By Koen Carlier and Anemone Rüger
While the rocket and drone attacks on villages and towns in Ukraine continue unabated, we are working flat out to keep the 16 soup kitchens that Christians are supporting there alongside Israel running.
But are all these soup kitchens operational under these extreme conditions? “Yes, they are,” says Koen Carlier, who coordinates CSI’s work in Ukraine. “At the end of November, we contacted all those responsible and asked them to keep at least a month’s worth of food in stock, as well as to test the generators and have enough diesel or gasoline. This isn’t an unnecessary luxury, because we’re experiencing a second very cold spell.”
Cutting wind from the north
Temperatures drop to minus 19 degrees Celsius at night. The wind chill makes it feel even colder, at minus 27 degrees, mainly due to the biting north wind. For the hundreds of elderly Jewish people who either receive a double meal delivered to their homes or come to the soup kitchen, a bowl of warm, freshly prepared soup works wonders. It revives both body and soul. Soup should therefore not be missing from their diet. Elderly people who are too weak or too ill to come to the soup kitchen, or who are afraid because of the bombing raids, receive a double meal delivered to their homes several times a week by volunteers.
Dark and cold
Due to the cold and ongoing bombing, gas supplies are failing in more and more places in Ukraine. "If the heating fails, you can't stay at home and have to spend the night somewhere else," explains Koen. "Without electricity and water in your apartment, you can survive for a while, but without heating, you'll freeze to death. In several cities, specially heated buildings with beds have been set up to provide overnight accommodation for the many homeless people."
High demand for hot meals
In Kyiv alone there are four large soup kitchens, one of which has a large tent where hundreds of elderly Jewish people come to eat every week.
“The soup kitchens operate year-round,” reports Koen. “But especially during the cold winter months, there is a high demand for warm meals – including hot soup! Those in charge of the soup kitchens keep track of who is eligible for the meals: elderly Jewish people with small pensions, the weak, the sick, and Holocaust survivors.”
Svetlana
One of the aid recipients in Baya Tserkov is Svetlana. She herself survived the Holocaust. Her older brothers were killed, and her younger brothers were taken with her to a children's concentration camp where medical experiments were conducted; the brothers died as a result. Her mother, after surviving the Nazis, was sent to a Stalinist camp after the war. Svetlana grew up in orphanages and has been on her own her entire life. She still finds it difficult to adjust to the fact that someone now cares for her. Every time we visit, she has prepared a gift—she simply wants to express her gratitude. "I love you all so much, I can't put it into words! You have become family to me!" says Svetlana.
Prepared with love and care
All meals are carefully prepared by local volunteers and served with a smile. During the coldest and darkest winter months, there are naturally many requests – exacerbated by the large number of internally displaced people from eastern and southern Ukraine, where trench warfare is raging. Every meal is a sign of hope, needed more urgently than ever!
This winter we want to distribute at least 12,000 hot meals to needy Jews in Ukraine. Will you help? One meal costs 5 euros. You can donate here
