Until a few months ago, the people of Ukraine lived normal lives. Children went to school. Adults went to work and most people had food. Now more than 6.4 million people from a population of 43 million have fled their country.

People like 18-year-old Dimitry who is now safe in Hungary. When the first missiles hit, the Ukrainian stayed in Mariupol, but when the fighting came close to where he was sheltering, he knew he had to leave.

“In the beginning, you could buy food, but soon there was a shortage of everything,” he told a reporter. He walked to the edge of the city with his girlfriend Anna, to stay with relatives before getting a ride to Donetsk where her parents lived. After a month of careful planning they got a ride to the Russian border where officials took Dimitry’s phone and passport. Fortunately, the pair had taken the precaution of removing everything related to the war from their phones.

Once through the border, the new refugees got a ride to the railway station where they took a train to St Petersburg and then to Hungary via Estonia. Now they are living in a shelter run by Hungarian Interchurch Aid, a member of ACT Alliance (Action by Churches Together). Dimitry has a job in a warehouse, however his dream was to play football. Back home he played for Mariupol’s under-19 team. He does not want to return if the city is taken over by Russia.

Danger & Fear Central Themes

A harrowing escape is a central refugee story. Nearly five years ago it was the Rohingya people fleeing persecution in Myanmar and before that Syria. Many, like the first Palestinians who arrived in 1948, may never be allowed to return, leaving their children and grandchildren with few opportunities.

By the end of 2020, 26.4 million people were identified as refugees by the United Nations. New figures for 2021 will be announced by UNHCR ahead of World Refugee Day on June 20.

The majority of refugees are hosted in neighbouring countries of which 86 percent are developing countries. Turkey for example is host to 3.7 million people, mainly Syrians.

The numbers of refugees and internally displaced people continue to rise, though not all because of conflict. In May the International Displacement Monitoring Centre reported the number of people displaced within their own country had reached a record 59.1 million - nearly 6 million by disasters.

Christian World Service funds local partners assisting refugees and internally displaced people and through ACT Alliance of which it is a member. Groups like the Department of Service to Palestinian Refugees have decades of experience and the necessary contacts to provide assistance in ways that respect their dignity and provide practical help through education, medical care, livelihood support and emergency assistance.

“Resettling refugees in Aotearoa is very costly and time consuming. We can do so much more by supporting refugees in neighbouring countries where they can live together and hold on to their cultures. The real challenge is to address the causes of the conflict and persecution that force people to flee. Diplomatic solutions are urgently needed, especially when many governments are cutting their aid budgets,” says Murray Overton, CWS National Director.

Aotearoa New Zealand has increased its quota to 1,500 a year but only 463 former refugees were resettled last year, in part because of Covid. New Zealand accepts people registered with UNHCR and provides them with permanent residency and some support.

Churches and later the National Council of Churches which included the Methodist Church led much of the early resettlement work. In recent years the government has contracted this work to the Red Cross and local organisations.

CWS has prepared material for Operation Refugee, and Refugee Sunday on June 26.

This article has been complied by Gillian Southey, CWS and information is available courtesy of inews, HIA and Christian Aid.

Caption Dimitry, a former Ukrainian, is now living in Hungary after fleeing the war in his country of