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Imagine your lunch break being interrupted by bombs exploding in the next town over. Hearing of war coming closer on the news. Realizing that to remain safe, you and your family need to leave your home. Packing up your car and waiting in traffic for hours. Living in another family’s house for months, not knowing if you’ll ever make it back home.  

This is the reality for millions of Ukrainian men, women, and children today. Two years after Russia began its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, the United Nations Refugee Agency, or UNHCR, estimates that there are now 3.7 million internally displaced people (IDPs) in Ukraine. 

Many in eastern Ukraine fled west, now living as IDPs with Ukrainian host families. As the war continues, they’ve had to adjust to being far from home with no end date. It hasn’t been an easy road.  

Yet even amid loss and adjusting to a new life, these families are displaying determination, community-mindedness, and generosity. And at HOPE International, we’re dedicated to walking with Ukraine’s men and women—as we have been since 1997. 
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“When I need help, God supports me,” reflects Moldovan farmer Evgheni Malai. 

As the Russia-Ukraine war presses into a third year, many families in the surrounding region live in fear that the violence will spread across their borders. Moldova is especially vulnerable, sharing a border with Ukraine and economic ties with Russia. Farmers like Evgheni Malai and his twin brother Denis in Moldova face a difficult choice: leave their livelihoods behind and flee, or stay and learn to adapt their business to a wartime economy.   Continue Reading…

All three of our expansion announcements—Kenya, Benin, and Dominican Republic—were among our most-read stories of 2023! 

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“Any business is a challenging one right now in Ukraine.” -Serhii, a farmer in western Ukraine 

When Russia began its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Ukraine’s economy shrank by about one-third—the largest annual fall in more than 30 years of Ukrainian independence. 18 months after the war began, Ukraine’s economy ministry reported that their gross domestic product grew by 2.2% year-on-year in the first seven months of 2023. 

This is welcome news, but the stark reality remains: It’s challenging to do business in a country at war.   Continue Reading…

a generator outside a store

Originally posted on Peter Greer’s blog.

For 476 days, we’ve heard about the dire realities of war in Ukraine: Thriving cities abandoned. Loved ones missing. Lives and livelihoods plundered.

In June, farmers HOPE previously served in the Kherson region woke up to the reality of losing yet another harvest. With fields under water from enemy attacks on the Kakhovka Hydroelectric Power Plant, their crops and profits have been wiped out.

While traveling to Ukraine to visit our HOPE colleagues recently, these scenes were at the forefront of my mind. The horror and destruction of war I’d read about was real. But as I spent more time with staff and entrepreneurs there, one thing became clear: Even as bombs weakened infrastructure and devastated neighborhoods, they most certainly did not crush the Ukrainian spirit.

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Vincent Habiyaremye

Once Artem and his wife Alina began the pattern of missing their church service to tend to their successful wedding business, they realized they needed to make a change.  

“We switched to the restaurant business,” Artem says. “My wife loved [food] from an early age. She used to cook delicious meals with her grandmother. You can say that this is [an important part] of her life.” 

Little did they know that switching to the restaurant business would allow them to serve more than just good food to customers. During the challenges of war, they would provide people fleeing violence with meaningful employment and nourish their hearts with God’s love.  

Over the last 10 years, Artem and his wife Alina have used loans from HOPE Ukraine to open two restaurants in their community and purchase rental properties. Possessing an entrepreneurial drive, Artem says, “We don’t stand still … we’re always coming up with new ideas.” Continue Reading…