Worldwide Catholic charitable organization helps needy in Ukraine

by Roman Woronowycz
Kyiv Press Bureau

KYIV - The Rev. Ken Nowakowski, president of the Ukrainian branch of the worldwide Catholic charitable organization Caritas, tells a story of traveling in the Ternopil region at the time of last year's damaging windstorm. On the road from Lviv to Ternopil he drove through a village affected by strong wind gusts and saw a house on whose roof a tree had fallen.

Noticing an elderly woman surveying the damage done to her abode, the Rev. Nowakowski, a priest of the Ukrainian Greek-Catholic Church (UGCC), pulled his car up to her home and in the ensuing discussion volunteered the help of his charity. Her response was typical.

"She was amazed that someone would help with no strings attached," related the Rev. Nowakowski, 43, who was born in Canada but has lived in Ukraine since the leadership of the UGCC officially returned here in March 1991.

The woman's reaction, according to the Rev. Nowakowski, is common in this post-Soviet state where people are unaccustomed to displays of humanity and kindness, which too often took a back seat to politics and tokenism in what most refer to as the "old times." It is one of the hurdles that Caritas Ukraine, part of the Vatican-based charitable federation Caritas Internationalis, must continue to overcome as it begins the second decade of its work in the country.

Caritas Ukraine opened regional offices in Lviv and Ivano-Frankivsk in 1991 and became a national program in 1994 on the directive of the late head of the UGCC, Cardinal Ivan Lubachivsky. Today it is the official charity of the Kyiv-Halych Senate of Bishops and has nine regional offices located in each of the UGCC eparchies of Ukraine.

The Rev. Nowakowski, who took the helm of the organization in 1997, has presided over its growth into a nationwide organization, which last year distributed some $1.2 million of aid in all parts of Ukraine.

Caritas Ukraine is not a proselytizating or catechetical organization. Its function is to do the social work and be the developmental arm of the Catholic Church. Its primary responsibility is to those people who most often end up on the periphery of society: the orphaned or abandoned young; the homeless; the elderly and infirm; and the poor. The organization has specific programs to aid them all.

Within Ukraine when you think of Caritas you think of soup kitchens. Its program of free meals, directed at the poor, was the first project undertaken by Caritas Ukraine and continues to this day. Currently there are 22 such centers, mostly located in the western regions of Ukraine, but also in Kyiv and outside of Odesa.

Then there is the Caritas Ukraine home care program, one that it pioneered in Ukraine. Today it involves about 45 Caritas volunteers and workers who provide assistance to some 400 elderly shut-ins. The support ranges from delivering meals to providing medicines and can include the services of a visiting nurse, a social worker or simply a person to clean up in the home.

In addition, the organization has developed a comprehensive home care manual in the Ukrainian language. It is a concise and comprehensive guide for both state-owned and public services, and family members on providing proper care and treatment for their patients.

One of the charitable organization's newer programs is an awareness program in the fight against trafficking in humans. Caritas Ukraine thus far has held a series of seminars on the subject to make women more aware of the problem.

The organization is cooperating with a network of charitable organizations around the world that have dedicated resources to this battle, as well as with the Ukrainian government, to bring the problem to the attention of the countries of export and to help the women and children who have been caught in the trap of sex slavery.

A very different Caritas Ukraine program for women provides care packages to the incarcerated who are either pregnant or have children. The charity also maintains lines of communication and counseling with these women to help them in any reasonable way.

Caritas Ukraine also runs several programs centered on children. In Lviv there is a children's shelter for kids from 3 to 7 years of age who are at high risk of ending up on the streets. These generally are children whose parents have died or are no longer cabable of caring for them - kids who stay with grandparents, other relatives or friends. The shelter provides them with three meals a day and an after-school program in a daycare center environment. Currently there are 34 kids in the program.

The shelter provides a separate after-school program for children from poor families. There the kids get a meal and a friendly environment in which to socialize and to complete homework assignments. The program also provides an English-language course.

One key to the Lviv center's success is the close cooperation between Caritas Ukraine and the local municipal government, explained the Rev. Nowakowski. He said the city of Lviv gave his charity the building that houses the center and an acre of surrounding land. In addition it pays the center's utility bills.

With the city's help the center is developing a third stage of activities, which will be directed at homeless children. Caritas Ukraine plans to construct an additional floor for the building where street children will be given temporary shelter until more suitable permanent housing is found for them.

Today Caritas also runs an orphanage in Ternopil, administered by the Sisters Servants of Mary Immaculate, which is home to 15 children of various ages and backgrounds. In addition, this is the sixth consecutive year that Caritas Ukraine has hosted a children's summer camp in the Carpathian Mountains for kids suffering the after affects of the Chornobyl disaster.

Finally, there is the humanitarian aid component of Caritas Ukraine's extensive charitable work in Ukraine. Since 1995 when it provided emergency relief to residents of Kharkiv affected by a water crisis, Caritas Ukraine has extended a helping hand to people involved in various man-made and natural disasters that have occurred in the country.

Two years ago it was one of the main non-governmental organizations involved in flood relief in Zakarpattia. This past spring it was among the first to respond to the latest flooding there.

Both times the UGCC charity provided food packages, bedding, medical supplies and first aid, while targeting poor people with nowhere to turn for special aid. Generally these were large families, the elderly and the physically and mentally handicapped. For those who needed to fix homes destroyed by the onslaught of water, it supplied construction materials.

The organization funds its various programs primarily through foreign donations, private corporations, European Union programs and Caritas partner organizations in the West. A good portion of its funding also comes from UGCC and Roman Catholic parishes in North America, but others help too.

"After the Transcarpathian flood two years ago we received a huge shipment of clothing for distribution from a Ukrainian Orthodox parish in Canada. And this time Metropolitan Stephen of the Autocephalous Orthodox Church made a special collection in his metropolia for the flood victims," explained the Rev. Nowakowski.

The Rev. Nowakowski made it clear that Caritas Ukraine, with all of its considerable accomplishments in the last decade, must do more. The priest said he would like to see the organization expand its fledgling program for street children to other cities, for one.

"Go to any large city and you will see children who have fallen out of society and are living like animals. And they are not even noticed by most people," the Rev. Nowakowski pointed out.

He also said Caritas Ukraine will soon enter the battle against HIV/AIDS. He explained that the first foray would be in the development of an awareness program, to be followed eventually by a hospice program for those ill with the disease.

The Ukrainian Greek-Catholic priest said plans call for his organization to develop a home for single parent mothers, as well.

Caritas Ukraine accepts one-time donations, but also encourages partnership programs in support of its efforts. The Rev. Nowakowski explained that Caritas Ukraine has a program in which individuals, private organizations or parishes who make contributions to Caritas Ukraine can make contact with those benefiting from the donations to see exactly how their contributions are helping.

"This also allows our people in the field to see that there are real people behind the donations and that people outside of Ukraine do care," underlined the Rev. Nowakowski.

To find out more, see the Caritas Ukraine website at: www.caritas-ukraine.org.

To offer your support with a charitable donation send funds to Caritas Ukraine at: Caritas Ukraine-Rome Office; c/c 31193001; US$; Vatican Bank/IOR

Account holder's address: Caritas Ukraine-Rome Office; Piazza Madonna die Monti 3; I-00184, Rome, Italy.

Copyright © The Ukrainian Weekly, June 24, 2001, No. 25, Vol. LXIX

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