A month ago, none of us could have imagined that today there would be more than three million refugees from Ukraine. Yet this is the reality we are experiencing not only in the countries close to the war zones, but now also in all European countries and beyond.
Practically overnight, we had to organize ourselves to welcome our Ukrainian brothers and sisters, mostly children and women, who are fleeing from the horror of a war that seems truly absurd in the third millennium.
“When the conflict began, and the first people arrived from Ukraine,” says Manuela from Berlin, Germany,” I saw it as a response to the fact we have had to cancel the annual Focolare meeting that we call the European Mariapolis. Welcoming people as best we can, is now my, and our, Mariapolis. This is what God wants from me and from us.”
And from Munich, also in Germany, Dora says: “The priests’ house where I work took in two women and a 12-year-old child. They don’t speak German or English, but we understand each other by using online translation on our mobile phones. A few evenings ago, after dinner, I asked them if they needed anything. The mother replied: ‘Yes, I need a pair of size 42 shoes for my son.’ At that moment, I felt Chiara Lubich very close to me, and I understood that we were on the right path.” Dora is referring to an event that happened to Chiara Lubich during the Second World War when a man, who was poor and struggling, had asked her for a pair of men’s shoes size 42, and, almost immediately, a friend gave her a pair of shoes of that size.
At the moment, some Focolare centers with residential facilities are being made available to host the refugees from Ukraine. As early as March 3, 2022, the first 5 refugees (2 young mothers with their children) were given accommodation in the Mariapolis Center ‘Dialog.hotel.wien’ near Vienna, Austria. They were grateful for the hot showers and the food they received. The following day, they continued their journey by train. Ten days later, 34 refugees arrived, including 15 children, who were accommodated for one to five nights. The same happened with the Mariapolis Centers in Germany: Zwochau/Leipzig, Solingen/Cologne and Ottmaring/Augsburg.
Twenty-five young people from northwest Germany took part in a charity run for Ukrainian orphans on March 12, 2022. A large group ran in Solingen and others from Cologne, Munich, and also from Graz in Austria. Other participants joined in along the course and ran with them. In total, the young people ran more than 250 kilometers and collected more than 10,000 euros! In the end, they connected via videoconference with the focolarinas who are in Ukraine and were able to talk and share the experiences they are living.
Taking care of refugees and collecting money, clothes or food are not only mere activities; they are also important for raising awareness about the importance of peace.
Margarete D. is a teacher who started a special campaign with her class in Krefeld, Germany. She saw that the children in her school wanted to do something practical, so they began the “Postcards for Peace” initiative.
Some sentences were translated into Russian and meticulously written by the children in Cyrillic letters next to the translation in their mother tongue. These messages were sent to people who have influence over the future of the war.
There is still a great deal to be done. In the meantime, efforts are being made to organize the logistical and practical aspects of welcoming refugees in the best way possible while hoping there will soon be an end to this conflict. This is the hope expressed by Pope Francis after the Angelus on March 20, 2022: “I plead with all those involved in the international community to truly commit to ending this abhorrent war.”
Carlos Mana
