Update Ukraine: Creating Order in Total Chaos

Our team in Ukraine is working day and night to support Jewish refugees, provide shelter and evacuate them to neighboring countries. Read an update from Sara van Oordt (Christians for Israel Netherlands) who is in Moldova assisting our team on the ground.

I am in Moldova for some days now to help our team with the evacuation of refugees from the Jewish communities, which we have been helping for 25 years in Ukraine. Here’s what happened yesterday. In the morning, we we went to the border of Moldova and Ukraine again. Forty people came through our shelter in western Ukraine. Everything went smooth. Again, I saw the sad and worried faces of people who saw horror. Elderly people, young children, and mothers. Men have to stay in Ukraine to fight in the army. They are not allowed to enter.

One young mother with her young child comes from Kharkov, she is the first to cross the border. She has already been traveling for five days. Her daughter couldn’t talk out of fear and she was trembling. Nick, our volunteer from Belgium, talked to her in a sweet and loving way.

After 1,5 hours our group is complete.

Photo: C4I

Five refugees who were not in our group begged us to take them with us. They had nobody to turn to. Since we still had a few free seats, we took them with us. How can you leave people behind who faced the worst?

Half an hour after we left the border, Max from the Israeli organization we cooperate with, called Koen, alarmed: “150 Jewish people from Dnepropetrovsk are coming to the border, can you bring them to Romania?. They arranged busses themselves, but the busses simply didn’t show up.” So we decided to help. Koen arranged two big and two small busses, to pick up the 150 refugees and bring them to Romania.

We are driving in the direction of Kishinov, but we have no clue what our destination is. Moldova is literally flooded with refugees, there is no place for extra refugees. But thousands of them come every day. This is turning into a humanitarian catastrophe.

Photo: C4I

Not much later at our first stop, one of our colleagues receives the horrible news that there was a bombing just a few kilometers from our shelter. It is impossible to imagine how to work so hard in such a stressful situation, and at the same time you have to cope with all the time news from bombings, shootings, killings of civilians. This is beyond reality. My heart breaks for our team, for the refugees.

We decide to bring it before our Lord and Saviour. He has everything in His hands, and He says: fear not, because I am with you.

We continue to drive. Not knowing if there is a place for our forty refugees. We are referred from one person to another – there is total chaos and panic.

Finally… we hear where we can go with our group. We have an address, a center run by a church. Another fifty kilometres of additional driving from the original plan.

The evacuation process needs to go faster from Moldova, Romania, Poland to Israel. Tens of thousands will come if the violence continues like it does now. Where should they stay? On the streets…? Total chaos, really. We brought some order for our forty people, and hopefully also for the 150 extra people.
What will be next? Only God knows.

Next Steps

Jewish refugees are brought  from Ukraine to Moldova. Because the airspace in Moldova is closed, buses are bringing the people to Romania. From there, they are brought to Israel. The expense of such a bus trip is € 4000 or $4400. This is about € 100 or $110 per person.

Would you like to assist one or more Jewish refugees with their evacuation and emigration to Israel? Or do you want to sponsor a whole bus? Please support our emergency campaign. Your support is of vital importance. Thank you in advance!