Due to the war in Ukraine, human lives are at risk, people lack basic supplies and have been forced to leave their homes. IDPs have reached the Western part of Ukraine and refugees are arriving to Hungary in growing numbers. The Hungarian Reformed Church Aid has been providing emergency response from the first day. Daily update.
Worship for IDPs offered by the Hungarian community in Transcarpathia in Ukraninian language
The Reformed Church in Transcarpathia (RCT), the largest organisation of the Hungarian speaking minority in the Western region of Ukraine counting 65 000 members (out of the population of around 130 000 ethnic Hungarians), invited refugees and internally displaced persons arriving from Central and Eastern Ukraine for a worship and prayer held in Ukrainian. The event took place in the local Church of Beregszász/Berehove. Ferenc Taracközi, senior pastor of the congregation, preached the gospel and Bishop Sándor Zán Fábián, head of the church offered a prayer for peace. RCT has been welcoming those seeking refuge and shelter in the region since the first day of the war. Volunteers are supporting people on the move; those heading to Hungary and queuing at the border and those who stay in the country in the hope that the crualties of the war will spare at least the Western part of Ukraine.
26 thousand euros raised by the Reformed community in Slovakia (08:16)
26.000 EUR have so far been deposited in the account of the Diaconal Centre of the Reformed Christian Church in Slovakia to help refugees following a fundraising campaign launched earlier this month, reports the crisis management team set up by the church's presidency at www.reformata.sk. In the past week, in cooperation with the Hungarian Reformed Church Aid, about ten tons of food and other donations were delivered across the border to Ukraine, to seven different locations, including two children's homes that receive refugees from the Central Ukraine.
The crisis team is also monitoring the situation at the borders. Volunteers are invited to volunteer at the crossing points. This can be done by filling in the questionnaire on www.remidia.sk and www.nagykapos.ma.
HRCA needs Baby or child cots (10:37)
Families fleeing from war, including those with small children, often have nowhere to sleep, so the Hungarian Reformed Church Aid is now asking anyone who can offer a baby or child's cot, with mattress, dismantled as much as possible, to bring it to their warehouses in Budapest, Ebes, Gelenes or Beregdaroc.
They also write on their Facebook page that donors should first write to karpataljaert@jobbadni.hu to let HRCA know when and to which warehouse the cots will arrive.
Those should take in refugees who can handle this situation as part of their every day life (11:47)
Márton Juhász, Executive Director of the Hungarian Reformed Church Aid, and his family also took in a mother with her baby from Transcarpathia. He told the Hungarian RTL Klub news programme that they don’t only offer shelter, but live with them together like an extended family. They eat, go for walks or watch movies together. The director of HRCA asked everyone to take in refugees if they can deal with the situation in a natural way.
Local Churches join forces in helping the refugees (14:27)
The Abaújvár Reformed congregation on the Hungarian-Slovakian border is hosting several families fleeing from Transcarpathia, Ukraine. The community restaurant of the nearby Göncruszka Reformed congregation, founded two years ago, is offering them cooked food, according to the Abaúj community's Facebook page.
Almost 200 tonnes of donations have already been distributed by the Hungarian Reformed Church Aid (15:30)
By Sunday morning, the total weight of in-kind donations distributed by the Hungarian Reformed Church Aid had reached nearly 200 tonnes. Of this amount, 82 tonnes were transferred to Transcarpathia to help the Hungarians on the other side of the border and the people who fled from inner Ukraine. More and more registered volunteers work with them every day. On Saturday, almost 1.200 of them were working at the hubs where HRCA is offering assistance to those on the move.
The Hungarian Reformed Church Aid is looking for interpreters (16:28)
The HRCA is looking for Ukrainian or Russian speaking interpreters in the border city of Záhony to help the organisation's work on the border. Volunteers are invited to register online.
HRCA’s daily operation in numbers
- Information requested: 1365 persons
- Transport requested: 162 persons
- Accommodation requested: 265 persons
- Mental health assistance: 0 persons
- Medical care: 126 persons
- Meals, drinks: 2362 persons
- Hygiene and childcare products: 226 persons
- Blankets: 169 persons
- Number of persons on duty: 157 persons
- of which volunteers: 130
- of which health worker: 0
- of which interpreter: 36
Edited and translated by Anna Derencsényi, international officer of the Diaconia of RCH