Even the war cannot prevent the Transcarpathian Szent Márton Karitász charity organization, which has been operating for more than twenty years, from carrying out its social work. Even before the outbreak of the armed conflict, the foundation provided support to almost two thousand people, but now it also supports families fleeing there.
They are losing key employees due to the forced waiting list, and slowly there are no more Hungarian children in the institutions they opened with hard work, but they are not giving up hope. They say that not everyone can go, that the poor and the elderly must be taken care of.
- The tasks that we perform with our organization should actually be carried out by the Ukrainian state. But since this is not happening, we have been providing help for more than twenty years in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Münkacsi , said Ferenc Fehér , the director of the Transcarpathian Szent Márton Caritász, to Magyar Nemzet. The main task of the foundation, established in 1999, is to operate social institutions, care for the elderly, sick and poor families, organize the education of Hungarian children, catch up with people living in Gypsy camps and preserve the mental and spiritual integrity of Transcarpathian communities.
- Before I started serving here in 2003, there were two major floods in the area, then my predecessors built eighty houses: in essence, this was the start of the large-scale work of the charity - reminded the director. He added: they currently have fifty institutions. There are kindergartens and family-type children's homes built by them, the right of use of which is handed over to the state so that it can take care of further maintenance. - In this case, the Ukrainian state does not pay everything, only the utilities and food for the children: we cover the renovation and construction costs in all cases - he pointed out. In the case of the children's home, based on a normative agreement, the Ukrainian state pays for the minors, and one of the parents also receives a salary, he added.
- We currently have six children's homes and fourteen kindergartens. Among them are those that were built shortly before the war, but could not be opened yet due to the emergency situation: among them, four are located in Roma settlements and gypsy camps. Often there aren't even street names there, so it is extremely difficult to create an official kindergarten - said Ferenc Fehér. He explained that they have been helping the gypsy families living there for twenty years, but only now have they gotten to the point of building a kindergarten for them. As he said, for the time being they are paying the two people who take care of the sixteen children on their own, but they are waiting for the involvement of the Ukrainian state to pay wages and food.
Szent Márton Karitás is supported financially mostly by the Subcarpathian Franciscan Mission Foundation and the Subcarpathian Families Association, which was founded a few years ago thanks to the bishopric. In addition, Ferenc Fehér emphasized , they also receive a lot of support from the Hungarian state, especially in the maintenance of colleges and lyceums, as well as in the operation of the four kindergartens that are not supported by the Ukrainian state: their maintenance is financed by the State Secretariat for National Policy through the Gábor Bethlen Fund. "In addition, we apply wherever possible, we almost live on tenders, " he said.
The Szent Márton Karitáz currently has fourteen employees, who carry out the main coordination work throughout Transcarpathia, and in addition, they also have thirteen local charities.
- We would really need kindergarten teachers and teachers, at least in the first four classes of the schools, but also others, because the war made our situation much worse - Ferenc Fehér outlined the current conditions.
The full article of Magyar Nemzet can be read here.
Author: Anikó Domján
Picture: Illustration - Árpád Kurucz
