HEKS
Emergency aid in Ukraine
Emergency aid in the war zone
Since the start of the fighting, HEKS/EPER has been implementing a range of emergency aid measures through a humanitarian team stationed in Kiev. These measures are intended primarily to provide people along the front lines in southern and eastern Ukraine with basic necessities, such as food, water, emergency parcels, medical equipment and consumables (learn more, in German).
HEKS/EPER is distributing toiletries, drinking water and food parcels across different towns and cities in southern and eastern Ukraine: small parcels (7 kg) for people in transit and large parcels (18 kg) for internally displaced persons who have sought refuge in collective reception centres. HEKS/EPER also prepares warm meals every day in community kitchens in several towns and cities (Kherson, Mykolayiv).
Besides, HEKS/EPER has set up a cash support scheme under which 2 500 especially vulnerable people and households receive 200 euros each, in several instalments, to cover their individual needs.
HEKS/Tom Robinson
Winter Aid
Ukraine's first snowfall this season came in mid-November. Russia's targeted attacks on the country's energy infrastructure have left millions of people without electricity, water and heating. Many also live in damaged buildings that cannot shield them from the cold.
To help people through the cold winter months, HEKS/EPER is currently distributing roughly 2 300 winter parcels consisting of sleeping bags, socks, hats, scarves, gloves, winter-proof jackets, slippers and winter boots for children. These parcels are being distributed in remote parts of Kherson, for example.
In several emergency shelters where internally displaced people have sought refuge, HEKS/EPER is also making winter preparations, for instance, by repairing and sealing leaking or broken windows and insulating roofs and walls.
HEKS
Help for internally displaced people
HEKS/EPER has been collaborating with the Reformed Church in Transcarpathia in western Ukraine for many decades now. All told, some 1.8 million people from embattled areas have sought temporary or permanent shelter in Transcarpathia since the outbreak of the war – more than anywhere else in Ukraine. HEKS/EPER is therefore helping the Reformed Church to provide accommodation for fleeing people and to supply them with the absolute essentials. Additional resources have been made available for already existing projects to aid senior citizens and people with disabilities, who are either unable or unwilling to flee the country, so that those projects can keep functioning even in times of sharply rising energy and living costs.
In southern and eastern Ukraine, HEKS/EPER is also supporting collective reception centres and emergency shelters in places like Kherson and Odessa, where internally displaced people can find temporary refuge. That support takes the form of work on infrastructure, undertaking minor repairs, and supplying kitchen utensils and hygiene kits, among other things.
Last Update: 14.12.2022
HEKS/András D. Hajdú