An interesting and unedited report on the situation in Ukraine was published on July 10 in the Vatican News press agency, which reveals news not disseminated by the Italian press. We offer you a summary.
In Ukraine, after having been tormented by the Russian invasion for over 16 months, people are thirsty for peace.
“For our country, Ukraine, peace is the dream and the hope”. These are the reflections of Hanna Homeniuk, head of the social cohesion program of Caritas Ukraine.
“It is clear that after the invasion by the Russian Federation in February 2022, our first task was to save lives, but at the same time, all local Caritas Ukraine organizations had facilitators in their teams who could communicate with the communities and help them resolve any conflicts. Currently, peacebuilding projects are carried out in ten regional offices of Caritas Ukraine, in the safest communities, that is, far from the front line.
The work program of each team in a given community includes facilitation, psychological support, conflict resolution and various public events (a small party or a workshop) to increase cohesion among people.
“Our main objective – explains the program manager – is the interaction and integration of internally displaced people in smaller municipalities, where these people find it more difficult to integrate than in large cities”.
x“In general, we also focus on conflicts, – underlines Homeniuk, – because there is a lot of pain caused by war. Conflicts also arise because someone is fighting at the front and someone is not, someone has lost a relative and someone has not. We also work in recently liberated places, and there is also tension there between those who stayed and survived the occupation and those who fled and are returning now. Each of them has had a different experience of war, and sometimes there is even a sort of ‘competition’ as to which experience is the most difficult, although it is clear that all are in the same situation and in fact, all have the same painful experience.
In Ukrainian society, the problem of healing wounds, overcoming trauma and relieving pain will remain relevant for decades to come. This is why Caritas Ukraine is trying to invest more and more in the training of psychologists and other specialists who will be able to work in that field. “The advantage of Caritas – says Hanna – is that this organization has a religious component. The presence of priests, their service and attention to the way in which mourning is experienced and funerals are held are very important aspects and allow human loss to be lived appropriately”.
In the first phase of the war, the Ukrainians showed a very high level of cohesion, but now various tensions are beginning to emerge which are often caused by stereotyped views of others.
“For example, there may be some fear of veterans, because they may have an excessive demand for justice and someone fears some kind of assault. Although these assumptions may not be justified, this stereotype exists…
There are many different stereotypes about displaced people: sometimes locals have a certain resentment that they may take away jobs or drive up house prices, and forget that displaced people are often an asset to the community, because they bring with them businesses and , indeed, create jobs.
This applies to both internally displaced persons and refugees abroad.
Often these tensions disappear when people get to know each other personally and are convinced that they had the wrong perception of the other. That’s why we try to get people to communicate, so we can debunk these myths.”
The Ukrainians are a people of farmers: in these more than sixteen months of the Russian invasion they have continued to sow the fields of wheat and to harvest it even under the bombs and missiles. They have not even stopped planting the seeds of peace even though the country’s military aggression has forced them to take up arms to defend their families.
([information about] all the services offered, accompanied by interesting photos, can be viewed at this link https://www.vaticannews.va/it/chiesa/news/2023-07/caritas-ukraina-progetto-peacebuilding-guer ra.html