“Emmanuel” Charity Association started implementation of another project aimed at installing 300 hard-fuel boilers and providing hard fuel to the villagers of conflict-affected Maryinka, eastern Ukraine, within “Pope For Ukraine” Initiative.

For the last two months, the staff of Emmanuel Association have been experiencing all hardships and dangers of living in a frontline town  alongside with the locals.

After the recent escalation in Avdiyivka, Donetsk region, the life in Maryinka drastically changed as well. A part of this town borders upon one of the districts of Donetsk. Night combats between the Ukrainian army and the enemy have been growing into day-time fights. Shells have been mostly directed to the military positions, however, according to the locals, two or three shells per day are aimed at the civilians, “to make them stay alert”. This is the reason why the life in Maryinka fades away after the lunch time. The locals are doing their best to finish with their daily routines in the morning and not to leave their homes after 1pm. Most of windows in Maryinka are covered with screens to protect the glass from blast waves. The situation in the town wasn’t so intense when Emmanuel’s staff installed the first 30 boilers in Maryinka last month.

Today, as we delivered the boilers to the beneficiaries, we had to make a call in advance letting the beneficiaries know about the delivery. People are trying to be careful and not to go out for no serious reason. Many of them hide in the shelters – some go down to their basements while others stay in the most fortified parts of their houses.

Now that the boilers are delivered, the team of installers will start the process of installation. They will remove the gas boilers which are of no use now with no gas supply and install new hard-fuel boilers functioning on firewood, pressed peat, coal and any other hard fuel! And, most importantly, the new boilers will be functioning for many years ahead which means that the heating problems for the next winter will be solved this spring! Besides, every beneficiary will receive a stock of pressed peat sufficient for the whole next winter! This will drastically improve people’s living conditions even if they have to live in the middle of war…

The war will be over, sooner or later… But the help provided to these conflict-affected people in the most difficult times of shelling and suffering will be living in people’s hearts for many years – as a miracle, as a testimony of God’s love and care for people in need! We thank everyone who responded to the Pope’s call and donated finances to help people affected by war in eastern Ukraine!