4 minute read
Update from the Ukrainian border – Catalin Constantin
An update from the Ukrainian/Romanian border
On 25th February 2022, a day after the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Catalin Constantin, former Worth Farm Manager, started receiving waves of refugees at his holiday resort business in Romania that he had set up upon leaving Worth in 2017. Being only 10kms from the ferry border point of Isaccea, it became an epicentre as refugees crossed into Romania as Ukrainians fled their homes. What started as a trickle of refugees escalated, and at one point they had 3,000 people arriving each day.
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Catalin and his family and friends collected refugees from the border point, took them to centres across the country where they received food, clothes and accommodation. They helped organise transport, documents, medical needs, and even a funeral. They transformed one of their holiday flats into a free shop with clothes, shoes, nappies and personal hygiene products, and have even cared for some Ukrainian pets!
With no support from the Romanian Government they were paying for things themselves. We helped Catalin set up a Justgiving page to allow the Worth Community to support his and his family’s work, which to date has raised over £38,000. In October we caught up with Catalin to get an update on the changing situation and what the money raised had been used for:
Dear Friends
Following your generous support and prayers earlier in the year, I wanted to send an update with regards to the refugee situation in this part of Europe. For me, it was a summer with a few health issues, and also managing what was left of our tourist season here, which is the main source of income for me and my family. The season was less busy than expected, probably due to being so close to Ukraine.
As you already know, in February this year, there was a serious humanitarian situation here due to the appalling Russian invasion of Ukraine. Millions of Ukrainians left the country in a hurry, and looked for a quiet place in the neighbouring countries. More than 700,000 Ukrainians have entered Romania to date, and being so close to the border here at Casa Varvara, we had more than 200 people staying here in February, March and April. We housed them, fed them, and also provided transport, clothes, medicines and everything else required. In some cases, we rented flats in town, or bought plane tickets.
Summer camp for Ukrainian children
The devastation clear to see in Zaporyzhzrya
In April, we saw decreasing numbers of refugees. Many Ukrainians that were here left for other parts of Europe like Britain or Germany. Another family is now in the USA. Some, decided to return home, as the situation was more stable in their towns and villages. We now keep in touch with most of the people that stayed here, and really hope to travel to Ukraine in peace times and visit some of them there.
From April onwards, there was less of a demand to house and feed refugees here, but we started to understand there is demand now within Ukraine itself. We have friends that started to go there with food supplies, clothes and medicines, and so we decided to use the money we had left to pay for part or whole transports to Ukraine. In the towns closer to Romania, like Izmayil, Tatarbunary, Kilyia, refugees were gathering in their thousands close to local churches, and they needed to be fed. Others, who couldn’t leave their homes, stayed behind and had very limited or no access to food and medicines. In May we helped distribute food and toiletries in the Izmayil with the collaboration of a local church, and in June, food, toiletries and medicines were distributed in the Odessa and Kyiv regions where we also bought large quantities of flour which was then used by a local church to bake bread for local distribution. The summer continued with food deliveries to the Kharkiv and Kyiv regions, and we organised a summer camp for Ukrainian children near Tulcea in Romania. Most recently we have helped with supplies into the Kharkyv and Zaporyzhzya regions, and the signs of devastation are clearly seen.
We have made many new friends and all those that got involved and helped in any way, including the Worth Community, have brought hope to hundreds of Ukrainian people and helped them get through very difficult times indeed.
God bless you!
Catalin Constantin
Large supplies of flour helped a church bake bread for local distribution
