News

Not quite Cinema Paradiso

The latest group of refugees from Ukraine who are being helped by the Botosani Deaf Association with support from Agents of Change have found temporary accommodation in a cinema in the town of Saveni near Podriga. Seven women and six children are sleeping on cinema chairs. It’s not ideal although they’re glad to be safe. One of the women is deaf, another is injured with a badly broken leg, and a six year old boy is so traumatised by what he’s been through that he’s reverted to being spoonfed. With no kitchen facilities they are relying on local people bringing in food parcels. They are looking forward to a day out at the monastery at Stiubieni where they’ll have fresh air and space for the children to play. In the meantime Agents of Change are drawing on their long relationship with the local school to see if they can get places for the children there. Efforts are being made to find better accommodation.

Easter!

The Orthodox Church follows the Julian calendar which makes today Easter Day. That includes Romania and Ukraine. So today our staff in Romania will be spending time with their families as well as keeping in touch with the Ukrainian arrivals who they are supporting. It continues to be the basics that matter – groceries, fuel to get around, keeping shelters warm and dry, daily care, and cheerful engagement.

Hospitality to four-legged as well as two-legged refugees

  The Deaf Association of Botosani County (ANSR) headed up by their President Daniel Hliban, who also works part-time for Agents of Change, has developed a system for hosting deaf Ukrainian refugees. They stay overnight in the Association’s office and then are helped next day in the ways that make best sense to individuals. This includes supporting their pets, who came with them over the border. Agents of Change funding is put to where it is needed, including fuel for journeys, and food. As you can see in this ANSR facebook video they cater for guests of all kinds.

 

Thank you! £20,000 and counting for the Ukraine appeal

The appeal has now reached beyond £20,000. This is thanks to the generosity of individual supporters which includes Gift Aid to be claimed, and a substantial contribution from a family trust who have been one of our core donors for many years. We are humbled by the response our appeal has received. It means that we can help individual refugees from Ukraine in the ways that make a difference to them immediately or in the long term. Our specialism is in working with people with physical and mental disabilities. The appeal will remain open for the forseeable future as we know that our supporters tend to hear of us through word of mouth, and sadly we doubt that the need will disappear soon. So for now we offer you a sunflower – our emblem for many years because sunflowers are grown for oil in the fields around our community house in Podriga, North East Romania. Coincidently it is the national flower of Ukraine.

 

Refuge, support, and new glasses

As well as offering trips to the dentist and organising a visit from the hair stylist, the Deaf Association of Botosani County arranged for a group of the Ukrainian refugees to have their eyes tested. Seven of them were fitted with new spectacles. The expedition and glasses were funded by Agents of Change as another small step towards feeling at home in Romania, for as long as our new friends need to be there.

 

 

 

As if being a refugee wasn’t enough….

News has come in that Botosani County is facing an unseasonal drought. The wells are empty which means that it will be difficult to do any planting. A lot of people in this part of Romania get their drinking water from wells, including the Agents of Change community house at Podriga. The drought is likely to affect the deaf refugees living at the old collective farm, as we’d hoped that getting on with planting crops would give them something active to do for the next few months while they’re waiting for their next move. Unless there are some spring rains soon, and not floods as is often the case, the whole area could be in food deficit in the Autumn. In other news Agents of Change staff members Tatieana and Viorel went to the border yesterday with Abbot Mihai of the monastery at Stuibeni. During the lockdown our staff could not access the institutions as normal and the monastery’s farming volunteers could not visit. So our staff moved across to help the monastery. It is too remote to be immediately attractive to refugees but could house up to 100 people if the need arises.

Meanwhile, at the border…

Our community house at Podriga in Botosani County is 30km from the border crossing at Radauti Prut, and when we first launched our appeal there was a heavy flow of refugees coming down the road past our front door. Agents of Change staff have been taking their turn at the border crossing alongside other Romanian organisations, and individual volunteers. They meet Ukrainians, provide reassurance and hot food, and help them to work out their next move. This usually includes directing them to the buses that will take them where they need to go for their onward journey, which is often to the neighbouring region of Siret where international organisations have been focusing their attention. For refugees coming through Radauti Prut with specific needs, such as those who are deaf, there are designated Botosani organisations who respond.

The numbers of refugees heading for Radauti Prut has decreased in recent days, but there is still the need to keep the border crossing open. Agents of Change staff continue to play their part in welcoming and assisting cold, frightened people seeking safety from the war in Ukraine, and will do so as long as the need remains.

Thank you Silviu, the Botosani barber

Silviu Damean, the owner of a hair salon in Botoșani volunteered his professional services to the Ukrainian refugees taking shelter with the Deaf Association.  The simple pleasure of getting your hair cut and looking stylish brought everyone together and helped them to feel more at home in Romania. The network of friends and associates that Agents of Change staff have built up over years means that offers of help come from all directions, and sometimes what is most valuable does not have a charge against a budget.

Normality in abnormal times

You’ve fled from the bombing that you couldn’t hear, because you are deaf. You’re in a strange country where the sign language is different, and you don’t know what’s happening with the people you left behind. Home for the next few months is a quickly renovated farm building, which you’re sharing with other refugees from the Ukrainian deaf community. So what could be more normal than a visit to the dentist? Daniel Hliban, President of the Botosani County Deaf Association, who works part-time for Agents of Change, was able to get treatment for those who needed it. The next day a mobile hairdresser was due to be visiting the refugees at their base, and 7 people already have appointments booked at the eye clinic. In the background Agents of Change are ready to fund fuel for the vehicles to get people to where they need to be. The Deaf Association has aready spent its normal monthly budget in two weeks, so we’ll be ready to contribute to their utility bills if necessary. We will be there for the families on the farm in the coming months, thanks to the extraordinary generosity of our supporters in the UK.

Amazing supporters! £15k raised in 3 weeks – your generosity is humbling.

Our appeal for support to Ukrainian refugees in Botosani County in North Eastern Romania went live on 1st March. Today it became clear that in the past three weeks our amazing supporters (that’s you) have donated upwards of £15k, with more to come from Gift Aid. The fundraising continues, because the needs continue. People are still coming across the border, although in lower numbers currently. Botosani has a border with Moldova, and it may be that people begin to transit from there. For now – THANK YOU.