Providing for the needs of parents and children who have fled Ukraine

Victoria picks up supplies for her family at RomExpo
Friday, June 3, 2022

“It was a very difficult decision to leave our home… but we had to leave because of the growing danger,” explains Victoria, who fled her hometown of Odesa, Ukraine with her children and the boys’ grandmothers. “We could hear bombs and explosions near our home, the children were very afraid.”

A quick exit, a long bus ride and a 12-hour line

“We had to leave my husband and behind,” she explains. “We got on a bus and travelled to the border. There was a large crowd of people trying to cross, we had to wait in a line for more than 12 hours,” she said.

Victoria was fortunate to have people she knows in Bucharest. For now, she and her family are sheltered in the home of a colleague in Bucharest.

“We had a regular life with jobs and our children were in school [in Ukraine],” she says on her way back from RomExpo—a conference center turned hub for refugee support services where World Vision and other organizations are working together to meet the refugee's needs. Today, she carries warm clothes, food and some toys for her younger son, Arsenij, 10.

Ukranian refugee Victoria and her son at RomExpo

“The centre is so helpful to us! We came in the winter and the children need clothes for warmer weather. I’m also here to get toys for my younger son, we couldn’t bring any with us. The food is also very helpful, food prices here in Romania are a lot higher than in Ukraine,” she explains.

Victoria is grateful to receive support for her immediate needs, although she longs for things to go back to the way they were before. “We hope the war ends soon and we can just go back to our regular life. we just want to go back to our home in Odesa,” she says.

Ukraine, a window into the plight of refugees around the world

We’ve all seen how the conflict in Ukraine has forced so many children to leave everything behind. Our teams have supported more than 130,000 in Romania, Georgia, Ukraine and Moldova since the war began.

But, the situation is so much bigger than just Ukraine. Across the world, there are more than 20 million refugees. Many have not been home in many years.

For more than 70 years, we have been supporting the needs of refugees. World Vision teams are working to support refugees from UkraineSouth SudanMyanmar and Syria as well as other locations around the globe.

Help our teams to protect and provide for children whose lives have been changed in an instant.

 

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