Missio Malta is responding to an urgent call for help from its mission partners in Poland, Romania & Slovakia who are desperately trying to comfort and support refugees fleeing across the border from Ukraine.
As the Maltese agency of the worldwide network of the Pontifical Mission Societies, Missio Malta will gratefully receive any contributions and will work with counterparts in Ukraine, Poland, Romania and other European countries to provide support where needed, says Missio Malta Head off Communications, Robert Farrugia.
“The ongoing prayer and material support for those affected by these tragic circumstances is an expression of the solidarity of the universal church as we reach out to bring hope and give life to those so much in need,” says Farrugia.
In Romania, local parishioners are providing emergency relief and pastoral support, amid an unfolding humanitarian crisis, says Rev. Eugen Blaj, National Director, PMS Romania.
“The majority are women with children, trying to save their life from the war,” he says.
The refugee centres are crowded, and the services basic, and local parishioners are doing what they can to provide mattresses, bedsheets, pillows, and food, as well as nappies and basic sanitary items, says Fr Eugen.
In an email he sent to Misso Malta last Friday he said, “If you can help a bit, maybe with a donation, it will be very helpful.” Fr Eugen says families are torn apart, speaking of a mother who arrived with her small children and grandmother, seeking a place to sleep.
“I asked about her husband,” Fr Eugen says. “With tears in her eyes, she told me that the men from 18 years above are taken in the war, and maybe their house is destroyed.
“It is a lot of pain (for the refugees), if you ask them something, they start to cry,” he says.
In Poland, they are receiving refugees in their local parishes and at the PMS chapel they pray for world peace. Grateful, too for the support from Malta. “This shows that the PMS are one big family, a missionary family,” says Fr Maciej Bedzinski, National Director PMS in Poland.
More information can be found on https://missio.org.mt/donate/projects/health/sos-ukraine/