Irish Methodist Mission Partners Barry & Gillian Sloan share an update on how the INSPIRE community in Chemnitz has opened its door to welcome Ukrainian refugees.

We started Cafe Ukraine at INSPIRE as a response to the war and ensuing refugee crisis. As hundreds of refugees from Ukraine arrived in Chemnitz, we asked ourselves what our role could be. How could INSPIRE help? We have experience of working refugees from Syria and Iraq that came to Germany in 2015 and so we knew what we had to do. We made our INSPIRE rooms available, baked 5 cakes, designed a poster for social media, advertising Café Ukraine every Wednesday afternoon. Set up the rooms to welcome our guests. And waited. We had no idea if anyone from Ukraine would show up. We said to ourselves that even if 5 people come to the café, we will have blessed 5 people. O ye of little faith! Fifty Ukrainians showed up! We had to cut the cake in smaller pieces - that’s how crazy it was! But good crazy. These Ukrainian refugees, mostly women and a few children, found a little oasis in the midst of their lives. They met with other Ukrainians. They talked Ukrainian. They shared stories and tips on how best to access social care etc. And they thanked us for making this possible.

Our idea for Café Ukraine was simply to provide space for the refugees to meet and be blessed. We told them that we are here to listen to them, and where possible to serve them. As we listened, it became very clear that they wanted a German language course. So Gill, who is an English teacher, but fluent in German, organised a German language course. We limited the class size to 14. Two days later the course was fully booked. So one of our INSPIRE Team members offered to start a second course. This course is also fully booked out and we now have a waiting list of Ukrainians wanting to learn German.

Café Ukraine has been running for three weeks now. The language courses for two weeks. Attendance at the Café has averaged out at about 30 - a more manageable group for our premises. Last Wednesday we offered the Ukrainians the opportunity to share with the whole group anything they wanted. How they were feeling. Good news stories. Challenges and worries. Anything they wanted. It was moving to watch the Ukrainians stand up and share. We had no idea what they were saying. But it’s not about us. It’s about mothers and children. It’s about those who have husbands back in Ukraine in a war zone. It’s about people who have left everything behind and have no idea if they will ever be able to go back to homes that no longer exist. It’s about people who are trying to survive in a strange land and a foreign language in difficult times. It’s about them. The only time it is about us, is when it has to do with how we follow Christ.

Barry & Gillian Sloan

Pray for Barry, Gillian and the team at INSPIRE and for Cafe Ukraine.
Pray for the Ukrainian refugees who have found a safe space at INSPIRE.
Pray for the language courses and those who lead them.