Bhaktivedanta Manor’s Manager Premaniketana das, security man Lila Jagannath das, and now Congregational Care officer Kanhaiya das have traveled to Hungary to help the devotee community there to distribute vegetarian food (prasadam) as well as practical supplies to the needy. The same team is now active on the Polish and Romanian borders.

As a result of the generous donations in response to the joint campaign by Bhaktivedanta Manor and the Lotus Trust, Temple Manager Premaniketana das, security man Lila Jagannath das and now Congregational Care officer Kanhaiya das have travelled to Hungary to help the devotee community there to distribute vegetarian food (prasad) as well as practical supplies to the needy. The same team are now active on the Polish and Romanian borders and are even entering Ukraine itself.

18th March 2022

After a long journey from Budapest, the team reached the border between Romania and south-west Ukraine, with a delivery of 2 tonnes of food provisions. However they had to make an important decision at the border because the local authorities did not let the Ukrainian devotees come near because of the growing presence of NATO armed forces there. By night time the devotees decided to take the brave decision to cross over Romanian border into Ukraine. Some way in, they met the devotees there to make the delivery.

“The devotees were very happy to receive it,” explained Prema. “They said it is a big need there. Some Ukrainians are beginning to starve.”

14th March 2022

Bhaktivedanta Manor’s Congregational Care officer Kanhaiya das has now joined his colleagues to help feed and provide for the needy. Recently they left Budapest on an 8-hour journey to Poland to deliver 5 tonnes of food provisions to the Ukrainian border there. At the border, they met devotees who collected the delivery and took it to Kyiv and Harkiw, where people are cooking underground. Tomorrow they will be traveling to Romania with another 5 tonnes of food.

11th March 2022
By Premaniketana das

“Today we traveled to the Ukrainian border. The experience is shocking. People walk out from their country tired and hungry. They have nothing left. Four months old baby in hand in the freezing cold. Today it was -2 Celsius. People don’t see a future. They have lost everything. They were very grateful for our help…”

10th March 2002 (report from ISKCON Hungary Food for Life)

“The devotees [from Bhaktivedanta Manor] started to make an impact immediately. They have been visiting wholesalers to collect fruits, vegetables, and other food items. They then supported in cooking the meals. They distributed meals at the main train station of Budapest where the trains full of refugees were arriving frequently.. There were 2 Ukrainian devotees in the team so communication was not a problem at all.

The people arriving from Ukraine were very tired, some of them having traveled for 5 days. They were very pleased with the prasadam we gave them. The stories they told us were very deep and touching. Our aim is to continue to serve prasadam every day to the refugees, and also scale up this activity to serve up to 10,000 meals per day”.

bhaktivedantamanor.co.uk