Food Parcels Ukraine: Jewish Roza has to survive on 23 euro cent

We received a phone call from Roza, whom we’ve known for a while, late one evening this week. An acquaintance informed her that we were handing out food parcels, and she wanted to know if we could give her one. I said to myself: ‘Why?"...Rosa does not need that!’ But we always have extra food parcels in our buses and so we drove to Rosa and she told us her story.

Twenty-three euro cents for two weeks
She was recently laid off at the school where she worked as a cook, due to cutbacks. But she still had a few cooking jobs at various families, which provided extra income. And then, because of continuous increases in prices, she was asked not to return to those addresses. Roza was desperate and did not know who to turn to for assistance! Some time ago, while visiting Roza, we read a few Bible verses and recommended that she would make Aliyah, but she wasn't interested. Roza said: "I managed to cope until recently, but now it is no longer possible. I have the grand total of six grivna (the equivalent of twenty-three euro cents) on which I won’t be able to survive the next two weeks." She was so grateful for the two food parcels we gave her. And then we gave Roza some final advice: "many people of your age (fifty plus) are now making Aliyah. Obtain the necessary information and prepare yourself!" Roza nodded: "yes, this might be the right time for me to go." She hugged my wife Ira, thanked us and then disappeared with her two food parcels amongst the grey blocks of flats to her own apartment.

Speaking about Aliyah
We also distributed forty-five food parcels in the small city of Gaisin last week. We requested permission to come with the local Jewish Agency worker, Rita Trachtenberg, in order to explain about making Aliyah prior to distributing the food parcels. The responsible person in Gaisin said: "we need food parcels, but we do not need to hear about Aliyah." However, we argued that it is an important issue that has to be addressed. To our surprise twenty-five families attended. They listened with great interest and were given an opportunity to ask questions. And then, yesterday, we brought someone from Gaisin to Kiev, together with other Jewish families for the first interview at the embassy!

New load of food parcels
A new load of ingredients for 1,900 food parcels was ordered, of which a portion will be distributed in East Ukraine, and the rest amongst the refugees in Kiev. Although the demand is much higher than what we can supply, we try as hard as we can. There is unrest, once again, in the eastern part of the country and especially in the vicinity of the larger cities of Donetsk, Luhansk and Mariupol. And the Crimean Peninsula has been subjected to a blockade, for more than fifty days, by members of an ultra-right organization protesting the Russian annexation.

Koen Carlier
Aliyah Field worker - Christians for Israel

Your support throughout the winter time is indispensible!
One food parcel costs € 10,- or US $ 12,-

Donate in € for the Ukrainian food parcels	Donate in US $ for the Ukrainian food parcels

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