Reported By Aslam Jawaid
The Russian attack on Ukraine shocked the world. The war has left and is leaving behind streets, apartments, and houses that have been destroyed, families and friends have been torn apart, people have lost loved ones and are fleeing from Ukraine. Suffering is endured by people who have long been cut off from Relatives and society.
The outbreak of war in Ukraine has also left people in Wuppertal horrified. People who don't look away, people who lend a hand, people who help others. On the first weekend after the outbreak of war, people found each other to act together and found an organization: https://standwithua.de/
The citizens' initiative around Yevgen Besedin is a team of 20 volunteers from different nations.
The organization quickly received support from politicians. SPD member of the Bundestag Helge Lindh supports the citizens' initiative together with the CDU local politician Rosemarie Gundelbacher. Here, too, the values of solidarity, community, charity, and the willingness to provide help, which is shared by the organization Stand with Ukraine, are shown across party lines.
Consisting of three pillars that are urgently needed in the current situation:
Collecting donations, listing accommodation, and coordinating helpers, the help arrives where it is needed. This is expressed in figures in 60 tons of relief supplies, 130 orphans accommodated, more than 10,000 telephone calls from all those involved, and a further 700 people who find the protection, open arms, and ears to talk to in Wuppertal. In Wuppertal and North Rhine-Westphalia, the refugees receive accommodation; help with dealing with the authorities and translations, a medical examination and care, opportunities for language courses, and placement in employment and work.
Stand with Ukraine is an example of courage and confidence at a time of loss, grief, tears, bad news, political aggression, and armed violence against innocent people.
Together, the politicians Rosemarie Gundelbacher, Helge Lindh, and the citizens around Yevgen Besedin in Wuppertal are setting a sign of community and the call for peace, which is getting louder and louder thanks to those involved.
This call is heard by people in Ukraine, so refugees from Ukraine are still without shelter. Even if the war should come to an end, the damage will be visible and noticeable long afterward. More help is urgently needed.