Ukraine Division volunteers and Salvationists have recently visited Gorenka village and delivered some clothes, food and hygiene products provided by the Salvation Army Territory of France and Belgium. It was one of regular visits to this village, as a lot of families have no place to live but temporary accommodation blocks, where they are sharing facilities, like showers, kitchen, toilets and other. According to United Nations, Gorenka village 1200 houses have been destroyed since the war started in Ukraine, which is about 80% of the entire number of houses before the war. Visiting residents of the temporary residence is always tear-breaking moment, as these people share their stories of living without electricity, water, gas and heating in their apartments at extreme winter conditions before the temporary accommodation was built.
Gorenka village is physically severely destroyed, but because of the residents it feels alive! However, residents of the temporary accommodation have some questions in common about – what will happen next? When their accommodation will be recovered and when their children will stop experiencing the horror of war?
Extremely heavy fights took place around Gorenka village that caused a great destruction. Ukrainian government forces decided that living under these severe circumstances is dangerous, so civilians were forced to leave the village on March 5th,2022.
Only on April 14th, 2022, Gorenka residents were allowed to return. It was e very big stress for them to see their homes destroyed and belongings they had to leave burned. Most of the village residents lost everything they owned.
Currently Gorenka village residents live in severe need of everything – food, clothes, shoes, hygiene products and more. The Salvation Army in Ukraine provides help and support to those who in need and it relies on help that comes from other countries. Ukraine Division is completely sure that the number of its supporters around the globe will grow and the range of help that can be provided will dramatically increase.
Author: Ivan Berezkin
Eastern Europe Territory