Emergency aid Ukraine – versatile help that arrives

For more than a year, a terrible war has been raging in the middle of Europe and we are still affected by the unimaginable suffering that it is still causing. In this article we will show you what has been achieved through your willingness to help the affected Ukrainians. Since the outbreak of the war, help alliance was able to collect more than 600.000 € with a fundraising campaign and we would like to thank all donors and supporters, especially our valuable partner Postcode Lotterie, from the bottom of our hearts.

During this time the collected donations could be used to help the affected people with different projects in Ukraine, Germany and Bulgaria. On the one hand with acute emergency measures in cooperation with the German Red Cross, but also with long-term projects.

In June last year, the then Lufthansa Systems CEO Olivier Krüger, together with conductor Michael Balke and help alliance, initiated the charity concert “Concert for Tomorrow” at Munich’s Isarphilharmonie. The goal of the concert was to support the war-damaged music school in the small Ukrainian town of Bucha. Before the war, the music school offered nearly 600 children a place for creative development. The school miraculously survived the destruction with only minor damage, but had broken windows and a damaged roof.  

Thanks to the numerous donations, the school could be repaired and rebuilt barrier-free and equipped with musical instruments. Some of these musical instruments were donated by a violin maker from Munich as part of the “Concert for Tomorrow” and finally arrived in Bucha a few days ago. 

Music helps the children to develop, to express their emotions and to deal with their traumas. Also, access to music gives the children hope. In addition, offering online music lessons helped the children staying abroad maintain a positive connection to their homeland. Currently, about 440 children are taking music lessons, 118 of them online. Many of the families concerned have now been able to return to Bucha and are very happy that their children can once again pursue their passion, music.

This is also confirmed by Arina, Olga and Iryna and Gleb in their stories

Arinas Story

Olgas and Irinas Story

Glebs Story

Outside of Ukraine, help alliance is focusing on expanding the existing project work in order to adapt the offers to the special needs of Ukrainian refugees and to promote them through special offers. 

In six projects in Germany and one in Bulgaria, Ukrainian refugees were supported with this approach. 

For example, during the Learning Holidays, the focus was on promoting the language and social-emotional skills of refugee children. This was also the case in Offenbach. Here, Christine Klemmer took on the role of the so-called Refugee Lighthouse in the fall of 2022. In this position, she specifically supported refugee children in learning German by practicing speaking, writing and listening comprehension with them in a protected setting. The goal was to encourage the children to dare to interact with other children, to make friends, and to participate in the entire learning holidays program with courage and joy.

Eight refugee children took part in the learning holidays in Offenbach in the fall of 2022. “Most of them hardly spoke at the beginning,” Christine told us. Luckily, Christine had a helper with her who easily connected with the children: Mila the wombat. Mila is a cuddly animal who was always there when the children were learning German. In the learning times, the children made German books, wrote little profiles, learned the most important phrases for their everyday school life and told Mila, the wombat, what they liked: “I like pizza.”, “I like soccer.”, “I like Mila!” When Mila was involved, the children blossomed. Whoever was holding her had their turn speaking, and children who were usually very quiet were suddenly happy to finally be able to say something in German.

For Christine, the experience was also enriching: “I think Mila helped the children overcome inhibitions about speaking. And she helped me as a teacher to remain authentic and still build bridges to the children.

Across Germany, 30 of these courses were offered during the summer and fall vacations. At all locations, it was possible to observe: Through the intensive support of the Refugee Lighthouse, the children blossomed and became more confident in their communication with other kids.

In the Bulgarian capital Sofia, thanks to our project partner, we were able to provide targeted support to Ukrainian refugees with hearing disabilities and help them integrate.  In a first step, teaching materials for the Bulgarian sign language but also for basic knowledge about life in Bulgaria were developed and then special courses were offered for those affected.  

In addition, the project provides translators who speak Bulgarian, Ukrainian and international sign language to the refugees. This is an important support for the refugees to find their way in the Bulgarian society and to integrate. 

Also within the help alliance communities numerous volunteers got involved to help the affected people. They organized collection campaigns for donations in kind and aid convoys with relief supplies such as food or first aid items. In Gdansk, the help alliance community volunteers assisted in numerous crisis operations such as donation drives or psychological counseling for employees affected by the war in Ukraine.