A group of 29 Ukrainian refugees arrived in Brazil this Friday (18), in search of a forced restart by the war started by Russia. They were rescued by an international network of Christian missionaries, and Brazilian churches were willing to keep them for at least a year.
In all, ten women, two men and 17 children disembarked around 6:30 am at Guarulhos airport. While men between the ages of 18 and 60 are banned from leaving Ukraine, those with three or more children are allowed to leave — the case of the two in the group.
They came from several cities in Ukraine, including Mariupol and Kharkiv, two of the hardest hit by Russia. “These are people with a history of great pain. We have to help,” said Brazilian Presbyterian Pastor Elias Dantas, founder of the GKPN (Global Kingdom Partnership Network), which is leading the action.
Dantas, who lives in the US, was in Ukraine and bordering countries last week, organizing the operation. The Brazilian embassy, ​​which currently works in the western Ukrainian city of Lviv, issued humanitarian visas to the group. Faithful from evangelical churches in Guarulhos and São José dos Campos were waiting for them with a Ukrainian flag and a welcome sign in English.
From São Paulo, the refugees will be taken on a bus to Curitiba, where they will spend a few days and then go to Prudentópolis and Guarapuava, cities in Paraná that concentrate a large community of Ukrainian immigrants and who were willing to welcome those who escaped this war.
They will receive Portuguese classes and will have housing and other expenses borne by the churches. Dantas says that he will bring, in total, at least 300 refugees from Ukraine to Brazil, 50 of whom will be on the 26th.
On March 3, the Brazilian government published an inter-ministerial ordinance granting a humanitarian reception visa to Ukrainians and stateless persons (people without recognized nationality) affected or displaced by the situation of armed conflict.
Brazil has this type of visa for Syrians, Haitians and, more recently, has also granted it to Afghans fleeing the Taliban. More than 3 million Ukrainians have left the country since the beginning of the Russian invasion on February 24, in the fastest exodus experienced by Europe since World War II.
Most are staying in neighboring Eastern European countries such as Poland, Hungary and Romania. According to Pastor Dantas, 10,000 refugees will be welcomed in the next 15 days by 2,000 churches linked to the GKPN, 90% of them in countries close to Ukraine. “We always wonder what Jesus would do in our place. He would certainly be opening his arms and welcoming them,” he said.
The project provides for the family reunion of refugees after the end of the war, with the repatriation of those who want to return or the travel of family members to the host country, in the case of those who decide to stay.
