Hot Food Distribution Feeds the Most Vulnerable in Dnipro

A reconnaissance team from RE:ACT has witnessed firsthand the suffering of the Ukrainian people forced to flee their homes, to escape the heavy fighting in the east of the country.

International Operations Manager, Paul Taylor, and senior Responders David Harrington and Susannah Pencovich, travelled to Dnipro, in the heart of the war-torn nation, to see how RE:ACT’s latest humanitarian venture with partners, The Ukrainian Education Platform (UEP), is progressing.

We are providing a vital service, in the bitter Ukrainian winter  by providing funds for the UEP and its Dnipro charity ally, Globa 22, who are then able to give Internally Displaced People (IDPs) three hot meals a day.

Paul Taylor said the scenes they saw in Dnipro would stay long in their memories. 

“It’s now nine months since the conflict began and there is no end in sight. The daily influx of IDPs is made up mostly of the elderly, and women and children. Many of them, particularly the older people, looked physically and psychologically damaged. They were obviously completely traumatised by their experiences,” explained Paul.

He said many of the new arrivals had fled a town in the northeast called Bakhmut that had suddenly come under attack.

“It seems people living there thought that maybe they had dodged the worst of the war, but unfortunately (and no one is sure why) it has become a new focus of the conflict, and those that could leave are doing so,” Paul continued.

“The scenes we witnessed as they stepped off the trains at Dnipro station were like something you could imagine from World War II. Each train had a manifest, and when people arrived  they were immediately asked for their documents to ensure they were who they said they were. Only after their identity had been confirmed were they able to access the hot food, clothing, and medical support on offer from ourselves, and local charities.”

Paul added: “These poor souls had come not only from Bakhmut, but from places like Donetsk, Zaporizhzhia, and Kharkiv, and they saw Dnipro as a possible safe haven. However, when we were there, the city was attacked by missiles and drones and this re-traumatised people.”

“We watched 160 frightened people arrive at the station and come into our shelter there, but they panicked when the missile attack happened, and they either fled from the station area or just got back on the train and headed further west to the comparative safety of places like Lviv.”  

Other Dnipro arrivals were so overwhelmed to have escaped the war zone that they reached out to our team for emotional support.

“One lady had managed to escape from Bakhmut and told me she had seen her son die in front of her. She asked me for a hug and then just held onto me. She could have been my mum and it really brought home the futility of war and the effect it has. These poor people had done absolutely nothing wrong. They were just in the wrong place at the wrong time,” continued Paul.

RE:ACT is paying for the provision of food at three locations in Dnipro. The first is at the station itself, focusing on the displaced people arriving from the East. Those getting off the trains and those continuing their journey West  are all given a hot lunch box.

The second is also at the station, where a Mothers and Children Assistance Centre has been set up. It has beds and a children’s play area and the displaced people can rest there for a few days before moving to more permanent accommodation.  Here three hot meals are served a day by RE:ACT funded charities.

The third centre is run by a local charity, Ocean of Hope and is a few kilometres from the station. It’s a transit rehabilitation hub for people with disabilities and the elderly.

“Most of the people in this centre are old and infirm. Some showed signs of being physically abused. Here they can recover a little from their ordeal. When I was talking to them, I soon realised that they didn’t want to go any further west. They still hoped they would be able to return to their own homes sooner rather than later. They didn’t want to be refugees,” explained Paul.

The month-long support for the hot meals programme is costing RE:ACT £61,000. Ideally, we would like to continue the provision until the spring but for that we need more support.

“We are hopeful that someone will see just how vital this project is and help us to keep it going and  we are in discussion with several agencies. The United Nations has a problem trying to get food further east, but we have already shown we can do that through our partners UEP and Globa 22, so we have put both sides in touch,” Paul said.

“Meanwhile, we hope that the UN will see just how good and how simple the hot meals programme is and to be absolutely honest £61,000 is a drop in the ocean to these big bodies. We are hopeful we will get the support we need.”

Paul finished our chat with words of praise for our Ukraine partners.

“UEP and Globa 22 are fantastic organisations. Their bravery, resilience, and tenacity is remarkable and the people who volunteer to help are amazing. They truly deserve our support.”