The Counseling and Assistance Center for Internally Displaced Persons has opened in Kyiv. This idea was brought to life by the “Restoration of Donbas” initiative. The center’s goal is to provide free of charge assistance and support to all people who were forced to leave their homes because of the fighting. The volunteers will provide informational support, as well as legal advice and assistance in dealing with social situations.
The center has begun to accept its visitors yesterday [July 30. – Ed.], but the first people started coming here to receive help already four days prior to its opening, when the office was still under repair. They were all advised to contact the hotline assistance that was launched a month ago – and, if necessary, they would be able to visit the center after the opening.
Vira from Donetsk had heard the announcement about the center’s opening on the radio and decided not to postpone her visit.
“My husband and I have some questions to the lawyer in regard of financial help we are entitled to receive, and that’s why I came. We have been in Kyiv since last fall. We have good friends who helped us settle here. In general, we do want to return home – there are our homes and relatives; but so far we have no such possibility.”
The funds for office rent were donated by benefactors; the specialists work here on the voluntary basis. So far, only legal advice is given here, but later the center is going to provide employment services, psychological and humanitarian assistance.
“I have been working in the public organization since April and at one moment I realized that I should be moving from online, virtual consultation to communication in the real life,” says Olena Petriaieva, organizer of the project, head of the “Restoration of Donbas” civil initiative. “We went to this step by step, until we finally got the opportunity to open. Now you see the first stage of our project. At the moment we provide information and give consultations, as well as accompany internally displaced people in applying to various social programs. From September we plan to begin medical consultations, we will start working with psychologists and also consulting on taxation. After that we will move to help with employment and possibly humanitarian aid. We will not work on distributing food and clothing – there are already two centers that perform this kind of work in Kyiv. In the humanitarian aspect, we want to focus our attention on medical supplies.”
In order to receive help at the center, one must provide the passport and the certificate that verifies the internally displaced person’s stats. The volunteers will help to obtain such a certificate in case a person doesn’t have it.
The center’s address is: 21/2 Povitroflotsky Avenue, Kyiv. Opening hours: Monday through Friday, from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m.
