![]() Their team designed an IFRC cash registration app being used in Hungary and other surrounding countries impacted by the crisis. Two hours away, in Budapest, Hungary, American Red Crossers Kanhong Lin and Monica Shah are working with IFRC colleagues to design and implement cash assistance programs for refugees impacted by the Ukraine crisis. There’s no other place like this - where I can have nice accommodations, where I can get medicine for my daughter and where I can get funds to buy the important things we need,” she said. Without the Red Cross, I wouldn’t have known what to do. “I think it is good that the Red Cross exists. ![]() “With the funds I received from the Red Cross, I bought winter jackets for us as the weather has gotten cold and we didn’t bring winter clothes with us from Ukraine,” she said.Īlissa says she’s happy she and her daughter are safe and cared for while they figure out what comes next. When I arrived in Hungary, I didn’t know where to go or what to do,” she said. She says support from the Red Cross has been critical for them. IFRC officials stress that cash assistance is about empowerment, allowing people to determine their own needs and quickly address them.Īt the shelter, fellow resident Alissa* holds her nearly two-year-old daughter as she talks about her harrowing journey from Kharkiv. She says that the program has been a huge help for her, allowing her to buy a winter coat and purchase food that she can cook for herself and others. In surrounding countries impacted by the Ukraine crisis, International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent (IFRC) delegates have been working with local Red Cross officials to design and implement a cash assistance program to deliver aid quickly and easily to those who need it most - like Ljudmila. Providing Relief to Those Who Need It Most She says she’s grateful for a warm and safe place for her two daughters and four grandchildren, who are among the 80 residents at the shelter. Since fleeing the Donbas region of Ukraine in March, Ljudmila says that she has found community and purpose at this shelter operated by the Hungarian Red Cross. “My mama taught me how to cook this recipe and cooking this reminds me of home,” she said. Ljudmila doesn’t sit to eat until everyone has a large dollop of sour cream in their soup. The table is filled with Ukrainian delicacies including pampushky, garlic bread buns, sweet and savory vareniki, and dumplings filled with cheese, salo, cured pork fat over bread topped with pickles and honey cakes. Commanding everyone to sit and eat, suddenly there is order in what was a chaotic kitchen, and everyone is seated, eating warm soup as freezing rain falls outside. She points to the table in the shared kitchen and displays a bounty of food that she and fellow shelter residents have made. Dolling out bowls of soup for Red Cross volunteers and Ukrainians alike, she works with the command and efficiency of a drill sergeant. “I don’t want anyone to be hungry - ever,” said Ljudmila while stirring a large pot of borscht, a traditional Ukrainian soup, at a Red Cross shelter in Szeged, Hungary.
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