Malteser activity report

MALTESER RELIEF SERVICE IN UKRAINE ACT IVIT Y R EPO R T

ACTIVITY REPORT 2018

Malteser Relief Service in Ukraine: Address: 79005, Lviv, vul. Akademika Bohomoltsya 8/7 Tel./Fax: +38 (032) 275-12-00 E-mail: malteser@malteser.lviv.ua www.malteser.ua Text and photos: © Malteser Relief Service in Ukraine 2019 Front cover: icon of Anna Makać CHRIST IS A GOOD SHEPHERD International Iconography Workshop in Nowica / Poland, 2015

mission The Malteser Relief Service provides comprehensive and consistent support and assistance for children in need, poor and lonely elderly people, people with disabilities, weak and vulnerable people who find themselves in crisis situations.

The organization is well experienced and competent at resolving social problems, and as an expert in social care matters it offers services aimed to deal with problems in this sector.

vision Founded by the Order of Malta 900 years ago, the MRS keeps its tradition by remaining true to the Maltese motto “Defence of the faith and assistance to the poor�. Having a respectable reputation among charity organizations in Europe and Ukraine, the MRS is efficiently and responsibly trying to support orphans and vulnerable children, the sick and needy, the poor and marginalized of the community, thus showing the modern world the true power of Christ’s love in action.

“Defence of the faith and assistance to the poor” - is the unfaltering motto of the Order of Malta, and the Malteser Relief Service is its direct organizational and spiritual descendent. In Ukraine the Order of Malta is represented by various Maltese Aid Service independent branches.

Bi-lateral relations were officially established in 2008 between Ukraine and the Order of Malta. In 2012 Embassy of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta opened its diplomatic mission in Ukraine. Before turning to the modern history of the Order and its representatives, it is worthwhile to review briefly the main events of the Order’s history, its formation and activities, even if mainly to satisfy the interest of those who know about the Order but would like to have a more detailed understanding of it.

The Sovereign Military Hospitaller Order of Saint John of Jerusalem of Rhodes and of Malta (the Maltese Order, the Order of Hospitallers) – this has been the official name of the Order since 1936.

From the reign of Constantine the Great (306 – 336 AD), from the time of the discovery of Christ’s tomb, the attention of the Christian world was focused on the Holy Land, specifically on Jerusalem, and the flow of pilgrims to the holy places was constant. In order to facilitate and support these long and dangerous journeys to Palestine, a whole network of aid stations were set up to provide shelter, food and assistance for the sick and poor. Documentation exists revealing that in 1099 when the first Christian crusaders took Jerusalem, they met with an already established hospital dedicated to St. John the Baptist.

The hospital had places for up to 2,000 men and women injured or ill; treatment was given regardless of religion and Arab medical practices were used. The hospital was directed at the time by Brother Gerard (who died on September 3, 1120) and the staff comprised a brotherhood.

After they had captured Jerusalem, a large group of crusaders joined the community that ran the hospital, and soon other such hospitals sprung up.

Not long after, the decision was taken to form a religious brotherhood and in 1113 Pope Pascal II in a Papal Bull recognized the group’s statutes and approved its religious rule according to which the members were bound by the three monastic vows of poverty, chastity

HISTORY OF THE ORDER OF MALTA

and obedience. In addition to hospitals and shelters, the Order was also in charge of approximately 50 fortresses in the Holy Land and due to increased militarization (because of the need to protect pilgrims at Haifa, which was the main port of entry for Europeans to Palestine, as well as to guard the burial place of Christ, and provide protection against criminals and unbelievers) the Brotherhood of St. John was transformed into a religious military Order and together with the Templars established a permanent armed force for the defence of the Kingdom of Jerusalem. At this time in the name of “Brotherhood” is changed to “Order”. The first documented participation of the Order in battle against unbelievers dates from 1137.

Very quickly the Order came to play a key role in the Crusades, as recorded in the battles of Ascalon (1154) and Acre(1191).

When Acre, the second capital of the Order of St. John and the last Christian stronghold in the Holy Land, fell in 1291, the remainder of the knightly Order settled first in Cyprus and then from 1306 to 1310 on the island of Rhodes, which because of its large number of harbors provided a convenient battle point with Muslims. It is also interesting to note that after 1312 when the Templar’s Order had been disbanded, the Pope directed that the majority of their property and goods beyond the borders of France be handed over to the knights of Rhodes.

After 200 years in Rhodes, the Order had set up a clear hierarchy and structure. This militaryreligious order under the jurisdiction of Rome was fully independent of any governmental authorities or laws. A huge hospital along with a palace, fortress

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and schools were built at that time in Rhodes.

The Order also developed a large, modernized fleet which took advantage of the most advanced knowledge of navigation and ship-building at that time. The Knights of St. John continued to do battle with Turks and Mameliuks, and carried out raids on the shores of Levantine, Asia Minor, and Egypt, constantly gaining in military strength. In 1480, in a tremendously difficult battle, with huge material loses, the Order managed to stave off the assault of the Sultan, Mahomet II. This was one of the most famous sieges in world history because a host of enemy forces was defeated by an insignificant number of fearless men. But in 1522, under pressure from Sulieman the Magnificent (the father at that time of the oneyear- old Selim, born to him by his beloved of his harem, Roxolana, of Ukrainian origin, whom he presented with the gift of an island upon their son’s birth) the Knights are forced to leave Rhodes. The siege had continued for half a year and the Knights again put up defense with extraordinary bravery, and because of their small number proved a special inner strength. Seeing their courage, Sulieman made a noble gesture, and called a cease fire, under condition that they officially admitted defeat by taking down their flags and removing Christian relics from the churches, as well as archives, preserved objects of the Order, canons and other weapons, and provided them with boats to leave Rhodes.

For seven years the Order sought for a new home.

Finally, in 1530, through the intervention of Pope Clement VII, the Order obtained rights from the Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire, Charles V, the

HISTORY OF THE ORDER OF MALTA

island of Malta and the accompanying archipelagos with the understanding that the Knights would defend the Mediterranean Sea from the Turks and African warships and maintain neutrality in interEuropean conflicts.

As the defender for the next two centuries of Western Europe from the Muslim world, the Order gradually acquired significant wealth which in turn allowed it to assist in developing a spiritual and material heritage. In 1565, the Knights once again met up with Sulieman the Magnificent. One of the biggest battles between Christians and Muslims took place, known as “the Great Siege”.

The superiority of European weapons turned the tide, signaling the decline of Turkish rule over the Mediterranean and the apogee of the Order’s glory.

At this time, Malta truly flourished: its maritime academy became known as the best in the world, the Order’s fame was recognized throughout all of Europe, Malta’s college gained university status, and the library of the capital, La Valleta, grew to be one of the largest in the world. From the mid16th century, Malta becomes recognized as a center of world learning – European educated elite cooperated and collaborated with scholars from the East.

In the 16th and 17th Centuries, flying the flags of Portugal, Spain and France, the Knights played a role in colonization taking place in Canada, India, Brazil and the Antilles. But gradually, as geopolitics changed, France - which had a strong influence on the Order and which was the location of much of the Order’s wealth and property - and the Osman Empire entered into friendlier relations and so the

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policing activities of the Order were much less in demand. Little by little, the Order lost its status as a leader in Europe. In the 18th century the Maltese fleet fell into decline and with it the morale of members of the brotherhood.

Interestingly enough, ethnic Ukrainian territory of the 17th century had its ties with the Maltese Order.

The Order is closely associated with the Ostrogski, Zaslawski and Sanguszko princely families. In his Testament, Janusz Ostrogski bequeathed most of the estate of the Ostrogski family to pass on the benefit of the Order of Malta. A century later, in 1797 on Ukrainian, Belarusian and Polish land, which came under Russian rule after the fall of the Rzeczpospolita federation, a Grand Priory of the Order of Malta was established. It was comprised of two parts, Roman Catholic and Russian Orthodox.

With time, all the Jesuit properties in Poland came into the possession of the Order. The flow of time inexorably makes its amendments to the modern history. The French revolution with its strong anticlericalism put an end to the Order’s existence in France. The French Convention in 1792 relieved the Order of all its rights and privileges in the country, and chased out the brotherhood beyond its borders.

The Order also lost the island of Malta in 1798 to the French under the command of Napoleon Bonaparte during the period of his campaign in Egypt. Napoleon Bonaparte occupied Malta for its strategic value. Because of the Order’s code (signed in 1530) prohibiting them from raising weapons against other Christians, the knights were forced to leave their island. An important leader of the Order, the Grand Master Hompesh resigns

and a contingent of the Knights who by invitation of the Russian emperor make a harbor for themselves in far-away Russia, choose a successor (in contravention of Order statutes), Paul I. The declaring in 1798 of the married, non-Catholic, not ordained Paul I to be head of a Catholic knightlymonastic order is not recognized by the Pope and in the history of the Order he remains illegitimate. In 1801 Paul I died at the hands of an assassin and the heir to the Russian throne, Alexander I, in an effort to bring back legitimate rule to the Order, initiated new elections. An Italian, Tommasi, who was the candidate of the Russian Catholic Grand Priory, was chosen to be the Grand Master. He was confirmed

by Pope Pius VII and the capital of the Order was set up in Italy. The Nineteenth Century saw the loss of much of the Order’s property in Europe, particularly in Germany.

In 1834, after three decades of sojourn in Italy and Spain, the order finally settled in Rome where it made its home till today. In the second half of the 19th century, the Order became wellestablished and gradually transformed itself into an international charitable institution. The Order is still, however, recognized by the world community as a sovereign state operating under laws of extraterritoriality, and which declares itself a neutral entity, much like the Vatican. The Maltese Order maintains diplomatic relations with 104 nations and is represented by a permanent delegation at the U.N., Commission of European Associations, Council of Europe, UNESCO, WHO, and other prominent international organizations. Today, as in the past, one can speak without hesitation

about the elite nature of the Order even after it passed a statute in 1961 at which time it became open to membership of non-titled personages.

Those with aristocratic blood welcomed into their circle persons of aristocratic soul from among the political and intellectual elite. Focus on social welfare is the hallmark of the Order’s mission from the start of the 20th Century. Its main activities became the fight against leprosy, assistance to refugees, provision of basic needs during natural and manmade disasters and relief for those living in post-conflict areas. Such assistance forms the basis of over 200 projects yearly in Africa and Asia.

The Maltese Order also remains committed to its spiritual and religious values as well as education and culture. Its work is sustained by contributions from various churches and civic organizations, private individuals, and bequests of property in many parts of the world. Acting with noble, sacrificial love for one’s fellow human being is the goal which inspired the first Hospitalers in the 11th Century and which, far from having been lost over generations and time, has become the established moral norm requiring unswerving service in Christ’s name to others, here and now. The founder of the Order, Brother Gerard, spoke these words which still ring true: “Our community will live forever, because the soil in which we are rooted is the suffering of this world, and there will always be people who want to work to relieve this suffering!”

The Malteser Relief Service (MRS) started its activities in Lviv, Ukraine in December 1990 as part of the German winter humanitarian aid program, and later on 23 February 1993 CO “MRS in Lviv” was registered on the initiative of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta and Malteser Germany. Almost at the same time Ivano- Frankivsk, and then Berehove, Mukacheve and Kyiv-based centres were founded. In 2013 the centres merged to form Malteser Relief Service of Ukraine. The organization’s main activities are to help children in need, poor elderly people, people in wheelchairs, people with disabilities, children and mothers in crisis situations. A charitable kitchen was the first project of Malteser Relief Service. Since that time more than 4 million servings have been given. Each year we arrange Christmas dinner and Easter breakfast for the visitors of charitable kitchen, who are mostly low-income needy elderly people. In 2007 we launched a project on catering hot meals for needy people with movement disabilities “Meals on Wheels”. For a couple of years now Malteser Relief Service has been helping boarding schools and orphanages cope with their urgent needs (renovating bedrooms, kitchens, bathrooms, classrooms; providing with teaching aids and classroom supplies; equipping dental offices, sports training facilities, libraries; large-scale replacing of beds, preparing gifts for children within the annual campaign “Saint Nicholas Goes to Orphans”). The preference is given to the projects of a “Help for self-help” type (tractor, apiary, sewing workshop, carpenter’s shop, bicycle workshop). Another important area of our work is involving children from orphanages and boarding schools in communication with their peers (we arrange the work of guest volunteers, sightseeing trips, sport events, special entertainment and educational actions and workshops). We also run and implement intellectual, cultural and educational programs. As the system of children’s boarding schools and orphanages in Ukraine began undergoing reform, we have maintained connections with our wards, and continue to support them. For more than 15 years we have been working effectively with disabled people in wheelchairs: arranging annual summer camps and pilgrimage trips to the holy places in Ukraine and abroad,

MALTESER RELIEF SERVICE IN UKRAINE

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as well as carrying out a daily work of social and psychological adaptation for people in wheelchairs. In 2009 we launched the program supporting family child care homes (FCCH) and started our cooperation with centers for families with many children and a number of crisis centers for mothers with children. We carry out the projects aimed at upbringing and educating young Maltesers. MRS has been a co-organizer of an annual May pilgrimage to the Sviato-Uspenska Lavra in Univ (the Univ Holy Assumption Lavra) since 1995. We provide the pilgrims with medical assistance, and take care of the people with special needs. MRS has also experience in effective running of large-scale aid projects: providing assistance to the Transcarpathian flood victims; purchasing medical equipment for surgery in infants under cardiopulmonary bypass; rehabilitation for the soldiers in the Anti-Terrorist Operation; the support for the internally displaced due to the conflict in Ukraine’s East; First Aid Training Courses, etc.

Representatives of the Sovereign Order of Malta receiving a blessing from Metropolitan Volodymyr Sterniuk (Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church) to provide humanitarian assistance in Ukraine, December 1990

The most important aspect of the diplomatic activity of the Sovereign Order of Malta can be summarized in the expression «humanitarian diplomacy». The concept of «humanitarian diplomacy» originates from the harsh experience of the International Committee of the Red Cross during the Second World War. Such major conflict has often made it extremely difficult to protect the rights and dignity of a mankind. It generated a wide range of new victims. Not only war prisoners, but entire ethnic groups were sentenced to slavery and slaughter, deported, abandoned, imprisoned. From this critical situation, that the humanitarian diplomacy of the Sovereign Order of Malta was born with all it’s peculiarities. At the heart of the Order’s mission is dialogue, with the aim to build bridges and maintain the peace between people and governments. However, in order to achieve these goals, it is necessary to provide answers and concrete political solutions. The Sovereign Order of Malta, furthermore, underlines the appalling situation of many millions of refugees all over the world, and the difficulties that usually arise in the countries, where their number is particularly high. It is extremely important to provide constant social support and medical care, in order to improve the living conditions of these people. Another belief on which the Order of Malta builds its mission, is that the humanitarian action can and must find an additional significant driving force in the spiritual values. This observation opens a new interesting prospects which, if properly coordinated, can develop unprecedented synergies with the aim to fight critical situations, such as poverty, diseases and wars. However, it is necessary to underline one basic issue, as the Order of Malta has always done, since more than nine hundred years ago, time of its foundation. The religious belief can act as a glue and represent a profound inspiration for the organisations operating in the humanitarian field, but it must never be a reason of any kind of discrimination. The humanitarian diplomacy of the Sovereign Order of Malta is built on values such as independence, apolitical vision, neutrality, and absence of territorial and commercial interests. It plays a remarkable role in developing and supporting activities aimed to help the most disadvantaged people without any kind of discrimination. In the framework of the diplomatic relations of the Order of Malta, I would like to remind that last year the Order and Ukraine celebrated together 10 years of official reciprocal diplomatic relations. I think we can say that the relations between our two states are excellent. Our Embassy maintains fruitful contacts with the political, cultural, and economic world of Ukraine, promoting meetings, interviews, conferences and lectures about the activity and history of the Sovereign Order of Malta. We are also working on a cooperation agreement with the Ukrainian government in the humanitarian field. Therefore, the hope is that these initiatives will promote the image of the Order of Malta in Ukraine and will concretely support the complex humanitarian projects that, with great professionalism and dedication, the Malteser of Ukraine is daily carrying out in this country. I would like to take this opportunity to express my words of thanks to Mr. Pavlo Titko, head of Malteser Ukraine, to all the managers and staff, volunteers and sponsors for their commitment and the spirit of sacrifice that you, my friends, put in your difficult daily work. The Order of Malta is particularly grateful for everything you have been doing in Ukraine for almost 28 years and for the remarkable results you have achieved. But, the future imposes us higher and higher goals to reach and for this reason, in the name of the whole Embassy, І can assure you our whole support and the will to cooperate and realize many future fruitful synergies.

H.E. Аntonio Gazzanti Pugliese di Catrone, Ambassador Exstraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Sovereign Military Hospitaller Order of St. John of Jerusalem, of Rhodes and of Malta to Ukraine

PSYCHO-SOCIAL REHABILITATION PROJECT Together with our partners at Malteser International we’ve managed to secure funding for our “Psycho-social rehabilitation for Victims of the Conflict in Ukraine” project. The project is implemented with financial support from the German Ministry for Foreign Affairs. It is worth noting that this is Malteser International’s only project outside of Africa or Asia. It is only possible thanks to the presence of the Malteser Relief Service in Ukraine. Since July 2015, a team of over 80 professionals have been working in psychological support centers run by the Malteser in Eastern Ukraine and in the Kyiv region. Our centers operate in Mariupol, Volnovakha, Severodonetsk, Shchastia, Kramatorsk, Druzhkivka, Pokrovsk, Yuzhnoukrainsk, and Kyiv. Displaced persons receive free legal, psychological and social support; public officials, social workers and volunteers are provided knowledge and skills in providing psycho-social support for displaced people during training programs, seminars and roundtables. Anybody has the opportunity to learn to provide psychological or medical first aid. Psychologists, psychotherapists, social workers, and lawyers are working at these centers; some of these are experts working in international organizations or specialized working groups at the local or national level. The work of the Centers corresponds to world standards and is based on effective practices, including the experience of the Israeli Trauma Coalition, standards of the WHO and the UNICEF. The project is implemented in cooperation with the Ukrainian Association of Professionals in Overcoming Consequences of Psychotraumatic Events and National University “Kyiv Mohyla Academy.”

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MINISTERIAL VISIT In 2016, the Psycho-social Rehabilitation Center is Sloviansk was visited by three Foreign Ministers on a state visit to Eastern Ukraine: Pavlo Klimkin (Ukraine), Frank-Walter Steinmeier (Germany) and Jean-Marc Ayrault (France). They managed to speak to employees of the Center, as well as to clients of our various rehabilitation programs. We’ve also had many visist from Wolfgang Mössinger, Germany’s Consul General in Donetsk.

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CHILDREN FROM THE EAST Thanks to our partners – members of the Swiss Rotary Club – we’ve managed to organize a rehabilitation program for groups of children from Eastern Ukraine, as well as from the “grey zone.” These children came to Lviv in small groups, together with their caretakers and psychologists who had worked with them before. Here they were provided a very full and varied schedule (the Malteser took great pains to organize everything well), so for many the trip was not just a fun and exciting advenutre but also brought the benefits of true rehabilitation and socialization, surreptitiously transforming children’s hearts. We’ve had instances of children laughing for the first time in a long while, or simply playing “like children,” as their mentors said. For some time now, regardless of their age, these children have been very “grown-up,” and to see a smile on their faces was very rare.

MALTESER VOLUNTEER RESCUE Anyone could end up in a situation of needing to provide help to another person, so we should all know what steps to take before professional help arrives. For this reason, promoting first aid and rescue is of paramount importance. Ukraine is just starting the reform of its rescue system. The experience of EU countries suggests that volunteer rescue is an important supporting element for the state rescue system. It is particularly important in natural disasters or emergencies that can arise at mass events. Well trained and properly equipped volunteers can provide valuable support for professionals, cooperate with ambulances, fire brigades, the police and other services. Volunteers can also teach first aid, and provide mass event support at the local level. The Malteser run a project dedicated to “Developing a system of volunteer rescue medical service in Ukraine,� whose rescuers constantly perfect their knowledge and skills, go through trainings and classes. Ukraine has an annual Malteser manoeuvre competition with teams from Poland, Hungary and Germany participating.

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MALTESER VOLUNTEER RESCUE Volunteer rescue is currently a grassroots initiative in Ukraine. Volunteer rescue groups have been formed in Kyiv, Lviv, Mariupol, Ivano-Frankivsk, Zaporizhzhia, Yuzhnoukrainsk, and other cities. A volunteer rescue logistics centre was built in Ivano-Frankivsk with funding provided

by Renovabis, Malteser Deutschland, and Ukrainian donors. In 2017 the Malteser launched a pilot project dedicated to forming young rescuer squads in high schools of Ivano-Frankivsk and region. Lack of a legal regulatory framework in this area is a real problem, as it makes cooperation with professional services and inter-organizational cooperation difficult. For this reason, an international conference was held in 2018 in Kyiv, dedicated to “Developing a System of Civil Volunteer Rescue in Ukraine.� The event was organized by the Malteser Relief Service Ukraine and the Malteser Medical Service Poland, in cooperation with the Kyiv Mohyla Academy. Experts from Ukraine, Poland, Germany, and Italy shared their experience and vision of the potential of volunteer rescue. Various action models and legal solutions for volunteer rescue were there also presented.

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FIRST AID From 1993 onwards, the Malteser Relief Service has been leading first aid courses. Young people take a proactive stance as far as saving lives in critical circumstances is concerned. High school seniors, college and university students happily participate in the lecture and training course, because they realize their moral and Christian duty to help those in danger. Our first aid courses are aimed at people with no medical background. The chief aim of the course is to provide practical skills to enable the person to act automatically in critical situations. For this reason, all training exercises are performed as many times as is necessary for each individual student to master the proper administration of aid.

The demand for this sort of knowledge among the civil society in Ukraine has skyrocketed in recent years, and we endeavour to provide all those interested with the requisite skills. Teachers we have trained and certified are by now teaching first aid courses in five schools in Lviv. Our program includes trainings in Qualified First Aid; these encompass a theoretical and practical course, look into aspects of tactical medicine, and address providing first aid for people with special needs, pregnant women, and children.

The trainings are held as part of a joint international project between the Malteser Relief Service Ukraine and the Malteser Medical Service Poland, and are co-funded by the Polish Ministry of Foreign Affairs Development Programme.

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SCHOOL LIBRARY

For many years now the Lviv Malteser have been supporting the former Boarding School No. 2, located in a large Austrian-era building in the city center. Ukraine is currently implementing a reform of the boarding school system, and this school is now known as the Prosvita Lyceum which includes a Children Support Center with round-the-clock housing. This provides shelter to orphans, children growing up without parental care, as well as children who find themselves in dire straits.

The institution can without exaggeration be called exemplary. It includes a top professional team, while the support from our Swiss benefactors – the SMILE private initiative and their thorough and conceptual vision of project implementation in Ukraine over the past five years, has enabled us to create wonderful infrastructure for housing and teaching children. Having begun with walls of bare brick, we are now gradually building a better environment for our children. Our latest achievements in this childhood kingdom include a media library and a meeting room, an arts and woodwork shop, a teaching kitchen and cafeteria. But first of all, you are welcome to visit our children’s library, homelike in its comfort and warmth.

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MEDIA LIBRARY

We always took care to ensure access to quality books for our children.

To this end, we’ve implemented special educational projects. In the modern world, however, multimedia plays an increasing role, and informed use of modern technology is particularly important in the learning process. Our schoolchildren have access to a modern multimedia room, equipped with all the necessary tools: it is a comfortable and well-balanced interactive space with a big screen and a powerful projector, several tablets, and an up-to-date collection of various media resources.

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ART WORKSHOP

We never neglect the development of creative potential, gifts and skills in the children. This time we have turned our attention to painting. The art workshop will attract those who perceive the world through a visual lens, as a world of paint and color, easels, brushes, and the Great Masters of the past. Some children will try their hand at iconography.

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WOODWORK SHOP The woodwork shop aims to provide young people just starting out in their search of identity, with a worldview and a sense of a possible future, a sense of being a skilled craftsman capable of creating material objects. We hope to help children create or customize and decorate things, while also letting them see firsthand how the knowledge and ability to work with their hands, even in a world of technology, allow us to understand and thus resolve various life and everyday situations. These skills help the children form a harmonious and healthy understanding of work, of the world of things and their own abilities in it. Our woodwork shop provides the opportunity to carve glass, wood, metal, ceramics, execute precision engraving, cut, saw and build many wonderful things. Here the children have access to multifunctional tools from the best European producers, such as Bosch, Dremel, Proxxon, and professionally equipped work stations.

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TEACHING KITCHEN. CAFE Children who have not been brought up in a family environment typically lack the most basic household skills, especially as far as food and food preparation are concerned. This is a consequence of having had their needs met through the orphanage and boarding school system. Classes where teachers attempt to address the lack of knowledge and skill are insufficient. For this reason, we’ve decided to try an unusual approach. Two of our joint rooms have been equipped as a large kitchen and cafeteria. The kitchen boasts professional equipment for cooking, electrical ovens, refrigeratos, and a rest area. This space is used to hold cooking classes for senior high school students, as well as organize meetings and celebrations.

The cafe area can also be used as a hangout space with an evening cup of tea, a place for reading or watching a favorite TV show or movie.

WANDERLUST Children and young people will always love travel and adventure.

Long, thoroughly prepared, serious trips with real challenges and achievements, provide a special joy. They create the incomparable experience of human interaction, true friendship, mutual support, respect and understanding. We provide reliable and experienced leaders, as well as high quality modern tourist equipment: tents, backpacks, sleeping bags, walking sticks, insulating pads, and whatever else a true wanderer may need to explore fascinating routes and unconquered peaks.

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ORTHOSES The Special Boarding School for Children Living with Consequences of Polio and CP in Boryslav has attracted the notice of the Malteser before. This time, together with members of the Swiss Rotary Club and the INNOVO medical center in Lviv, we are providing orthoses for children. These customized orthopedic devices help restore joint and spine function. They will help the young patients learn to find the correct joint position, relieve pain, and thus increase functionality and ability to move and walk. Some of these children will now be able to stand or sit on their own, others will finally take their first step. Over forty students of the boarding school need orthoses.

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INVISIBLE ASSISTANT Sometimes a small and apparently inconspicuous thing can solve lots of tasks. In our case it can give someone access to a more coherent picture of the world, and thus make it possible to find better life opportunities in the future. Little Maryan studies at Lviv Maria Pokrova School for Deaf Children. He lost his hearing in his early childhood due to illness and now together with his relatives and people of good will he is striving for a truly fulfilling life. He is quite a gifted and thoughtful boy for his age. The audible world which is brought to him with the help of this small invisible assistant, a highquality reliable and durable hearing aid, fills the boy with genuine joy and delight. The ability to hear is also extremely important in creating new neural connections in the boy’s brain that otherwise would have been lost forever.

MALTESER BALL The Romantics, a club for young people with limited mobility was founded by the Malteser Relief Service Ivano-Frankivsk in 1996. The club holds regular meetings for several dozen people with disabilities ages 18 to 45. The idea behind the club is to take people in wheelchairs out of their imposed solitude, integrate them into society, open their personalities to new friends. Every autumn Ivano-Frankivsk holds a Malteser Friends Ball for peopel with limited mobility, organized by the Malteser Relief Service. This event attracts about 200 Malteser members from Ivano-Frankivsk, Lviv, and Kyiv. Together with them, our friends the Romantics circle in elaborate waltzes they prepare ahead of time. Sometimes these Malteser festivities are attended by illustrious and well-regarded guests.

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INTERNATIONAL CAMPS

About a hundred people regularly take training courses on how to take care of people with disabilities. The courses teach how to work with disabled people. Much attention is given to psychological aspects of this kind of work. The young Maltesers are actively involved in life of the club for young people with disabilities thus applying their knowledge to practice. They arrange parties and holidays for them, visit them at home. Our foreign partners invite Ukrainian youth to various international camps and meetings. Each year these events take place in a different European country. We steadily participate in annual international camps held by the Order of Malta and run our own Malteser summer camp in the Carpathians. We relax, work, pray and learn.

MALTESER RELIEF SERVICE IN BEREHOVE A Malteser Regional Center was registered in Berehove in 1993. Today it operates several large-scale projects of various types. Berehove has a charity kitchen, a Care and Rehabilitation Center that rents out medical equipment such as special beds, mattresses, wheelchairs, crutches, mobile toilets, special devices for children and certain medical machines.

The Care and Rehabilitation Center also provides permanent support to people who need adult diapers. Likewise, it is equipped to screen the musculoskeletal system of newborns, children and adults with central nervous system conditions, and offers rehabilitation programs. The Malteser Regional Center is currently introducing several educational programs (computer skills, English, First Aid courses), works with youth and disabled people, and implements an educational curriculum for Roma children.

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CELEBRATING TOGETHER In the springtime (just as in December before St. Nicholas Day kids’ favourite holiday), our traditional Malteser money jars begin to appear at different places - from pharmacies and supermarkets to fashionable boutiques, restaurants and art galleries. That marks the official start of the Malteser Easter charity campaign. For more than a decade our annual “Easter basket” event receives an exclusive blessing of priests of UGCC clergy for consecration of food and Easter cakes. Each year the consecration takes place in advance allowing the Malteser youth to deliver the holiday goodies until Easter Sunday to all the needy people who cannot come to church because of their age or health problems. Some of them have not left their homes for years.

Those who are able to come, join the solemn consecration ceremony with gratitude.

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ST. NICHOLAS FOR CHILDREN IN NEED Children always eagerly await their favourite holiday – the feast of St. Nicholas the Miracle Worker. Those with a less-than-fortunate start in life probably await him most of all, certain that he will not forget them. Among the various Nicholases, our Malteser Nicholas is unusual and unique among similar drives. Firstly, every child receives an individual gift, but additionally the child corresponds with their “personal” Nicholas, whose function is performed by a specific person. The drive has been implemented since 1997, and we are especially pleased that it is sponsored by Ukrainian benefactors.

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MALTESER CHARITY KITCHEN The charity kitchen was the Malteser’s first project in Ukraine. For three decades now we have been providing food to those who find themselves in poverty, and this support remains necessary. In Lviv we support the work of two hot food points for the elderly: at the Church of Our Lady of Ukraine in Nove Znesinnia, and the Church of the Resurrection of Our Lord in Horodotska St. (both UGCC). Another large charity kitchen is active in Berehove in Transcarpathia. In 2007 we inaugurated our “Kitchen on Wheels,” a project aimed at delivering hot lunches to poor people with limited mobility.

WORLD DAY OF THE POOR In 2017 Pope Francis initiated the observance of World Day of the Poor.

This day is a call to the entire Christian community for greater service to the poor and needy, whose human dignity has often been violated. The Maltese Order and the international community of the Maltese services immediately supported this initiative. Every year Ukrainian Maltesers readily join the campaign that spreads more awareness to the needs of the poor and encourages people to take more action in serving them. In his message on the second World Day of the Poor in 2018 Pope Francis draws particular attention to the ÂŤspirit of joy at the rediscovery of our capacity for togetherness. Praying together as a community and sharing a meal on Sunday is an experience that brings us back to the earliest Christian community.Âť

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MALTESER YOUTH Work with the younger generation has always been a priority for the Malteser Relief Service. This includes Christian education of young people, as well as getting them involved in social projects. The life of our youth community includes various meetings, trainings, participation in various projects and drives, as well as international and local youth camps. In 2014 the Ukrainian Malteser became participants of the International Malteser Youth network, created to exchange experience and improve the work of young people on the national level through joint events and projects.

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PILGRIMAGE The Malteser have drawn succour for their spirit at all times by drinking at the inexhaustible fount of Christ’s faith. This included setting out on various pilgrimages and journeys to places important to them, both near and far. One notable event in the international Malteser community is the annual pilgrimage to Lourdes. Ukraine has also joined this important event. Several times now a group of special needs people with limited mobility have traversed the thousands of kilometres of difficult road, accompanied by volunteers, to fill their hearts with joy and grace, and join thousands of other hearts in search of healing. Joined in common prayer, everybody gains new strength to complete this difficult trip. Everybody is engaged in their own internal struggle for life, while surrounded by so many of those in need of attention and help, faith and support from their neighbours in pursuit of a better future for us all.

icon of Roman Zilinko PARABLE OF MUSTARD GRAIN International Iconography Workshop in Nowica / Poland, 2015

OUR PROJECTS

108. 600 EURO

help for children

69. 650 EURO

help for seniors

30. 200 EURO

working with youth, camps, pilgrimages

98. 700 EURO

first aid, training and equipment

477. 600 EURO

relief for the internally displaced

38. 470 EURO

help for people with disabilities

823. 220 EURO

donations

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If you have any questions or need more information, please contact us at: Malteser Relief Service in Ukraine: www.malteser.ua Address: 79005, Lviv, vul. Akademika Bohomoltsya 8/2 Tel./Fax: +38 (032) 275-12-00 E-mail: malteser@malteser.lviv.ua

We need your help to be able to help others.

If you want to support us you can donate to: (for EURO) BENEFICIARY: Maltiyska sluzba dopomogi u Lvovi 8/2 Bogomol’cya Str. Lviv Ukraine ACCOUNT BENEFICIARY: 26003360005.978 BANK OF BENEFICIARY’S: JSB „UKRGAZBANK“ 320478 1, Yerevanska Str. Kyiv Ukraine SWIFT: UGASUAUK ACCOUNT BANK OF BENEFICIARY: 400886433201 CORRESPONDENT BANK: COMMERZBANK AG Neue Mainzer Strasse 32-36 60261 Frankfurt am Main Germany SWIFT: COBADEFF DETAILS OF PAYMENT: (Charity Donation)