On November 11-12, 2023, four friars from the Province of St. Joseph, Spouse of the B.V.M. in Romania took part in a new humanitarian aid mission to the city of Boryspil, near the capital of Kiev in Ukraine. The mission was sponsored by the Pacea Humanitarian Foundation in Roman, Romania. Once in Boryspil, the friars from Romania were welcomed by the local Conventual Franciscan friars and the Missionary Sisters of the Holy Spirit (SVD).
The Conventual Franciscan friars and the Missionary Sisters of the Holy Spirit in Ukraine are both actively involved in helping the people in the eastern part of the country. One of the sisters has volunteered as a nurse on the front line, while one of the friars has served as a military chaplain. The other friars have been involved in humanitarian work.
This time, the humanitarian aid mission succeeded in delivering many food items, automatic heating systems, a pallet of wet wipes, clothes, medical clothing and medicine and other things needed by those working on the front line in the east as well as those working in the gray zone near the front line.
On Saturday morning, the humanitarian delegation also had a thrill: two ballistic missiles had been fired at Boryspil, where the friars were staying, but by the grace of God, they were successfully intercepted before they reached their targets. The friars were merely startled by the sound of a nearby explosion.
The courage and generosity involved in this mission would not have been possible without the encouragement and help of people of good will, and the assistance of various associations and companies such as the “Aiutiamoli a Vivere” [Let’s Help Them Live] Foundation, which donated a good part of the transported goods, a company in Roman that donated medical clothing, and the Conventual Franciscan Caritas Antoniana of Padua Association, which donated funds to help cover the expense of buying and transporting goods.
Special thanks go to those donors and to the other contributers from the Pacea Humanitarian Foundation. We also thank the friars and the Missionary Sisters in Ukraine and, of course, those who received the delivered goods.
Peace and All Good!
Friar Lucian-Mihai BOBÂRNAC
