Ambulatories, shelters in schools, humanitarian aid. All this is done by the PCPM in Truskavets

Thanks to the support of the Taiwanese community, the Polish Centre for International Aid can help in many locations in Ukraine. One of these is Truskavets, where PCPM supports education, medical assistance, and people who have had to flee war from their homes in the country’s east.

The Polish Centre for International Aid was able to help in several cities in Ukraine thanks to a $4 million grant from Taiwan.

PCPM is renovating more than 500 houses in the Kharkiv, Mykolaiv, and Kherson regions. In Trostianets, the Foundation supported the city in reconstructing municipal services, buying several vehicles like an excavator, dust cart, ambulance buses, slurry vehicles, and many others. Also to Kherson 40 electric bicycles helped the city’s social welfare center. The same office received computers, printers, and servers to rebuild its database.

Helping in Truskavets

In Truskavets, the Polish Centre for International Aid started by helping in schools. There are three facilities in this city, attended by a total of around 3,000 children. Unfortunately, their learning was often disrupted due to numerous bomb alarms. Every school in Ukraine is required to have a shelter, in case of shelling. Therefore, the PCPM, in cooperation with the municipality of Truskavets, renovated and equipped the rooms in the arranged basements. The Taiwanese community funded this work.

– The children had to write their matura exam in the basement,’ mentions Igor Lychuk. – If there had been a bomb alarm, they would have had to stop writing, but this way they could continue. We received both chairs and tables from the PCPM Foundation. This is a huge help,’ adds the school headmaster.

Each class in the school has a sign and an assigned place in the shelter so that in the event of an alarm the children can get to the right places without hindrance. They now have comfortable sofa benches and a blackboard. The Polish Centre for International Aid has also donated a power regulator for the generator connected to the heating room. This is necessary so that, in the event of a power outage, the boiler room can function. Unfortunately, as the director says, this will serve to ensure that the whole system does not break down. Fuel alone is needed for about 5,000 liters per month.

– If the gas runs out and the temperature drops below the permitted level, the children will have to go home. Therefore, for the winter, we rather get ready for the return of distance learning. This is bad news because for many children this kind of learning has dragged on intermittently since the pandemic. Then there was the war, and now some of them are back, but if it’s cold, we’ll close the school,’ says school headmaster Igor Lychuk.

Ambulatories

In the villages of Dobrohostiv, Ulyczne and Oriv near Truskavets, the PCPM donated equipment for analyzing blood samples to outpatient clinics in June. This is a very big improvement, especially for elderly people with low pensions.

– The lowest pension is about 250 PLN and a return ticket to Truskavets, where the hospital is, is about 6 PLN, plus some tickets on the spot,’ says a doctor from Dobrohostiv, Marharyta Oleksiwa.

Apart from the cost, getting there itself, especially from Oriv, from where there are only two buses a day, is very difficult. The village itself stretches for 12 km and getting to the infirmary is a challenge.

– In June we were trained by the producer and since July we have already been using the analyzers. About 180 people in our village have already used it. We are very grateful to the Polish Centre for International Aid and to Taiwan,’ says Marharyta Oleksiwa

As the doctor from Dobrohostiwa adds, she is very grateful to both the PCPM and Taiwan.

– It seems like a small thing, but for the people here as well as for me as a doctor it is a huge improvement, says Marharyta.

Aid for refugees

The Polish Centre for International Aid also helps internally displaced people. Many of them have escaped from eastern Ukraine and taken shelter in cities in the west of the country. Unfortunately, many of them have nowhere to return to. Some of the villages they came from are already under Russian occupation, and even if they were to return there one day, they are destroyed like Bakhmut. About 350 people are living in the Truskavets welfare home, and it was to them that the packages with hygiene products went. The refugees received washing liquids, shampoos, washing powders, and many different necessities.

In total, the PCPM Foundation donated around 1,985 aid packages in 13 hromada (municipalities) of the Lviv region.