Close to people | Stories from Bethel
New video portraits: Help for disabled children from Ukraine
Immediately after the outbreak of war, on 23 and 24 March 2022, many young people, some with severe and multiple disabilities, who had fled Ukraine, arrived in Bethel. In a very short space of time, specialist staff and volunteers prepared the accommodation, Haus Mamre and Haus Ebenezer. To this day, they continue to provide good care, support and assistance. In Bielefeld, the Bethel.regional foundation looks after 109 Ukrainian children, young people and adults.
We want to introduce the people who are committed to the children and young people from Ukraine. That's why we visited them with a camera, spoke to them and accompanied them in their work. The result is a video series that will be shown on Bethel's social media channels - Instagram, YouTube and Facebook. We are now showing three short films here, the full series is available at Bethel-regional.de
"I want to train as a curative education nurse later on and wanted to get a taste of this area first," says Zoe. She is doing a Betheljahr, a voluntary social year, and supports refugee children and young people with disabilities at Haus Mamre who have fled to Bielefeld to escape the war in Ukraine. "It's a gift to be here - you can see the joy in the children's eyes. I would recommend it one hundred per cent!"
"The feeling that you are needed and valued here and that you really make a difference" is what Marian loves about his work. As a trainee in curative education, he supports young refugees and adults with disabilities from Ukraine at Ebenezer House. "If you want to start here, you definitely need to be a team player, have empathy and a lot of patience."
"The fact that you can establish a relationship with the clients and work with them individually is something I didn't know in the operating theatre," says Julia. As a nurse, she supports young refugees and adults with disabilities from Ukraine at Ebenezer House. "Being able to use my language skills with the clients and also assist the Ukrainian staff motivates me to come to work every day full of vigour."
Would you like to accompany and support Ukrainian children, young people and adults with disabilities in their everyday lives? In order to provide them with the appropriate care and support, we are looking for educational and care professionals in the short and medium term.
Information and contact details can be found at www.bethel-regional.de/Ukraine.html - you are also welcome to pass this on.
