#concordiastories: When people in need of protection become active helpers

Anastasia, a young Romanian woman from our training programme, has developed into a confident woman who now actively supports others in difficult situations.

Since the beginning of the Ukraine war, many things have changed, not only for our staff in the neighbouring countries. The children and young people in our facilities also quickly adapted to the new challenges. Many of them volunteer to help with the accommodation and care of the arriving refugees.

One of them is Anastasia. She works in Bucharest and has been living for almost four years in CONCORDIA Casa Iuda - our supervised residential home for young people from socially disadvantaged backgrounds. When the first Ukrainians arrived in Romania, she took two weeks off to support the CONCORDIA team.

"I see all these people who left everything behind to escape the war. Some have lost their homes, others have had to leave loved ones. And I can hardly imagine how hard it must be for them. That is why I want to do everything in my power to ease their grief and pain. At least offer them a safe place to rest, where they might also forget the war for a few moments."

Anastasia never tires of helping others. Since the transit centre opened its doors, she sleeps only a few hours some nights. In her free time, she cleans the rooms in the house, cooks for the refugee residents, sorts donations in kind and organises food.

[Translate to English:] Concordia Sozialprojekte - Anastasia
[Translate to English:] Concordia Sozialprojekte - Anastasia

Nobody told her to help, she volunteers and also wants to give something back to CONCORDIA. For almost five years, CONCORDIA has been like a home to her. Back then, she attended vocational school, completed her training as a cook and thus began her path to an independent life. In the last few weeks, she has been able to pass on much of the support she has received from the organisation. Seeing children and young people from our programmes blossom and become helping hands themselves is the greatest gift for us and our colleagues on the ground.

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