A powerful act of cross-border solidarity: On June 15, 2025, a fully loaded 90-cubic-meter truck carrying humanitarian aid arrived at the warehouse of the human rights organization Our House near Vilnius. The cargo—15 tons of clothing, furniture, household goods, and school supplies—was collected by IGFM-Wittlich and is now being distributed to Belarusian and Ukrainian refugees in Lithuania.

That morning, more than 30 Belarusians from Vilnius gathered to unload the truck. In just two and a half hours—from 9:00 to 11:30 AM—they completed the task, setting a new organizational record and finishing just in time for the weekly solidarity rally for Belarusian political prisoners on Kudirka Square.

The aid was gathered by Our House’s long-term German partners from the regional group IGFM-Wittlich. In addition to the 15 tons of clothing, shoes, bedding, kitchenware, and furniture, the shipment included toys and school supplies worth €500 for the organization’s summer camp and the upcoming school year. Bicycles for the office’s daily operations in Vilnius were also part of the delivery.

Why does Our House do this?

“It’s heartening to see that many Belarusians have not forgotten the spirit of solidarity from 2020 and still want to help others,” says Katja M., an activist with the organization. “Sorting and distributing such a large volume of aid would be impossible alone—but we’re lucky to have amazing volunteers who always step up. For people who flee the Belarusian regime to Lithuania or Poland with nothing but a single change of clothes and their documents, having access to basic necessities like proper clothing or food can be life-saving.”

Olga Karach, Director of Our House:

“Eastern Europe—including Belarus, Russia, Ukraine, the Baltic states, and Poland—is undergoing a deeply troubling rise in war, terror, authoritarianism, and armed violence. In the past five years, even conservative estimates suggest that over seven million people have been displaced from Belarus, Ukraine, and Russia. Around 200,000 of these refugees have found themselves in Lithuania—a country whose institutions were unprepared for this scale of need.

The situation is especially dire for Belarusian refugees, who have received virtually no institutional support. This has already led to cases of suicide and countless other tragic outcomes. That is why the support of our German partners from IGFM-Wittlich is so vital. They are doing everything they can to ensure that refugees from Belarus and Ukraine don’t feel abandoned, invisible, or in despair. I am deeply grateful for this long-term and committed partnership.”

Since 2020, IGFM-Wittlich has sent a total of 19 humanitarian trucks to Our House—to Vilnius, Lithuania, and to Kraków and Warsaw in Poland. The shipments, amounting to over 320 tons of aid, were unloaded into public warehouses for Belarusian and Ukrainian refugees, then sorted and distributed free of charge.

But this is only part of the organization’s humanitarian work. Between 2021 and 2023, Our House, in partnership with Maisto bankas, distributed an additional 10 tons of food supplies to Belarusian and Ukrainian refugees.

Photos here and above – Our House. For security reasons, the activists asked not to show their faces

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