The hardest journeys to the new beginnings
A small group of friends started Eden Aid in 2022 — helping Ukrainians flee the war and delivering aid across the border. Today, through the Hopeful Future programme, we support the veterans who fought it — helping them find new beginnings after the front.
Thousands of Ukrainian combat veterans are coming home from the front – wounded, lost, carrying what cannot be explained to those who weren’t there. Just as we once helped refugees on their journeys to new beginnings, we now help veterans on their hardest journey: from hopelessness to a hopeful future.
We do it through peer-led recovery groups, created by veterans for veterans, helping those who won’t ask for help.
Hopeful Future runs peer-led groups in Ukraine and trains veterans as group facilitators
When I came back, I didn’t talk to anyone for three months. Like my body was here, but my soul was not. I saw the faces of my dead mates everywhere. Here, for the first time, I opened up. I realised that I’m not alone, I have something to live for. Somehow, in three days, you managed to unite us. That means everything is possible”.
Yaroslav, a Ukrainian veteran
Eden Aid grew from a simple impulse – people seeing other people in trouble and deciding to act. There is no distance between us and the people we serve.
We began as volunteers who showed up for people in need — and that spirit has never left us. We stay present, practical and hands-on, close to the people we serve and the work we do.
We measure success by what people can do without us. Training local teams, developing programmes designed to be owned and run by the communities they serve.
Every person we work with carries a full life – their story, their pain, their potential. We take the time to see that. We work with the whole person, and we measure our success by what they go on to build.