Ukrainians flee shelling and are received by Hungarian volunteers who work 20 hours a day to provide them with food, medicine and a place to rest. Betina Gollander-Jensen reports from a Mission East-supported center where the volunteers\u2019 mood is high.<\/p>\n
Mission East Managing Director Betina Gollander-Jensen is now at the Ukrainian-Hungarian border, where refugees are being given food, health checks and a place to sleep in a school that has been transformed into a refugee center.<\/p>\n
It is a local partner organization HBAid, that is responsible for the relief work – specifically 14 volunteers who serve as many as 300 refugees in 24 hour limbo on their way to acquaintances in Germany, the Czech Republic, Italy or other European countries.<\/p>\n
Volunteer work 20 hours a day<\/p>\n
– I am deeply impressed with the 14 volunteers who work 20 hours a day four days a week to help the Ukrainian refugees, says Betina Gollander-Jensen on a quite poor connection over Teams.<\/p>\n
What is your impression?<\/p>\n
– I’m here where two weeks ago there was an ordinary primary school in a small quiet village on the border with Ukraine. It has been transformed into a reception center, where they receive 300 refugees every day. The 14 volunteers cook for 300 people, they make sure they have a place to sleep and there is a doctor available for health checks and medication.<\/p>\n
It really is a transit center, she says.<\/p>\n
Here they are for 24 hours, where they can heal a little and get some rest before moving on to family and acquaintances in other countries.<\/p>\n
Fleeing shelling every two hours<\/p>\n
What is your impression of the people you meet?<\/p>\n
– What strikes me is that some of them are quite sad and many are in a waiting position and sitting with their phones and talking to their relatives somewhere in Europe, where they are now on their way.<\/p>\n
– Some I have spoken to are upset and some told me that they chose to flee because the air alarm sounded every two hours because they were under fire.<\/p>\n
It is the Hungarian Baptist Aid (HBAid) that stands for the center, which Mission East supports.<\/p>\n
Tomorrow Friday, the organization will drive across the border into Ukraine with a convoy of seven trucks of food.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"