Concern for children and young people: Salesians evacuate orphans from Ukraine

Created: 03/13/2022, 19:00

By: Christiane Mühlbauer

Father Josef Grünner (right) heads the foundation.

The photo shows him visiting Ukraine in 2018 with Father Mykhaylo Chaban (centre).

The orphans are now housed in the facilities of Father Karol Manik (left) in Slovakia.

© Don Bosco Media/Nicole Stroth

With their foundation “Children need a home”, the Salesians of Don Bosco have been active in Eastern Europe for over 20 years.

Many citizens from the Tölz region support them regularly.

Now emergency aid is needed for Ukraine.

57 orphans were brought to safety a few days ago.

Benediktbeuern – Giving young people in Eastern Europe hope and a future: That is the goal of the “Children need a home” foundation, which began in the Benediktbeuern monastery in the mid-1990s.

It began, remembers the former mayor and member of the advisory board of the foundation, Georg Rauchenberger, with the commitment of Father Bruno Bauer.

This was preceded by various Salesian initiatives for international youth exchanges after the end of the Cold War.

Within this framework there were also encounters in the action center in Benediktbeuern.

Projects in Russia, Belarus, Albania and Ukraine

Father Bauer first started a project for a children's home in Moscow, which in 2001 was transferred to the newly founded foundation "Children need a home".

In the meantime, youth welfare projects of the religious community in Ukraine, Belarus and Albania are also supported under the umbrella of this foundation.

After Father Bauer's unexpected death last December, the Foundation is now headed by Father Josef Grünner.

Rauchenberger has been on the advisory board from the start, which also includes Franz Roeckl and Norbert Dolp from Tölz, as well as Peter Trepte from Munich.

"We have a very loyal donor base in the region," says Father Grünner gratefully.

Ukraine: Eight locations

The projects have become well established in recent years.

The Salesians of Don Bosco and their collaborators take care of children and young people who, for example, come from broken families, are exposed to violence or live on the streets.

They have set up children's homes and vocational training centers.

In Ukraine, 40 religious work at eight locations, including Lemberg and Korostyshev west of Kyiv.

There is a children and youth center there.

In addition to an orphanage, a vocational training center has also been set up in Lemberg, where young people can train as hairdressers, carpenters, cooks or office clerks, for example.

Orphans evacuated

The war has changed the situation dramatically.

A few days ago, 57 orphans from Lemberg were brought to safety in Slovakia, reports Father Grünner.

"Before, they only lived in the basement, they were very afraid." Father Mykhaylo Chaban, head of the facility and provincial of the Salesians in Ukraine, accompanied the children and five teachers to a facility run by the confreres in Slovakia.

Then he drove back to Lemberg.

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In the facilities there, Father Grünner reports, there are now several hundred refugees.

They are on their way from eastern Ukraine to the west.

"They need beds and food." The Salesians in Poland would be responsible for organizing this.

Contact with confreres in Moscow

Father Grünner keeps in touch with Father Chaban by e-mail and WhatsApp.

Words such as “war”, which Putin has banned, are currently being avoided so as not to endanger people.

He also keeps in touch with the confreres who look after the children's home in Moscow.

"They are in need there too," says Father Grünner.

“Everything is getting more expensive and you have to see how you can make ends meet.

There is no help from the state.” The Salesians, says the Father, focus on the young people and not on political hostilities.”

long-term development

The foundation must now not only provide emergency aid, but will also take care of long-term, sustainable development and reconstruction.

Grünner knows Lemberg from several visits.

“So much has been built there.

What is now being destroyed is staggering.”

Anyone who wants to support the foundation can pay into this account: "Children need a home", IBAN: DE21 7002 0500 3740 1300 13, BIC: BFS WDE 33 MUE, reference: "Emergency aid Ukraine".

Further information is available on the Internet at www.kinder Braucheneinzuhause.de.

More current news from the region around Bad Tölz can be found here.