ISKCON RELIEF FOR UKRAINE
Week 7
ISKCON Relief – Figures
Devotees from Europe and even other parts of the world have tirelessly continued their sincere endeavors to help devotees and refugees from Ukraine to find shelter, care and support. The following figures are for week 7.
|
Food For Life – Prasadam Distribution for Week 7 |
Quantity |
|
Czech Republic |
2,500 plates |
|
Hungary |
2,500 plates + bread and sweets |
|
Poland |
2,100 plates |
|
France |
100 plates |
|
Country |
New Refugees received last week |
Total Refugees Remaining |
|
Bulgaria |
2 |
42 |
|
Czech Republic |
0 |
76 (incl. 35 children) |
|
Croatia |
0 |
14 |
|
Denmark |
2 |
30 (incl. 11 children) |
|
Hungary |
0 |
43 (incl. 15 children) |
|
Italy |
0 |
17 |
|
Poland |
37 |
Warsaw: 70 Wrocław: 25 Wałbrzych: 30 |
|
Portugal |
4 are on the way |
4 |
|
Romania |
2 transiting |
0 |
|
Slovakia |
0 |
16 (incl. 8 children) |
|
Slovenia |
0 |
5 |
|
Spain |
4 |
35 |
|
Sweden |
5 |
31 (incl. 20 at Almvik Farm) |
ISKCON Relief – Reports
Devotee communities all over Europe and even in other parts of the world are sincerely trying their utmost to support and help devotees refugees from Ukraine. Not only are they supplying accommodation, food, clothes, and other facilities, but they are also helping refugees to deal with registration issues, school placements for children, as well as finding jobs for the refugees to help them to rebuild their lives.
Poland: Last week some refugee devotees traveled to Austria and even Japan. Additionally, a lot of paper work and documents were filled in. Also, quite a few nice jobs came along from the Rasikendra’s contacts. A couple of our teenagers were admitted to the hospital with heart palpitations and difficulties with breathing, all signs of severe stress.
The wonderful refugee team focused this week on organising several fun filled activities for the refugee children which made them very happy. The Wroclaw team headed by Nama Rasana and Jahnavi took all the refugee children and their parents for a day out to the Zoo. It was an unforgettable experience for them. In Walbrzych Krsna Sambandha and his glorious family celebrated his birthday by cooking a huge feast for their refugee team and then took them out on a hike in the beautiful nearby area. In Warsaw Rasikendra and Mathuranath took all the children to a fancy playground for the day.
Czech Republic: Food distribution in Prague has increased significantly and last week 2,500 plates of warm meals were distributed to refugees.
Slovakia: Devotees are considering renting or purchasing an affordable place in Slovakia to accommodate more refugees. This would be important considering the fact that many refugees want to go back to Ukraine after the war and would therefore like to stay close to the border. So far there is not much interest for devotee refugees to go to the US or Canada.
Sweden: The Danish devotees helped one mother with her two daughters travel to the Almvik Farm in Sweden. Additionally, two more devotees from Ukraine arrived at the Almvik farm last week. Now 20 refugees are at the Almvik farm and 11 at other ISKCON communities in Sweden. Devotees are organising Swedish language lessons and the Ukrainian children have started to go to school. People from the nearby town Järna donated several bicycles for the refugee children and two shops are donating surplus food on pretty much a daily basis.
Denmark: In order to give space to ten mothers and their children, plus four male devotee refugees who arrived during the past two weeks from Ukraine, all but one of the brahmacaris have vacated the temple and are now staying with their families. “We are all serving them [the refugees] to the best of our ability, providing them with a variety of tasty prasadam, giving them new beds, blankets, bedsheets and whatever clothes they need, including ordering many new saris, dhotis, anarkalis, gopiskrits and chaddars etc. from Vrindavan. We are also trying to find appropriate apartments for them to live in close to the temple.” (Kesava Priya dd)
Ireland: The devotees in Ireland have accommodation in the temple for Ukrainian devotees. Please get in contact with them for more information. The temple is though part of UK, even though it’s located in Ireland and thus visas are unfortunately required.
Italy: 17 devotee refugees are staying at different temples in Italy. One Ukrainian devotee in Villa Vrindavana met with the leaders of a bridge association between the government and refugees. He received a lot of information regarding refugees staying in Italy. They will also provide the possibility of small paid jobs, Italian courses and access to clothes and materials for daily use. The number of devotees and other refugees in Italy remains relatively low (around 80,000 total) because the government has yet to make their economic aid operational.
ISKCON Relief – Videos
Zee News: ISKCON helping Ukrainian Refugees
https://twitter.com/ZeeNews/status/1504290568075374595?t=IMUi9Xl6YYkYzhAONu9mfQ&s=08
Sakshi TV: Interview with ISKCON Devotee Helping Ukrainian Refugees
Sakshi TV: Ukraine ISKCON Devotees Great Words About Lord Krishna.
ISKCON Relief – Resources
Relocation Services
The ISKCON Relocation Services is run by Loka Pavani Devi Dasi and three of her Vaishnavi colleagues. They work tirelessly to put together useful and updated information about available help which can be accessed in different European countries. Such information includes government benefits, government accommodations, relocation in temples and devotee’s homes, or a list of ISKCON centres especially equipped in helping women and children to get safe facilities. Refugees can find different options, and make informed decisions on where to go. You can find all this information at the ‘Country Specific Fact Sheets for Ukrainian Devotees’ at
http://eurorgb.org/ukraine-crisis-resources/.
Crisis Management Support
Compassionate Listening Circles with Rambhoru Devi Dasi.
Every Sunday 8:00 – 9:30 pm CET on Zoom.
Contact and registration: Rambhoru@gmail.com
Crisis Management Team
The Crisis Management Team has appointed local coordinators for several countries. These local coordinators offer help to refugees and the assisting devotees. Don’t hesitate to contact them.
A list of the national coordinators for several countries can be found at:
http://eurorgb.org/ukraine-crisis-structure/
The International Society for Krishna Consciousness
Founder Acharya His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada