Beneficiary Spotlight: The Syrian People

by Brigid Rowlings, LHI Communications Director

Walker, LHI COO, and Hayley, LHI Founder and Director, along with Hisham from our partner HHRD distribute school supplies to Syrian children who live in camps in northern Jordan.

Lifting Hands International’s mission is to provide aid to refugees at home and abroad. LHI supports refugees who come from a wide range of locations and cultures but share a common experience—having to leave everything behind, flee their homes, and try to start over somewhere else.

Our second installment of our beneficiary spotlight series focuses on the people of Syria.

The Syrian Civil War Begins

In 2011, inspired by the success of the Arab Spring uprisings in Tunisia, Libya, and Egypt, some pro-democracy Syrians decided to try their hand at peaceful protest against the oppressive regime of President Bashar al-Assad. Unfortunately, these protests were met with violence from the Assad regime.

Tensions escalated between the Assad regime and opponents. Bodies such as the United Nations and the Arab League attempted to stop the violence through negotiations and brokered cease fires, but these efforts all failed or deteriorated. The European Union and the United States imposed sanctions and embargoes against Syria, but war broke out. 

Refugee Crisis

The “life-vest graveyard” on Lesvos, Greece, during the height of the influx of Syrian and other refugees into Europe. Photo credit: Shannon Ashton, who accompanied us on this trip in December 2015.

As a result of these hardships, 13 million Syrians, half of the country’s population, fled their homes. Half of those 13 million Syrians fled to neighboring countries. The other half are displaced within Syria, living in camps. While people started fleeing Syria fleeing in 2011, the crisis didn’t really make the news until 2015, when more than a million refugees made their way to Europe on rubber dinghies.

Eleven Years On

Many Syrians cannot return home, even if they wanted to. The war is still going on and has become central to the international power dynamics between democratic countries such as the United States and the United Kingdom, both of which support the opposition, and authoritarian-leaning countries such as Russia and Iran, which support the Assad regime. 

Moreover, years of war and sanctions have led to the collapse of the Syrian economy. Before the war, Syria was considered a middle income country. Now, over 80% of its population lives in poverty. In addition, key infrastructure such as roads, sanitation systems, electric and water treatment plants, housing and schools have been destroyed. 

How LHI Helps

This kiddo was telling the BEST jokes in Arabic! Hayley and Walker visit a small Syrian camp in northern Jordan.

Lifting Hands International helps internally displaced Syrians and Syrian refugees by sending humanitarian aid to places like Syria, Jordan, Lebanon and Turkey through our International Aid program. This aid includes items such as clothing, hygiene kits and baby kits. 

Over 2 million Syrians fled to neighboring Jordan. Many of those refugees come from southern Syria, a region that is home to generations of goat and sheep herders. When Syrian refugees left home, they all had to leave their flocks and farms behind, only to be stolen by the regime. 

A strong Syrian mama and her family welcome their two new milk goats courtesy of our generous donors! Madaba, Jordan.

LHI runs our Gather for Goats program in rural Jordan, where many Syrian families have settled. This program provides Syrian families in Jordan with milk goats that provide a consistent source of nutritious milk. And families often sell the baby goats, generating income that leads to more self-sufficiency. 

To learn more about what our Gather for Goats program means for Syrian refugees in Jordan and to watch a video of Hayley distributing goats to families, click here

Beneficiary Spotlight: The Yazidi People

by Brigid Rowlings, LHI Communications Director

This Yazidi family was one of the to seek refuge in Greece in 2017. They have since been resettled in Germany.

Lifting Hands International’s mission is to provide aid to refugees at home and abroad. The refugees LHI supports come from a wide range of locations and cultures. They have different traditions but share a common experience—having to leave everything behind, flee their homes, and try to start over somewhere else.

We’d like to introduce to you some of our beneficiaries, starting with Yazidis.

Who are Yazidis?

Yazidis are a religious minority found in northern Iraq, southeastern Turkey, northern Syria, and parts of Iran. There are approximately 700,000 Yazidis in the world. Yazidis practice a religion that incorporates elements of ancient Persian religions as well as Islam and Christianity. The Yazidis believe in one god, but the central figure in their faith is Tawusî Melek. The nameTawusî Melek translates to “Peacock Angel.” Tawusî Melek serves as an intermediary between man and god. The Yazidis have experienced persecution for centuries because their religious beliefs differ from those of the Muslim majority.

Why did Yazidis flee their homes?

“Before the genocide I was living in Sinjar. We didn't know the IS soldiers were coming. They came out of nowhere. We just had a phone call and they said flee, because they will come and kill us. Can you write this down? One thing I want to let the world know about Yazidis. Just to let the world know that we exist, that we are not hiding.” -Zaid

On August 3, 2014, the Islamic State (also known as ISIS and ISIL), invaded Yazidi communities in the Sinjar region of northern Iraq. Thousands of Yazidi men were killed and thousands more Yazidi women and girls were kidnapped and forced to marry ISIS soldiers or sold into sexual slavery. 

Yazidis who managed to escape being killed or kidnapped fled to Mount Sinjar. Cut off from food, water, and medical attention, and in the hot, hot sun, many Yazidi men, women, and children died. Some relief came when Iraqi, U.S., British, and French military helicopters dropped aid onto the mountain.

The U.S. launched a series of targeted air strikes, hoping to provide the Yazidis with a way off the mountain as the Iraqi Kuridsh military force, known as the Peshmerga, and the Syrian Kurdish security force, the YPG, established a safe corridor through which the Yazidis could pass into Syria.

This is Zidane. He was 15 when his family was trapped on Mount Sinjar for 8 days. Zidane was resettled in Germany. He was visiting his family in Serres, Greece when this photo was taken.

Today, many Yazidis remain displaced from their homes. The region remains unstable, and infrastructure and homes that were destroyed by ISIS in 2014 have yet to be repaired. 

Many Yazidis live in camps for internally displaced people in Iraq. Others live in refugee camps in countries like Syria, Turkey, and Greece. Some have been resettled in Europe and North America.

Yazidis at the LHI Community Center in Serres, Greece 

The LHI Community Center, or “the field” as it is affectionately known by visiting volunteers, is located just outside of two refugee camps in Serres, a town in northern Greece. For a time, these camps were populated exclusively by Yazidi refugees, though that has changed recently with the arrival of other groups of refugees. The LHI Community Center offers a space where camp residents can learn, heal, and have fun!

On any given day, community members can be found learning English or German, playing sports or music, or visiting the tea station. The Female Friendly Space hosts a regular spa day, but if that is not your thing, perhaps someone might hand you a screwdriver, awakening a new passion for carpentry. Yes, this happened to one Yazidi teenager quite recently!

Sufian, beloved soccer coach and community volunteer.

Kids love the activities at the Child Friendly Space. They have fun creating art and even participating in a social-emotional learning program. But most of all they love football (that’s soccer to you American readers!). Why do they love football? In large part, it is because of their coach, Sufian, a Yazidi refugee who volunteers at the LHI Community Center. Sufian trains kids and teens every single day that the Community Center is open. Thirty to forty kids flock to his practices each day, and when the center is not open, they show up at his door begging to play. 

It is not unusual for people who benefit from the services at the LHI Community Center to also serve as volunteers. People like Sufian and Abdullah, featured in the video below, enjoy being of service to their community.

This is what the LHI Community Center does for the Yazidis, and for any people who have fled their homes because their lives were in danger: it provides a place where they can find some relief from the daily stress and uncertainty every refugee faces. It provides a space where each person’s human dignity is honored and each person’s hope for the future is fostered. It provides a place for people to simply be themselves.

To find out how you can support the LHI Community Center and its beneficiaries, or how you can become involved as a visiting volunteer, click here!

Refugee Resettlement: Creating Welcoming Homes

by Carlissa Larsen, Co-Director of Utah Operatons

The Lifting Hands International team in Utah sets up several apartments for refugees resettled in the Salt Lake City area every month.

I had been warned, “They may not open the door for you.” 

I was on my way to the home of a large Afghan family of 10 people. The LHI Utah team had recently set up a home for them. This family had been evacuated from Afghanistan, screened at a US military base, and found eligible for resettlement in the United States-Salt Lake City in particular. 

Utah has received hundreds of refugees from Afghanistan. LHI works in cooperation with the two resettlement agencies in Utah, the International Rescue Committee (IRC) and Catholic Community Services (CCS), to prepare and set up family housing and to provide household items the incoming refugees will need.

When this Afghan family first arrived, they were placed in a hotel for months until more permanent housing could be arranged. A few days ago, they were finally able to settle into their new home. A couple of the items that LHI had intended to provide when we set up their home were on backorder. When the items arrived at the LHI Aid Warehouse, the resettlement agency gave me permission to bring the items to the family.

The resettlement agency warned me that the family might not answer the door because they had been through so many life threatening situations and trauma. “If they don’t answer,” the resettlement agency told me, “just leave the items on the doorstep.” 

LHI Founder and Director Hayley Smith helping to stock the kitchen in an apartment we set up for a resettled family.

As I approached the house I could smell the most delicious food cooking. Generous donors had helped us to supply the family with 2 weeks’ worth of groceries when we set up the house a few days prior.

I rang the doorbell expecting to stand there for a few minutes before leaving the items on the doorstep, but to my surprise, a young girl flung the door open without any hesitation. The girl stood there looking at me with the biggest smile I had ever seen. Maybe she was smiling because a sibling had made her laugh just as she opened the door, or maybe she was smiling because she was elated to have a visitor regardless of who that visitor might be, or maybe, just maybe she was simply content with the peace that comes from finally feeling safe at home. I smiled in return, and stepped into the house, grateful to be able to welcome this family to the community in person.

This is what our LHI local resettlement program creates: welcoming homes filled with smiles.

Join our team of volunteers who set up housing for refugees resettled in the Salt Lake area.

We are so grateful for people who donate their time, energy, supplies and finances that allow us to set up housing for incoming refugee families. If you are in the Salt Lake area and  looking for a way to help resettled refugees locally please consider one or many of the following:

• Provide Walmart gift cards- These cards allow us to purchase fresh food and household items for the families we set up housing for.

• Provide household items- see our Resettled Refugees needs list. It is federally mandated that certain items are provided to each family. If items aren’t donated, then they must be purchased with the small stipend designated for each family. So donating items significantly helps the family financially because they can use their stipend for other needs.

• Volunteer to help with the set-up. We do multiple set-ups each week and would love to have your help.

• Become a Team Lead and be in charge of setting up housing. This should be a consideration for those who want to help set up housing regularly and not just one or two times. 

Contact me at carlissa@lhi.org with any questions.

What is a Refugee?

by Brigid Rowlings, LHI Communications Director

What is a refugee?

A refugee is a person, just like you and me. A person becomes a refugee when he or she flees war, violence, or religious, political, or racial persecution. Or, a person may become a refugee because of a natural disaster, like an earthquake or hurricane, or because climate change is creating flooding, drought or crop shortage in their community.  

Where do refugees go?

This is a tough question to answer. Imagine you had only moments to leave your home because your life was in immediate danger. Where would you go?  If you are like me, you’d think of hopping in your car and driving. But where?  Which way is safe?  What if it’s not just you but your whole community that is in danger? Everyone else would be hopping into their cars, and you’d end up in a huge traffic jam. And, what if you only had half a tank of gas?  You could go on foot.  But what if you have two small children or an elderly parent with you?  What if your spouse or partner is at work and your kids are at school?  What do you do?  

These are the “in the moment” decisions many refugees have to make. Their destination may be simply “safety.” Other refugees may have more time to prepare to leave and a clear destination, but face the challenge of getting there and figuring out how to request asylum.

Image credit: USA for UNHRC

According to the 2021 Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) Global Trends Report, there were 27.1 million refugees worldwide at the end of the year. About 22% of these people live in refugee camps. Of these, about 4.5 million people live in camps planned and managed by organizations like the United Nations.  Another 2 million live in camps they’ve created on their own. Other refugees live in urban areas. However, because the majority of the world’s refugees are living in low and middle income countries, those who live in cities are often forced to live in substandard housing.

What choices do refugees have once they’ve reached safety?

The choices available to refugees really depend on where the refugees end up. Many refugees end up in countries where they are restricted to a particular area like a refugee camp.  These people often cannot move freely about their host country. Refugees are also often not allowed to work and have limited access to bank accounts. For those allowed to work, their options may be more limited than at home. Host countries may not recognize the credentials of professionals like doctors, nurses, lawyers and teachers.  Many refugees have to learn to speak another language and navigate a new culture and economic system, and this limits their earning potential.

LHI’s Gather for Goats program provides Syrian refugees living in Jordan with a pair of milk goats. The milk goats increase the self-sufficiency and food security of the families who receive them.

Refugees can choose to return to their home countries, but are protected by international law from being forcibly returned if they face serious threats to their lives or freedom. A small percentage of refugees (about 2.4%) may be resettled in a third country (i.e. a country other than their home and host country). This means the country grants the refugees permission to live and work there on a long-term or permanent basis.

Unfortunately, according to the UNHCR's Global Report, at the end of 2021, 74% of the world’s refugees, or approximately 15.9 million people, were displaced in “protracted situations.” In other words, these people had been refugees for at least 5 consecutive years. No one chooses to be a refugee, and so this statistic shows us that the choices of most refugees are limited.

What is an internally displaced person?

The women and children at the LHI Shelter in Lviv, Ukraine are internally displaced people. They have fled the fighting in the east, but remain in Ukraine.

An internally displaced person is a person who has fled home in search of safety, but still lives in their home country. At the end of 2021, there were 51.3 million internally displaced people worldwide.

Internally displaced people might be ethnic or religious minorities forced out of their homes and into regions that lack adequate access to water, food, and shelter. Or, they might be people fleeing conflict in their home towns only to arrive in other parts of the country that are not prepared for a large influx of new residents. Unlike refugees, who have crossed into another country, internally displaced persons are not protected by international law.  It is often difficult to get aid to internally displaced people because of their location and because their government may not allow aid or aid workers into the country.

IDPs stay within their own country and remain under the protection of its government, even if that government is the reason for their displacement. They often move to areas where it is difficult for us to deliver humanitarian assistance and as a result, these people are among the most vulnerable in the world.

A Message from Ukraine: Kindness and Sympathy Are Free of Charge

by: Liza Kots, guest contributor, direct from Ukraine

Liza, right, distributes aid at the LHI Shelter in Lviv, Ukraine.

Liza is a lawyer and lecturer at the Department of Criminal Law and Criminology at the Lviv State University in Ukraine. When the war started in February, she started volunteering with Ukrainian org I Am Not Alone. Together, we have established one of seven Operating Centers in Ukraine. We are honored to hear her story!

“Never give up!” – is a phrase that I always say to myself and people surrounding me. However, it was not enough just to say it, while “doing” is what you need to succeed, change yourself and the world at the same time. So when the full-scale Russian invasion of our country started, the first thought that popped up in my mind was about what I could be helpful with.

The Charitable Foundation I Am Not Alone has united a team of like-minded people, professionals in their fields. Thanks to our coordinated work, we were able to help thousands of people by delivering humanitarian aid to Ukraine and sending it to the cities most affected by hostilities. For us, it was a new experience. For my part, I provided legal support to the foundation, prepared customs documents and contractual work. Despite those horrible first months, we have met wonderful people from all over the world and, thanks to our partners, managed to implement the foundation’s charitable activities even better.

Liza, left, oversees the LHI/I Am Not Alone food box program. We visited their warehouse back in April and got to see the program in action.

Liza, second from left, visited one of LHI’s other Operating Centers, the LHI Shelter in Lviv, to lend her legal expertise to residents there.

I recall the stressful initial stages of establishing logistics and conducting phone calls around the clock seven days a week. But, actually, I realized that the military and civilians in the temporarily occupied territories felt much worse.

I am firmly convinced that you need to change the world starting with yourself. It is enough to become more welcoming, strive to help others, and, as a result, the world will seem a better place for at least those we have tried to assist. After all, this is where it all begins because one smile, one kind look, a wise piece of advice or a helping hand – are the powerful means due to which a person next to you will have a completely different opinion about the world around them.

So, guys, let’s be a little wiser, kinder and more understanding. It doesn’t cost a lot, kindness and sympathy are free of charge.

Liza, second from right, collected several Ukrainian books to send to the LHI Refugee Center in Serres, Greece, so that incoming Ukrainian refugee families may feel more at home.

News from Ukraine: LHI and Manifest Mira Deliver Comfort (Food) to Displaced Ukrainians

by Hayley Smith, LHI Founder/Director

Eric held a bag of packaged grain up to my face and exclaimed, “Gretchka!”

“Gretch—what now?”

“It’s called Gretchka. It’s a grain, and you’ll never find a Ukrainian home without it. When the war started, it’s one of the first things that flew off of the shelves. It is a Ukrainian staple and also a comfort food. That’s why we put it in our food boxes.”

Gretchka, or buckwheat porridge, looks a little different from my comfort food of fries dipped in a Wendy’s Frosty, but I trust it’s just as delicious. And it is an invaluable addition to the food boxes that we were assembling for a large aid distribution that day.

A bag of gretchka.

Eric, our gretchka aficionado, is a Canadian expat who happened to be living in Odessa when the war started, and he jumped right into the war relief efforts. Now he runs a distribution warehouse, which is one of LHI’s 7 Operating Centers in Ukraine. This center is in partnership with Manifest Mira.

The warehouse specializes in making food boxes meant for internally-displaced Ukrainian families in the area. Each food box contains, yes, you guessed it, two packages of gretchka, along with all kinds of other foodstuffs, hygiene items, and some school supplies; basically enough to make distributing the somewhat heavy boxes a workout that would burn off any gretchka eaten for breakfast.

Eric and his team have made a point of sourcing almost all of the goods they distribute from within Ukraine. They work with Ukrainian vendors and suppliers to support the local economy, rather than bringing in goods from outside.

Volunteers packing food aid boxes.

Together with Manifest Mira, we have distributed nearly 3,000 of these boxes to displaced families in 18 different towns in the Odessa region. That’s over 119 tons of aid! Each box is lovingly assembled and distributed by Ukrainian volunteers, some local and some who had fled from places like Mariopul in the East.

My colleague Jaron and I got to tag along with the Manifest Mira team to distribute our food boxes to a handful of homes on the outskirts of Odessa. We met families of all kinds - of different sizes and circumstances. Some had lost homes, others had lost family members. Some had fathers, husbands, or sons fighting on the frontlines. The common theme was that they had no money left to buy the necessities. 

A young Ukrainian girl and her brothers examine the contents of their food box.

While I depended 100% on a translator to understand what these families were saying, I found another common theme. I was always able to pick out the word “gretchka,” and see the smile on their faces when they saw it in their food boxes..

Why Are So Many Venezuelan Seeking Asylum in the United States?

by: Brigid Rowlings, LHI Communications Director

Last week, I had the opportunity to visit a Humanities class at Fenway High School in Boston. The teacher had tasked the students with ranking the rights in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights from most to least important. Of course, all of the rights are important, so you may think this was a strange exercise. But as a former History and Social Studies teacher, I knew the Fenway High teacher had assigned this task so that students would read the Declaration closely and think about it critically.

As I was walking around the classroom and talking to students about how they’d ranked the rights and why, I kept being drawn to Article 14—the article that grants people the right to seek asylum in other countries when they are being persecuted in their own country. I think that article stood out to me because just a few weeks ago, a group of Venezuelan migrants were flown from Texas to Martha’s Vineyard, a small island off the coast of my home state of Massachusetts. This hit even closer to home because when I heard the news, my family was on our way to our annual September weekend on the Vineyard.

To be honest, at the time, I did not know a ton about why Venezuelans were seeking refuge in the United States. So, I started to do some research. I was surprised to learn that Venezuelans make up the second largest group of people who have fled their homes, just behind Syrians, whose country has been devastated by a civil war that has been raging since 2011. I learned that since 2013, the Venezuelan economy has been in freefall, and that today, inflation is so bad that today, a plain cup of coffee can cost 7.8 million bolivares. That is $9.60!

Venezuela was once a Latin American country on the rise. Its huge crude oil reserves had once positioned it as one of the world’s fastest growing economies. But, a series of events, which can be traced back to the administration of its former president, Hugo Chàvez, changed all that. Chàvez spent lavishly on social welfare projects aimed at reducing poverty. That sounds great, right? Unfortunately, while spending a lot to improve education, healthcare, and housing, the Chàvez administration failed to invest in national infrastructure, including oil pipelines. Eventually this caught up with Chàvez, and oil production declined just as oil prices fell.

Chàvez’s successor, Nicolàs Maduro, responded to the country’s economic turmoil and challenges to his administration by arresting political opponents and journalists. When Maduro was elected for a second term in 2018, the National Assembly claimed his election was neither free nor fair. Maduro opponents were barred from running, and some even fled the country in fear of being imprisoned. The Venezuelan constitution calls for the leader of the National Assembly, who at the time was a man named Juan Guiadò, to step in as acting president in this situation. More than 50 countries, including the United States, recognize Guiadò as the legitimate president. Maduro, however, refuses to yield.

This political standoff has not made life any easier for Venezuelans. Today, few Venezuelans can afford to feed their families because of high food prices. The hospitals that remain open are short on medicine and can’t count on regular access to electricity and water. Venezuelans report continued persecution of those who oppose Maduro, including protestors. 

I now understand why 6.8 million Venezuelans have left their country since 2014. Most people have sought refuge in other Latin American or Caribbean countries. But some have made the journey to the southern border of the United States hoping to be granted asylum.

As a mom, I can’t imagine living in a situation where I couldn’t feed my children or count on the health care system to care for them when they are ill. I can’t imagine turning on the tap praying that water will flow. So I empathize with Venezuelans who are seeking refuge from a completely untenable situation and I’m proud to work for an organization like Lifting Hands International that provides aid to migrants with the help of the border shelters we work with.

LHI’s founder and director Hayley Smith and COO Walker Frahm visited shelters along the border that receive and distribute aid from LHI. Here, Hayley poses with artwork outside a shelter in Tucson, AZ.

LHI Builds a Pergola at the Community Center in Serres, Greece

by: Brigid Rowlings, LHI’s Communications Director with Coline, Director of Logistics and Distributions at the LHI Community Center

Volunteers build a pergola at the LHI Community Center. The pergola now houses the Community Center’s Arts and Recreation programs.

When is a pergola not just a pergola? When it is built at the LHI Community Center in Serres, Greece! 

When the LHI Community Center’s Arts and Recreation program reopened in the wake of the Covid pandemic, it got busy quickly! Staff and volunteers realized that the program was so popular, it needed its own space, and, given the heat of Greek summers, one with some shade. A pergola seemed the ideal solution.

Fortunately, Jaron, LHI’s Director of Monitoring and Evaluation, and at least a jack of the pergola-building trade, was headed to the LHI Community Center for a visit. Impressively, Jaron and a team of volunteers including both our visiting volunteers and community volunteers (people who use Community Center services) built the entire pergola in just five days. Even more impressive was the impact the project had on many of the LHI Community Center beneficiaries.

The pergola project drew people to the LHI Community Center, some for the first time. Some people took a moment to contribute to the work by holding a ladder or carrying some wood.

For one young Yazidi woman, the pergola helped her find her “thing.” This young woman is a regular at the LHI Community Center, but Coline, one of our visiting volunteers, had struggled to engage her in activities that appeal to many other teenage girls. Coline tried to get her to come to spa day, and the young woman replied, “You know that isn’t my thing.” Inspiration hit Coline, and she told the young woman, “Come with me!”

Coline led her to the pergola construction site and they asked how she could help. One of the builders handed the young woman a drill and showed her how to use it. Her eyes lit up. Now THIS was her “thing.” The young woman spent the rest of the day joyfully installing the pergola’s floorboards.

Once this young woman mastered the art of the drill, there was no stopping her!

When is a pergola not just a pergola? When it brings a community together. When it provides space for people far from home to create and play. When it gives a young woman a passion, a purpose, and a sense of pride. 

News from Ukraine: The Women of the LHI Shelter in Lviv, Ukraine

by: Hayley Smith, LHI Founder/Director

As is the case with displaced Ukrainians, most of the women at the shelter are on their own. Most of their men joined the military when the war started. In some isolated cases, men stayed behind in danger zones to take care of elderly family members. 

As I write this post, about 40 women and children are living at the LHI Shelter in Lviv. I got to spend a memorable day with them last month. Please bear with me as I try to fit such an incredible experience into a little blog post nugget. 

The visit starts with me almost tripping over a large cat just casually sleeping in the middle of the main room. Ilona, one of the women at the shelter, explains that the cat had wandered in just a few weeks after the war started… and subsequently gave birth to 4 kittens.

“We didn’t have the heart to turn the little cat family away, probably because they’re just like us. Maybe their owners had to flee in a rush. Maybe their homes are gone.” She adds laughing, “We call them Children of the War. I guess we’re basically cats.”

I can’t multitask very well. Once I picked up the kitten and got distracted by other things, I forgot I was holding that poor thing until it literally clawed my arms about 30 minutes later.

The women run the day-to-day operations of the shelter. Ilona, who is a former soldier and mother of 5, is the de facto head manager. Her main responsibility is registering new arrivals and assigning others to prepare their spaces and some food.

Ilona’s husband, also a soldier, was already on active duty when Russia invaded Ukraine in February. She and her children, including her newborn son, were living in a town in the Zaporizhzhya region which was quickly occupied by Russian soldiers. They retreated to their basement for safety, where they managed to stay for 3 months without running water or reliable cell phone service. “A lot of elderly people died from the stress. We buried a lot of people. I used to be a soldier, so I could handle these conditions.” But, finally food became too expensive, and conditions too unsafe. Ilona gathered her children and fled.

I got to witness Ilona’s leadership in action as she comforted a woman named Xenia who was tearfully telling us about her 4-month-old baby who died because of the war. Ilona stood by her, gently stroking her arm and said reassuringly, “I hope the war will end very soon.” Xenia replied, “I hope for that very much. I want to go home. My son is buried there. I want to go to him.”

Longing for home is a theme amongst the women in the shelter. An elderly woman named Vasilevna tells me, “They promise Kherson will be liberated in August. Once it is liberated, I will go home the next day. I won’t wait a single day. I will walk home if I need to.”

This is Ilona welcoming newcomers to the LHI Shelter. I had to steal this photo from a video, so please excuse the quality. But, this image encapsulates Ilona in action!

As for Ilona, her work is cut out for her. Her adorable toddler wakes up from a nap just as a new mother and child arrive. I have to hand off the kitten so that I can hold her son while she goes to welcome the new arrivals. As Ilona walks away, she says, “The war will end sooner or later. We just have to be patient.”

To hear the stories of the women of the LHI Shelter in their own voices, please watch the video below.

News from Ukraine: An Entrepreneur Becomes a Humanitarian!

by: Hayley Smith, LHI Founder/Director

Stas is short for Stanislav, and that is the only short thing about him. At a height of 6’5”, the man towers over literally anyone he’s standing next to, especially the babushkas who live at shelter.

A few days after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, we started looking for local Ukrainian organizations to partner with in order to get solid work done. In this search, we connected with a Lviv local who had an incredible idea. In short, Stas owned an empty basement space and wanted to convert it into a 55-bed bomb shelter. With funding, he and a group of his engineer friends would transform the basement into a warm, welcoming two-story shelter. 

We enthusiastically agreed to fund the project for several reasons, two of which stand out: The project proposal closely aligned with the key goals in our Ukraine response, and second, we prefer to work with local Ukrainian organizations and individuals. They started converting the shelter immediately. With their own hands, they built the second story, installed three toilets, two showers and a kitchen, along with installing all of the plumbing and ventilation systems. And, reflecting their desire for families to feel at home, put up homey wallpaper and painted cheerful walls for children’s space.

The LHI Shelter in Lviv under construction.

Let’s hear from Stas himself: “Originally, I decided to create a shelter for people who are forced to move from their cities because their homes were damaged by explosions.” 

But now that the war is looking to be longer than perhaps anticipated, he has adapted his business plan:

“Our shelter is not designed for permanent residence, but people can stay for as long as it takes to find a home and job - be it a day, week, month or even year, if necessary. And of course, we will not charge for any of this, because our shelter is not designed for rich people, but it is designed for those who have lost everything because of the war.” 

Even if the war does end soon, he hits on a very important point a lot of us may not think about: “There will still be many people who need temporary resettlement since their cities have been destroyed.” 

Click play to watch this video of Stas giving me a tour of the LHI Shelter in Lviv.

And with his business background, he’s hatched yet another incredible idea: He’s hoping to buy a food sorting machine so that the women in the LHI Shelter can start a small food packing business.

When it comes to Stas, the women and children residents of the shelter have better manners than to gawk at Stas’s large stature like I did. They told me about his gentle heart, his commitment to their comfort, and his kindness.

Natalia from the Donesk region speaks emotionally about what brought her to the LHI Shelter in Lviv.

A woman in her 30s from the Donesk region volunteers her story. She’d run out of money to pay for a hostel she was staying in, so she fled to Lviv with her children. She said, “I prayed a lot. I believe in God very much. I called Arena Lviv (a famous soccer stadium that is currently serving as a shelter for refugees from the east), and they told me that there is a very good person named Stas who opened a place for wives of soldiers to stay at, for other moms with kids who need shelter. It’s totally free. They bring humanitarian aid here. We do not need anything here. We have good conditions here, we have the basics. I am very thankful to Stas. You can barely find such good people these days. Thanks to him, we are all okay.”

Many of the women at the LHI shelter shared their stories with me. In my next blog post, I will share them with you.

News from Ukraine: An Orthodox Priest and His Community Shelter Displaced Ukrainians At A Moment's Notice

by: Hayley Smith, LHI Founder/Director

Father George, Hayley, and Father Vasily in front of one of the beautiful murals at St. George’s Orthodox Church.

The best thing about being on the ground is meeting ordinary people in extraordinary circumstances. This trip to Ukraine was no exception. On day three of the trip, we found ourselves in the sanctuary of St. George’s Orthodox Church, which has stood in the center of the village of Storozhynets in Western Ukraine for 170 years. It even survived the Soviet era when St. George’s was decommissioned and used for industrial storage.

The curved golden steeple was shining in the sun when Father George and his own father, Father Vasily, walked out to greet us. (Side note: Although Lifting Hands has been working with Father George and providing funds for his network of Orthodox priests to get aid to the areas of Ukraine hardest hit by the war, I’d never actually met Father George in person.. For months I’d pictured an older man wearing a long robe. I was surprised to find that he’s this young guy who wears jeans). 

Before visiting one of their local refugee projects, they gave us a tour of the church.  At one point, in the sanctuary, father and son spontaneously broke into song. We’re talking perfect pitch and perfect harmonies. It was so beautiful, even though I didn’t know what they were saying. 

Father Vasily and Father George sing in the sanctuary.

The word “sanctuary’ literally means “a place of safety”, a fact that seems not to have been lost on Father George and Father Vasily. Russia started its invasion of Ukraine at 5 am on February 24, 2022. By noon that same day and with the help of their congregation, they had transformed their newly-constructed seminary building into a shelter, complete with mattresses and food. They put it out there on social media that they were ready to take in those who needed shelter. About 60 displaced Ukrainians poured in throughout the day.

Today, the seminary - here, the word means a school that provides religious education to youth - still hosts 30 people, mostly from devastated regions of Eastern Ukraine. The classrooms are now bedrooms, and the open spaces are now school classrooms for the children! Each room has bookshelves full of religious texts that now share their space with the occasional stick of deodorant, shampoo bottle or a charging phone.

A seminary classroom that has been converted into a bedroom.

As Ukrainian culture [delightfully] dictates, we sat down with Father George and his father for a snack of cake and a glass of homemade berezovyi sik, or birchwood juice. The conversation went in all kinds of interesting directions, inevitably landing on the war. “Were you ever tempted to flee?” I asked. “Absolutely not,” Father George answers. “Many of my priest friends in the east have been killed, so I know safety is not guaranteed. But you saw the murals in the Church, right? Who do you see? You see Jesus, not Putin, not Zelensky, not any politician. My job is to stay here and to care for God’s children.” He added that the seminary will be a shelter for as long as it is needed.

We asked Father George what he needs help with. He replied that he and the local community has the shelter’s needs covered, including 3 meals a day, all cooked in the basement. (The basement hasn’t changed in 170 years, which makes me feel like I’ve been transported back to the earliest days of the church).  But, he says, “I do have a favor. Winter is coming. We are expecting a gas shortage.  There is an orphanage in Kharkov that is home to 300 children. They could use help getting jackets.” We ask him to put us in touch. And this is how humanitarian work is done. 

Learn more about our work in Ukraine here.

Turning 39 in a War Zone

by: Hayley Smith, LHI Founder/Director

LHI Founder/Director Hayley Smith in Chernivsti, Ukraine, on her birthday.

I’m less enthused about birthdays these days. So, when my 39th birthday happened to land on a very busy work day in Ukraine, a gas station hot dog en route from Odessa to Khryvi Rih was enough of a celebration (instead of using a bun, they stuff them into freshly toasted bread sleeves—they’re a national treasure). Minutes later, a large military jet flew low and right over us. It was such a bizarre juxtaposition of events—seeing a reminder that we were in a war zone and while munching on a birthday hot dog. 

Lunch with our friend Liza. Normal life goes on, but now with church windows boarded up and the periodic background drone of air raid sirens.

This isn’t the first time I felt like I was in a twilight zone here. A few days before in Chernivtsi, we ate dinner at a busy Asian fusion restaurant blasting Europop. Teenagers played football/soccer across the street while the air raid siren would occasionally sound in the background. Odessa and Lviv feel vibrant and back to life, despite sandbags and anti-tank hedgehogs (metal structures that look like huge toy jacks) concentrated at busy intersections, bridges, and historic buildings. The streets are bustling until mandatory curfew comes around at 10 pm and the city turns quiet and dark.

But in Kryvyi Rih, the city where I spent my birthday, it is clear that Ukraine is very much a war zone. Artillery is hitting 15 miles away from the city. Internally displaced Ukranians arrive daily. The local hospital treats frontline soldiers. The three different sirens blare, making a dissonant chord.

Hayley with Priest Vasiliy (left) and Father George (right) in Chernivtsi.

Needless to say, this is not a birthday trip. We are here to meet the ordinary Ukrainian people and local organizations that LHI has partnered with to get work done at a grassroots level. For example, we met Father George who turned a seminary in Chernivtsi into a shelter that houses around 30 people. We also met Stas, a local business owner who built a two-story shelter in an empty basement to house women and children. These are two of our many projects that you’ll be hearing about soon. 

LHI’s Jaron (left) is tall, but Stas, a local business owner who built a two-story shelter near Lviv, is VERY tall.

I am more than 6 years into humanitarian work through LHI now. Even though I’m currently in the heart of Ukraine, I can’t help but think about refugees displaced by other conflicts around the world, such as the Syrian Civil War and the ISIS attack on Sinjar, to name a few. How easily we forget when the news cycle moves on. Yet, I am also in awe of the way ordinary people look out for each other in extraordinary circumstances. This includes all of you who make the work Lifting Hands International does possible through your donations and volunteer work. You (and hot dogs in bread sleeves) are the best birthday present I could ever ask for!

Click here to learn more about our ongoing relief efforts in Ukraine.

Aid Distribution in Lebanon

Check out these photos from our partner org Helping Hand for Relief and Development, taken in Lebanon during a recent distribution of humanitarian aid sent from our warehouse in American Fork, Utah. Your support is responsible for these smiles!

The economic and social impact of the crisis in Lebanon reached new heights in 2014. The mass influx of refugees from Syria into Lebanese territory continues, with more than 1.2 million Syrian refugees present.

Syrian refugees in Lebanon are facing unemployment, illiteracy, bad housing conditions, and malnourishment. Our aid has given them support and lessened their burden.

ITEMS DISTRIBUTED:

Baby Items: 1,533
School Supplies: 6,115
Clothing Items: 7,595
Hygiene Items: 9,448
Toys: 2,587
Household Items: 3,563

Total aid weight: 54,125 lbs

Click here to learn more about our international aid distribution efforts. Thank you!

What is Safeguarding?

by: Brigid Rowlings, Guest Contributor

My ten-year-old son and I have been reading Victoria Jamieson and Omar Mohamed’s graphic novel When Stars Are Scattered before he goes to sleep each night. The book tells the story of a Somalian man named Omar Mohamed. Omar fled the civil war in Somalia with his non-verbal brother Hassan when they were only 4 and 2 years old and lived in a refugee camp in Kenya for 15 years.

Throughout the book, Omar dreams of being resettled in the United States where he can get better medical treatment for his brother. But, applying for resettlement means that 11-year-old Omar must relive witnessing the murder of his father at the hands of gunmen as he tells his story to United Nations resettlement officers. Under the intense questioning of the officers, Omar breaks down with the grief of not knowing what happened to his mother. When the long interview is finally over, Omar leaves the building and collapses. While on the ground, he notices that, “all around us, other families were crying. Some just looked shocked. I guess like me, they had just re-lived the worst days of our lives.”

When I read this passage from When Stars Are Scattered, what sprang to mind were the questions people sometimes ask of us. “Why don’t you feature more refugee stories on your website?” they ask. “Why don’t you share more photos?”

You may think this is counterintuitive to not place refugee stories front and center—stories like Omar Mohamed’s certainly motivate people to want to donate to LHI and organizations like it. In fact, we do sometimes ask people if they’d be willing to share. Recently, LHI was able to provide a Ghanian medical student with a laptop so that she could continue to study while displaced. We asked her if she’d be interested in sharing her story. She politely declined, explaining that it would be too traumatic.

We respected this woman’s decision because LHI is committed to safeguarding the well-being and dignity of the people we serve. Part of that commitment is being aware that in asking refugees to share their stories, we are asking them to relive the worst days of their lives. Similarly, we know that when we photograph people, we are capturing their most painful moments. We frequently do meet people who are willing to share their photos and stories, though the interaction with the student from Ghana illustrates why we are selective in doing so. Just as you and I would not want strangers to crystallize our most vulnerable selves forever on the internet, we want to give this same respect to the people who find their way to us.

LHI knows that you have a choice when it comes to how you want to share your resources and time. We hope that our mission, vision, and values, including our respect for the people we serve and their lived experiences, are part of the reason you choose to contribute to LHI.

Brigid Rowlings is a freelance writer, teacher, mom, and LHI supporter. Brigid met LHI's founder/director Hayley Smith when they were both teachers in the Boston Public Schools, and has watched in awe as Hayley established and grew LHI. Brigid is excited to help LHI tell its story!

Faces of Ukraine (Part 5)

written by: Jaron Malyon, LHI Director of Monitoring and Evaluation

Jaron Malyon has been on the ground in Moldova , Romania, Hungary and Poland as part of LHI’s senior admin team as they establish an immediate response to the Ukraine refugee crisis. He speaks fluent Russian and has been incredibly instrumental in creating several local partnerships.

Yevgeni Verbanov, founder/director of Peer to Peer with Hayley Smith, LHI founder/director.

Rather than come into Moldova and try to reinvent the wheel, LHI has vetted and funded 21 orgs that already have local knowledge and deep ties to rural communities hosting refugees, but just don’t have the additional budget to deal with the surge (more than 400,000 Ukrainian refugees coming through Moldova with 100,000+ remaining in the country). One such organization is Peer to Peer, a small, community-based organization in the village of Parcani, Moldova.

We sat down with founder/director Yevgeni Verbanov to find out more.

“Several years ago, my child was born with a severe disability. It changed everything for our family. We couldn’t have managed on our own, but people from the community helped and it made all the difference. So I started Peer to Peer in 2018 to extend that same assistance to disabled people who find themselves in difficult circumstances.”

Mr. Verbanov said that when he first established the organization and started offering services, people were skeptical. No other organization had ever come in and just offered help without some sort of hidden political agenda. Slowly but surely, the community warmed to Mr. Verbanov’s gentle encouragement that sometimes, people just want to help!

Jaron Malyon (R) and Yevgeni (L) talk with a Ukrainian woman in the host home’s courtyard.

Even though the organization is relatively new, it has made a huge impact on families who have members with disabilities. And with the latest influx of Ukrainain refugees to the village, Peer to Peer is as busy as ever.

“Now, the people who need us here are Ukrainian refugees who have left everything behind. So many have come to our village. We welcome them to our community and offer them our hand.”

One way he knew he could empower the local refugees is through helping them create their own sustainable source of food through gardening, especially those who are sheltering with more elderly locals.

L: A Ukrainian woman and her son with disabilities at a host home in Moldova. R: The kind elderly man hosting them in his home.

“In the eastern region of Moldova, most people have a small house in the village with a garden plot, many of whom belong to elderly people who can no longer grow their own food. These elderly villagers are opening their homes to host hundreds of refugee families but cannot support them with food or other necesities.”

“Our goal is to create a sustainable food source for our refugee guests right here from our own soil.”

“You know, my daughter passed away last year, but her spirit lives on through our work.”

📷 cred: Patrick Petro

Click here to learn more and support LHI’s work for Ukrainian refugees.