About twenty devotees who fled the war in Ukraine live since the beginning of March on Almvik. In total, we have received about 30 refugees, but some of them have moved on to other places. A couple, husband and wife, moved to Gothenburg where they now take care of the cooking of prasadam at Govinda’s restaurant! The Ukrainian devotees help with many different services at Almvik, such as cleaning of different spaces in the temple building, cooking and dishes in the temple kitchen. We help them and they help us! We have also received so much help from the outside, not only money, but also clothes, large amounts of rice and other dry goods, as well as bread, fruits and vegetables that Paramesvari dasi collects daily from stores in Järna.
The children have started in Mary School in Järna and enjoy very well with the Swedish school that is not as strict as they are used to from Ukraine. Most people do not speak much English, but fortunately there are several Russian-speaking devotees at Almvik. Sarasvati Gopi dasi has made a fantastic effort as the chief in charge of refugees. She has taken care of all the organization for them to come here, arranged their accommodation, services and above all managed communication with them because she speaks Russian. She also teaches them regularly in Swedish. A family, Krishna Sakha das and Anugamini dasi with sons Yaroslav and Vladimir, want to settle at Almvik for good. There has been a very positive development at Almvik with the fact that we have received these devotees. There has been more life and movement in the temple and more devotees attend the temple programs.