By Overseas Team | Member of Overseas Team
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After four years of construction tested by war, currency turmoil, and the conscription of our own workers, a long-abandoned tuberculosis clinic in Berehove, western Ukraine, has been reborn as a community welfare center and entrusted to local hands.
"A finished building does not, on its own, make people happy."
Those are the words of Barlin Rei Kósa, who has led Terra Renaissance's work in western Ukraine since the earliest days of the war. On March 30, 2026, we held a handover ceremony for the Community Welfare Center we had been building since 2022 in Berehove, Zakarpattia Oblast — a project made possible by the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Japan NGO Connection Grant / N-Ren), Hongwanji, Shinnyo-en, and many individual donors and faith communities. Parts of the facility are already in operation.
The hard road of "renewal"
Transforming an old clinic into a modern welfare hub became its own quiet battle. Once construction began, we discovered that the roof was riddled with insect damage and had to be removed entirely; beneath the floor, there was no foundation at all. A historic weakening of the yen, wartime inflation, and the conscription of male workers from our own site pressed on the budget again and again. Bringing in labor and materials from neighboring countries would have been faster—but we chose otherwise. "Employing 20 local people means supporting the lives of around 100, when you count their families," says Kósa. "Creating work locally and building this together with the people who live here—that itself is the kind of support we believe in."
From a building to a place of belonging
The completed center is not simply a structure. It is a multi-functional anchor woven into the community. A soup kitchen now operates from the on-site kitchen, delivering warm meals to elderly residents living on pensions of roughly €80 per month (about ¥14,000) and to struggling families. A logistics warehouse stores and distributes relief supplies so that help reaches people quickly. A chapel and multipurpose rooms offer a quiet space for those who have sent family members to the front—a place to pray, to gather, and to lean on one another.
About us
Terra Renaissance is a Japanese NGO that has supported survivors of armed conflict worldwide for 25 years. We believe that those who carry one another through impossible times are not only governments but also ordinary citizens whose care reaches across borders. We will continue this work in Ukraine and around the world—guided by a simple promise: leave no one behind.
Thank you for walking this path with us. This center stands today because you chose to be part of it.
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