Faced with the humanitarian crisis, the Sons of Don Bosco seek to protect the young people housed in their works and centre as much as possibles. This entails:
- transporting the needy population from centres in eastern Ukraine to safer cities in the west;
- welcoming refugees (including creating spaces for them) in western cities;
- construction of bomb shelters.
A school of 11 classes for 200 pupils In Liubomyrivka was completely destroyed by bombing. Fr Josef Nuckòwski, Salesian of Don Bosco and parish priest in Bibrka, took stock of the situation with the city's mayor.
“Thank you for being here, come visit us more often” says Nadia, the mayor, in a video made by Salesian Missions based in New Rochelle, USA. “Look at our school. It was a new school and it is reduced to rubble. There was a big explosion and a hugeg bang. It was a large school, the pupils were transported in two school buses. Now we have a big problem. Where will our children study?”
“Liubomyrivka is one of the villages in the Mykolaiv Oblast, and the front line runs through it. And many people lived here for months, on the front line. Most of the damage here was done by shelling” comments Fr Nuckòwski, looking dejectedly at the ruins of what was once a place for the development of children.
"God willing, we will rebuild the school after the war" continues the Salesian. "We hope the war will end soon" says Nadia, completing his thinking.
Among the many Salesian organisations committed to collecting aid for the needy population of Ukraine is the Salesian Fondation Don Bosco run by the St Francis de Sales Province of France and Southern Belgium (FRB), which continues to keep its solidarity campaign active. Thanks to the support of benefactors whose efforts are channelled through the foundation, local Salesian communities will be able to tackle the emergency by directly bringing basic necessities, food and medicine to young people, families and refugees, as well as covering the cost of accommodation for displaced persons and refugees and the construction of bomb shelters.
