Second Winter in the Midst of Conflict for Hundreds of Thousands of People living in Eastern Ukraine. People in Need is Providing Fuel, Help with Repairs to Damaged Buildings and with Renewal of Small Businesses

People in Need has already provided food aid to almost a quarter of a million people on both sides of the conflict and it now concentrates on also fighting the cold. „Over 37 thousand people have been able to insulate their homes against the cold, almost 3 700 have repaired their houses, a further 25 thousand have received grants for repairs,“  Tomáš Kocian, PiN´s Humanitarian Aid Coordinator, describes the help provided.  „Apart from this we have provided access to drinking water or hygiene to more than three quarters of a million people and to over 30 thousand people, mainly children, we have provided psychosocial counselling,“ he adds that in areas which are not directly involved in fighting more than 100 people have received grants to help renew their businesses.

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In the areas affected by the conflict in the Eastern part of the Ukraine, houses, schools and hospitals have been damaged or destroyed, people often have very limited access to food, medicines and other basic goods, hundreds of thousands of people have lost their jobs.  Often the basic infrastructure has been completely destroyed.

For example in the village of Vodyane, which is situated about two kilometers from Donetsk airport, for the past 20 months there has been no electricity or gas and there is no running drinking water.  In spite of this 93 people still live there.  Although a ceasefire has been negotiated, people living in the areas near the front live under constant threat of sniper fire. „We have become so used to it, we hardly take notice any more,“ comments Olga, who is one of those remaining in the village.  Her husband Anatoly used to make a living as a fisherman but because of long-term bombardement most of the fish in the local waters have died.  Now, Anatoly manages to catch a few fish, hardly enough to feed his own family. „The only thing we really mind now is that we have no glass in the windows.  The wind blows through the house constantly.“ says Olga.  People in Need has brought a petrol-run generator to Vodyane, to enable the local people to have some light and to charge their mobile telephones.

Insulating Houses and Distributing Stoves

The Ukrainians apart from the on-going military conflict also have to face up to severe winter conditions and freezing temperatures.  People in Need help with repairing their damaged houses, covering roofs and putting new glass in shattered windows.  In chosen localities the PiN teams try to provide families with at least one warm room in each dwelling. „Families living in villages near the front line furthermore receive grants to help them with paying rent, repairs and materials needed for the winter, such as wood, coal, stoves and electrical converters,“  says PiN´s Ukrainian Aid Coordinator, Vladislav Vlk.

Help provided by PIN in 2015 in numbers:

• 107 634 distributed food parcels
• 100 823 distributed food vouchers
• 44 232 distributed loaves of bread
• 3 687 repaired houses
• 37 483 individuals who have received household equipment for the winter and materials to repair their houses with
• 25 626 people who have been supported through grants to pay rent/repair their house
• 736 851 individuals who have gained access to drinking water
• 21 123 individual hygiene packages
• 30 776 individuals who have been included in projects supporting people and children under threat
• 116 individuals who have received grants to renew their source of income

Living grants have also been received by 25 families, who live in the small village of Severnoe.  They have used this money to buy fuel, warm clothing and some have in part repaired the damage to their houses.  „My husband broke his leg a few months ago, so we were not able to collect enough wood for ourselves to last us through the winter.  And we do not have enough money to buy it.  To the nearest town where you can buy some wood it is first of all five kilometers on foot and then you have to take the bus,“ narrates Lyubov from the Severnoe village. „We really are grateful for the help.  We would not have lasted through the winter this year,“  she adds.

People in Need has also brought in coal for 55 families living in the village of Umanskoye near the front line.  Those left in the village are mainly the elderly, most of the younger people have left due to the lack of work and the lasting military conflict. „In our village you cannot buy coal, because no-one will bring it here.  In any case, we couldn´t afford to buy it because it is too expensive,“ says Vladimir Petrovich. The average price of coal is around 2 350 Ukrainian Hryvnias per ton. An average family would require at least three tons for the winter, which would mean more than 7 000 Hryvnias.  Considering that the average retirement pension is 1 300 Hryvnias per month, this would be quite out of reach for those living here.  „The coal we received from People in Need helped us to get through the winter,“ adds Vladimir.

As temperatures drop, people also need more food to build up their energy.  Therefore the size of the food parcels needs to reflect this. „Our team distributes food parcels mainly in the areas around the front line, where there are no functioning shops,“ says Vladislav Vlk.  Where the markets are still open, people who have limited financial means receive food vouchers.  They can use these in the local shops.

Renewing resources for internal refugees

Hundreds of thousands have left the war torn areas since November 2014.  According to the UNHCR there are now some 1.6 million internal refugees registered in the Ukraine and up to a million of these live in goverment-controlled areas.  The market and local economic infrastructure have been vastly damaged and for this reason it is now necessary to concentrate on long-term help so that the population does not build a reliance on humanitarian aid.  „We work with chosen households of internal refugees, whom we help to rebuild their means of livelihood, which was lost due to conflict. We provide them with small financial grants to help them set up new business ventures in the place they fled to,“ says Vladislav Vlk.

„Before all this, my husband Vladimir and I had a good life.  We worked as garden architects and we did not have a problem in earning enough money.  Because of the war we had to leave our home.  We were desolate and had no idea in how we would be able to start again,“  remembers Lyudmila who left Donetsk together with her husband and brother and moved to a derelict cottage inherited from her grandmother.  The conflict had made them refugees in their own land.  They had to start from scratch. They decided to try their hand at cheesemaking, which led to an idea to start this as a business.  In order to step up production from making cheese for their own needs to being able to sell their produce,  they needed some basic equipment.  For this they decided to apply to the programme run by People in Need for renewal of business.

„We managed to get a grant of 24 thousand Hryvnias.  We used this to buy a milk pasteurizer and a vacuum packaging machine.  We also had our car adapted from using petrol to gas, as petrol has become very expensive recently.  Now we make around 50 kilos of different kinds of cheese each day and we have our own trademark,“ describes Lyudmila how their business started. „This work also supports at least 25 local families because we buy fresh milk from them daily.  We would like to increase production and buy at least two more refrigerators.  If this happens then we could support up to 60 local families,“ says Lyudmila. „I never would have imagined that I would be making a living by making cheese.  We would never have managed without help,“ she adds.

Apart from physical hardship the continuing conflict leaves also psychological scars in the people in the afflicted areas.  According to the findings of the UN Children´s Fund (UNICEF) the conflict has affected the lives of 580 thousand children living near the areas where fighting takes place.  Every third child is in acute need of psychosocial help.  More than 215 thousand children are amongst the internal refugees, only during the course of the last year 20 children were killed and more than 40 were injured, mainly due to unexploded mines.  Every fifth school has suffered damage or been completely destroyed.

The enormous efforts of scores of People in Need employees as well as other local and international non-governmental organizations in Eastern Ukraine can only partially alleviate the suffering of hundreds of thousands of people. „The main reason for the enduring humanitarian crisis in Eastern Ukraine is the continuous fighting, the dwindling economy, the constant uncertainty and the absence of any lasting political solutions.  The difficulty in accessing the areas which are not under Ukrainian control and the bureaucracy involved continue to pose a problem for bringing humanitarian aid to people those areas,“ says People in Need Director, Šimon Pánek, who visited the East of Ukraine last week. „I witnessed first hand that a great number of people are entirely dependent on humanitarian aid and would be in a desperate situation without it.  Only a small number of international organizations have received permission to work in the areas controlled by separatists, which only complicates getting effective help to those areas,“ he adds.

In September 2015 the authorities in the so-called Luhansk People´s Republic have refused the registration of humanitarian organizations, which fundamentally endangered the lives of the local population.  People in Need has fulfilled all the requirements and finally managed to receive accreditation at the beginning of 2016.  Shortly thereafter the first convoy was dispatched to the so-called Luhansk People´s Republic, this brought 5 000 food parcels and equipment for providing drinking water, especially pumps and water tanks.  The aid will be distributed to people living near the front.  People in Need now has permanent offices in Slavyansk, Donetsk and Stakhanov and over two hundred People in Need employees are now helping hundreds of thousands of the most needy on both sides of the conflict.

People in Need is able to help only thanks to support by its donors, which include the European Commission (ECHO), American Office for Foreign Disaster Aid (OFDA), World Food Programme (WFP), UK Department for International Development (DFID), the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), the UN Children´s Fund (UNICEF) and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Czech Republic.  People in Need furthermore provided 1.5 million Czech Crowns for immediate aid from the humanitarian fund of the People in Need Club of Friends and 12.6 million Crowns from the SOS Ukraine public appeal.  People in Need would like to thank all donors for their support.

For more information please contact:

Vladislav Vlk, Coordinator of People in Need Aid for Ukraine, +420 778 531 399, vladislav.vlk@peopleinneed.cz

Tomáš Kocian, Coordinator of People in Need Humanitarian Aid, +420 777 787 970, tomas.kocian@peopleinneed.cz

Šimon Pánek, Director of People in Need, +420 777 787 913, simon.panek@clovekvtisni.cz