are making it happen. Welcome to join forces!

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A video from Br Leopold in the Chernihiv supply centre.

Here a well-made short video from the supply centre in Chernihiv where br Leopold has been helping the distribution teams take vital aid to villages in the region. Many people there are homeless or living in houses which do not protect from rain and cold anymore. With infrastructures destroyed or damaged and employment completely disrupted, many many people (especially the most fragile) depend on these teams bringing them food and medicine. Please keep helping.

An insight into who the refugees are and how the return trip was also helpful

Last night I signed up for taking refugees from the Ukrainian-Polish border to Germany or The Netherlands. An hour later, at 8pm, I set off with 3 women from the Kharkiv and Chernohiv regions, both of which are occupied or beseiged. As we drove through the night, 90 year old Iryna had left her beloved Kharkiv region for the first time, and was hoping to find her way accross Europe with a small light blue hold-all, to meet up with her daughter and 2 small grand-daughters who'd fled before her and had been calling her helplessly from the family in western Germany where they'd been received. Khrystyna must have been in her late 20's and is an accountant for a business in Chernihiv... that is, until everything changed the day her home village was occupied and her city surrounded. She rushed to make it out and to head, she too, to the Polish border and massive refugee centre. A few nights on a camp bed in the never-sleeping hangars where tired looking refugees are lovingly and d...

ST. JAN - CHARITY UKRAINE

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