Ukraine suffers from the effects of the military conflicts in the East of the country. Nevertheless, the economy could successfully boost its plummeting economic growth which was also possible through foreign investments. Since the outbreak of war at the end of February 2022, KOLPING Ukraine has been taking care of the refugees.
Kolping in Ukraine
The relatively young National Association of Ukraine was founded on 15 August 2015 and now has 530 active members in 25 Kolping Families. The projects in the field primarily focus on:
Help for war refugees in their own country
Since 2014, KOLPING has been caring for internally displaced persons in Ukraine who fled from the contested areas in the east to the west of Ukraine after the annexation of Crimea. KOLPING takes care of their integration and helps them to build up a new existence. The families receive psychological and social care and help in finding work. For the children and young people there are social offers and group lessons. Even former displaced persons are now committed to KOLPING, as they quickly found connection and support through the association and want to pass this on to others.
In Chernivtsi, KOLPING runs a distribution of food for the needy, which has now been converted to help the refugees. Thanks to the donations, around 350 people can currently be fed every day. “People come from different corners of the country, from Kiev, from the east, from Kherson, from Mariupol. There, where actually the war is now, where places are bombed, where the rockets come, where there is shooting,” reports Vasyl Savka, the managing director of KOLPING Ukraine. KOLPING has its office in Chernivtsi in the west of the country. The association is in close contact with the neighboring countries of Poland, Romania, Hungary and Slovakia, as well as with the General Secretariat in Cologne. The associations coordinate the aid for the fled families (food and accommodation, aid deliveries, onward travel). Up-to-date information on the relief efforts is available here.
