War in Ukraine: Order of Malta continues to ensure humanitarian support

The Grand Hospitaller of the Order of Malta concludes a 4-day visit to war-struck Ukraine, where the Order runs many different humanitarian projects, showing closeness to the people and promising to continue to strengthen humanitarian cooperation to ensure effective and coordinated support.

In a country still devastated by war, “people need to be helped, they need to be encouraged and made able to address physical challenges for example in the case of heavily wounded soldiers” says the Grand Hospitaller of the Order of Malta, concluding a four-day visit to Ukraine with the promise to continue to ensure effective and coordinated humanitarian support to the war-struck nation.

Josef Blotz during his visit to Ukraine 

Speaking to Vatican News, Josef D. Blotz spoke of his visit to many different humanitarian projects supported and promoted by the Order, made possible by the commitment of the staff and volunteers of the Malteser Relief Service of Ukraine, in collaboration with Malteser International.

Doctor Blotz, you have just been visiting Ukraine on behalf of the Sovereign Order of Malta, and you saw many Maltese projects around here. What are your main impressions?

First of all, thank you very much for giving me the opportunity to reflect a little bit on the impressions that I gathered over the last couple of days. There were so many pictures and so many talks and meetings – it's almost impossible to summarise. I'm almost speechless, you know, in front of all these events and meetings with people suffering, with victims or relatives. It is a great opportunity for me, and this is actually a key part of my portfolio, to visit members and volunteers of the Order of Malta around the world: thanking them, recognising, acknowledging their work, encouraging them, coordinating activities. And what I have seen here in Ukraine is, first of all, that the Order of Malta activities, carried out mainly by volunteers, are already well coordinated. They are very successful, very efficient, very experienced – partly because we have been here for 34 years already, and this was one of the most important prerequisites for being able to help now in concrete projects around this country in 73 different locations.

When the war broke out, the Order of Malta had been in Ukraine since 91, as you said. How did it help in a concrete way that you were already present on the ground without having to be flown in?

Yes, we were already present on the ground, and this is one of the major principles for our activities around the world: What we are mostly interested in is creating sustainable structures, so that in case of a natural disaster, for example an earthquake, we can immediately act… So, we were already present, we were already enjoying a good reputation by governmental institutions, by the church and other partners, and so we were able to lay the ground to what we have to do right now very concretely, since 2022 and even before.

What do Ukrainians need right now? Weapons, prayers, food?

Well, the conflict situation and all related challenges are so complex that the answers and the solutions to this need to be complex as well. So it's never just one reason or one solution that would help us to overcome these problems. But I'm not getting into the political domain. At the same time, it's also important to build resilience – for the entire society, but also on an individual basis. People need to be helped! They need to be encouraged and made able to address physical challenges, for example, in the case of heavily wounded soldiers: We are trying to help them back into life; amputations are life-changing, so we do what we can to encourage these people, also with psychosocial interventions with experts and professional teams. So, all this together… It is very complex, and we try to play a role in this entire spectrum as best as we can. What I've seen over the last three days is very encouraging; I was proud to see that everyone is actually deeply thanking us for what we are doing. We are committed to doing this for years to come.

You've been to Butcha, you've talked to the Latin bishop of Kyiv, you've seen plenty of war orphans. What was the most impressive moment you had in Ukraine?

There were so many moments… It's the reality of the conflict which is striking. I mean, we haven't been close to the front lines, but still, you get quite a good impression of what it means for people and for a country. What impressed me most was actually: smiling faces. And this gives hope. It means that people are hoping, but it also gives us hope insofar as this is an effect that we obviously are achieving with our works. I've seen children, war orphans, smiling because they are in the good hands of volunteers of the Order of Malta. I've seen veterans who lost limbs, and they are smiling again. I mean: It’s not as easy as it perhaps sounds, but it’s just heartwarming and encouraging for everyone to see that these people have come to a point where our help – with the help of many others – makes them look forward again and makes them find energy in themselves. That’s a very nice effect, and this is probably the most important takeaway from my visit here in Ukraine.

Since February 2022 the  Sovereign Order Of Malta has stepped up its work in Ukraine, increasing coordination with all its Associations, relief corps, and around 1,000 volunteers (both foreign and Ukrainian) to provide medical, social and psychological assistance, as well as safe shelter for the some 4 million displaced.  More than 10,000 tonnes of aid have been distributed in over 70 different locations; 300,000 people have been assisted at borders and over 60 shelters have been set up to accommodate the displaced. As well, in 2022 the Order contributed to the opening of a prosthetic clinic in Lviv to help victims of landmine explosions. To date, over 250 prosthetics have been provided. With over 80 million euros mobilised, the Order of Malta’s commitment in Ukraine is the largest since its intervention in World War II. The Order of Malta’s entities in Germany, Austria, Italy, France, Lithuania, Hungary, Poland, Romania and Slovakia have also been actively involved in refugee assistance projects.

Stefan Von Kempis
Source: vaticannews.va/en