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Ukraine

Ukraine

Finding Hope and A Future Amid the Rubble

Above: Çağla Sağlam with the youngest of her four children, outside their container home in Hatay, Türkiye.

The Situation

Survivors have described the devastation of the February 2023 earthquake as “apocalyptic.” Entire cities were reduced to rubble, and losses were immense. Even over a year later, many are still struggling to meet physical and emotional needs like food, safe shelter and healing from grief.

Your Impact

Your quick action meant emergency supplies reached the epicenter in record time. But you didn’t stop there. You went beyond urgent immediate needs to provide longer-term food, shelter and counseling to help families get back on their feet — even when the rest of the world has turned their attention elsewhere.

A year later, your impact continues. Jobs remain scarce and families still struggle to buy food. To ease this burden, your generosity is launching a new initiative to help women start and operate small businesses to provide for their families.

A Shelter in the Time of Storm

Çağla Sağlam (below) is still in mourning. In a single night she lost her husband, her mother and her pregnant sister. “In the disaster of the century,” she weeps, “I lost my dearest ones.”

Çağla Sağlam, with the three oldest of her four children, inside their Lutheran World Relief supplied container home in Hatay, Türkiye.

Yet Çağla had to move forward: her four young children needed her to be strong.

For nearly six months, they survived in a tent. There was no running water. “There was filth everywhere,” Çağla recalls. Many times, she thought about giving up.

Imagine her relief when her application for a container home was approved. The 226 square-foot home came fully furnished and has electricity, plumbing, heating and air conditioning. There is a small kitchen and full bathroom, allowing for some semblance of a normal life.

Although Çağla and her children are still facing many challenges, you have given them a home where they can start anew.

“Thank you very much for making my children happy,” she says. “God bless you.”

Behind the Scenes

Deniz Sila Beemsterboer, humanitarian response coordinator for Lutheran World Relief, emphasizes the importance of ongoing support for earthquake survivors in Türkiye.

“Unfortunately, global government funding is over for Türkiye. So, for earthquake survivors, life is dependent on the compassion of people like you. [Your] support is helping LWR and our local partners to be agile and respond to changing needs on the field quickly. We are a model for other [organizations] in Türkiye."

– Deniz Sila Beemsterboer

Your Reach So Far

Quilts and kits are being distributed to families without electricity or basic supplies:

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