“We are on the side of children. We will continue working to shield children from the horrors of war,” says the national director of SOS Children’s Villages in Ukraine Serhii Lukashov.
This is a very sad and dark time for the whole world, especially for the Ukrainian people. Innocent people are suffering because of the aggression from their neighbouring country. The lives of these people are falling apart – their dreams, plans and hopes are being destroyed. People have to leave their houses in a hurry, families are torn apart and people are made to suffer through the horrors of war.
These days we are doing our best to help our colleagues in Ukraine, who have been supporting children and families in different regions of Ukraine for years now. We have offered to welcome Ukrainian families and children in Latvia in both SOS Children’s Villages and fosterfamilies, if they decide to seek asylum here.
The first six Ukrainian families have already arrived at the SOS Children's Village in Īslīce on March 7, and on March 10 we welcomed new families from Ukraine. Currently, 41 people from Ukraine live in the Īslīce SOS children village - 27 children, aged 2 months to 18 years, and 14 adults.
In 2003 SOS Children’s Villages started operating in Ukraine. In 2010 the first SOS children’s village was opened in Brovary, Kyiv region, but in 2012 the organisation started providing help to families in Luhansk region in eastern Ukraine. In 2014 due to the situation in the region, the Luhansk support programme was reorganised, creating a social support centre, that is conducting an emergency help program, and is helping families in different regions, using mobile operation centres. As of right now, the social support centre in Luhansk is closed, and its personnel have been evacuated to Sievierodonetsk, but remote family support is continuing. Every year, SOS Children’s Villages in Ukraine take care of more than 2000 children.
We ask you to help Ukrainian families who are suffering the horrors of war in Ukraine and are fleeing the country as refugees and seeking asylum in Latvia, by donating.
Your support is vital to people, who are suffering in their darkest times. Please help!