“Finding healing in yourself and giving it to your neighbours”: the third session of the “Healing Communities” project took place in Lviv

“This is the third community we are working with. And it is special. After all, the Chernihiv community is now gathered in Zaporizhzhia because of the Russian occupation of its territory. That is, today it is a community without its own territory, consisting of internally displaced persons. They are very much looking forward to the opportunity to return home and start rebuilding their community. And today they have already united in Zaporizhzhia to learn, develop and build the future,” said Fr Lyubomyr Yavorskyy, head of the Patriarchal Foundation Mudra Sprava and one of the initiators of the training program.

Liudmyla Veremii, deputy head of the Chernihivska community of the Berdiansk district of the Zaporizhzhia Oblast, adds: “The Chernihivska community of the Berdiansk district is currently occupied. We feel homeless now because we are guests in Zaporizhzhia. Today, a proactive group of our community gathered here. It includes business, education, social protection, as well as community leaders.”

Serhiy Andrukh, Director of the Chernihiv Community Development Agency, addressed the participants at the beginning of the training course. “If not for the war, we would not have gathered here. And it is thanks to this very bad event that happened in our country that we all met. War is very bad, but without it I would never have known that there are such wonderful people around. I worked a lot in Zaporizhzhia region and know many communities. But this particular community is the best for me. I have been with it for two years now after I signed a contract with the community the day before the war started. The next day, a full-scale war started, and I decided to stay here until the war ended. Until the de-occupation of our community, I will do everything so that we can restore our territory with our love for our land, for our Ukraine. I thank each of you for being here today!” he said in his speech.

Liudmyla Veremiy turned her attention to the moment of healing, both physical and mental. “My main goal today at this training, as well as in general after the start of the full-scale invasion, is to acquire the skills to heal my community after its liberation. We already know today that it is physically traumatised by the ongoing fighting and mentally traumatised by the occupation that people are suffering from. At the same time, we also need this healing, because today we are refugees, no matter how ugly this word is. So, I came here to find this healing in myself and to give this healing to my environment and my colleagues,” said the deputy head of the Chernihiv community.