Hungarian Aid for Eastern Ukraine
Yesterday, a total of 7,070,000 forints donated by private Hungarian citizens to the account of the Berehove Charity Service of the Order of Malta was delivered in symbolic fashion to Ambassador Lyubov Nepop at the Ukrainian Embassy in Hungary.
Attending the event as honoured guest was Dr. István Grezsa, Government Commissioner in responsible for the governmental coordination of development projects in Szabolcs-Szatmár-Bereg County and Transcarpathia .
The amount raised by the drive will enable the construction of a modern, new, European-standard playground. The aim of the project is to support Volnovakha families and their children who, not wishing to leave their homeland, have chosen to endure the extremely difficult conflict situation and try to persevere within the local environment. Buoyed by the success of the initiative, the Siófok entrepreneur then resolved to establish a non-profit organisation – the “Life Without Fear” Foundation.
The “Life Without Fear” Foundation aims to offer continued support toward the development of children hit hard by the conflict in Eastern Ukraine. The foundation’s objectives include providing aid at both the domestic and international levels to people who, like the victims of the conflict in Volnovakha, find themselves in social and existential crisis.
Among those taking part in the press conference was 2017 “A Dal” song contest winner Joci Pápai, who noted that while there, he had “found Kiev a European capital inhabited by good-hearted people with European attitudes and little taste for discrimination, where the organisation of Eurovision Song Contest could be held to a very high standard.”
While in the country, Pápai personally experienced the ongoing aggression of Russian forces in Eastern Ukraine, which has unfortunately complicated the plight of children in the region. Hungarians, in a spirit of brotherly and neighbourly cooperation, have felt it a human obligation to help, and thus Pápai sees the problem as his own. The construction of a playground using Hungarian donations is an excellent example of Hungarians’ readiness to lend Ukrainians and their children a brotherly hand in these difficult times.
Press conference participants visited a photographic exhibition at the Embassy illustrating the consequences of Russian aggression in Eastern Ukraine.
