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<strong>Spring</strong>/<strong>Summer</strong> <strong>2022</strong><br />
OUT THERE: FELLOWSHIP INTERNATIONAL<br />
UKRAINE REFUGEE<br />
CRISIS<br />
On February 24, <strong>2022</strong>, the Russian military launched<br />
attacks across Ukraine triggering a huge wave of<br />
civilians fleeing their homes. As of March 27, the United<br />
Nations had reported that 3.6 million refugees had fled<br />
Ukraine, with Poland taking in the largest number of refugees<br />
<strong>—</strong> more than all other countries combined.<br />
In early March, Fellowship International Associate<br />
Director, Luc Tétreault, traveled to Poland where he was<br />
able to see the situation first-hand and assist the team<br />
in establishing a plan for FAIR’s (Fellowship Aid and<br />
International Relief) involvement and how best to meet<br />
the critical needs. While on site, Luc wrote: “The refugees<br />
are traveling by rail: 2,000 people, mainly women and children,<br />
in trains designed to hold half that<br />
amount. The train’s first stop, after<br />
leaving Ukraine, is a railway station<br />
that usually serves as a Polish border<br />
checkpoint for cargo. In a scene<br />
reminiscent of World War II concentration<br />
camps, they spill out onto<br />
the station’s platform where Polish<br />
><br />
><br />
PIERRE AND<br />
HANNA JUTRAS<br />
BEN AND KRISTA<br />
TAYLOR<br />
officials check their documents.<br />
They are greeted with the words,<br />
‘Welcome to Poland. You are safe<br />
now.’ The only people permitted on<br />
the platform, besides Polish officials,<br />
are pastor Szymon and his brother<br />
Gregor, and a select few volunteers.”<br />
Fellowship International missionaries<br />
Pierre Jutras and Ben<br />
Taylor were able to join Polish<br />
pastor Szymon and his brother<br />
Gregor to assist refugees.<br />
FAIR on the Frontlines<br />
Fellowship International missionaries, on behalf of FAIR,<br />
are working on the frontlines. Hanna Jutras, originally<br />
from Poland, and her husband, Pierre, have served as<br />
Fellowship missionaries in Poland for the past 17 years. Ben<br />
and Krista Taylor have served in the country for the past<br />
ten years. They, along with their network of partners in the<br />
country, have been able to gain strategic access to the border<br />
in order to meet the needs of refugees.<br />
Two emergency shelters have been set up at churches<br />
in the Polish towns of Hrubieszów and Zamość near the<br />
border with Ukraine. Each church is providing fresh food,<br />
clothing, a clean and warm place to rest, and travel assistance<br />
for 30+ refugees (mainly women and children) each<br />
day. Travel assistance includes pickup from the border, a<br />
drop-off in Warsaw, and bus/train tickets to Berlin. The<br />
church in Hrubieszów is also running a canteen at the train<br />
station providing food for 500+ refugees a day.<br />
The team has been able to purchase three vans and borrow<br />
three others in order to pick up and drive refugees to where<br />
they need to go.<br />
While Fellowship International missionary Ben Taylor<br />
is helping to coordinate volunteers in Hrubieszów and<br />
Zamość, Krista Taylor remains in western Poland caring for<br />
their five children. She writes, “…the number of refugees<br />
fleeing daily is down to about 30,000 from 120,000 when<br />
the war first began. To date almost four million Ukrainians<br />
have found refuge outside of the country; 2.3 million have<br />
travelled through Poland. Many do not want to travel<br />
further, as Poland’s language and culture are similar<br />
to that of Ukraine, and their husbands and fathers are<br />
still in Ukraine fighting. Many of them are waiting<br />
for the war to end and just want to go home.”
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