Action for Ukrainian Refugees

  Action for Ukrainian Refugees   By John Namkung   March/April 2022           March 27, 2022       I guess the number three is my lucky number.   It was three years between the first time I went overseas in 2016 to help Syrian refugees in Greece, to the second time I went to Greece in 2019, this time to teach English to Yazidis in a refugee camp.   And here I am in Poland in 2022 to help Ukrainian refugees as they escape from a devastating war.   I say “lucky” because I probably got more out the experiences than I gave to the individuals I helped.   Where will I go next in 2025?   “Synchronicity” is defined as “ the simultaneous occurrence of events which appear significantly related but have no discernible causal connection.”   I firmly believe that synchronous events occur in this world that go beyond mere coincidence. Consider these examples from my three oversea...

    March 28, 2022   The Przemysl Refugee Center     Przemysl is a Polish city of 60,000 residents approximately ten miles from the border of Ukraine, where over 500,000 refugees have passed through on their way to other parts of Europe. The city has converted an abandoned shopping mall into the Humanitarian Aid Centre, also known as the Przemysl Refugee Center. This is where I reported for duty on my first day of volunteering.   All cameras and other recording devices are strictly forbidden inside the building, so I am unable to show you what I encountered.   Here is a rough map of the center and its layout and services.      Imagine a medium-sized shopping mall with empty spaces where the stores once used to be.   However, those spaces are now all occupied by various humanitarian aid agencies dispensing information, services, clothing, toys, medicine, SIM cards, etc.   Hot meals are contin...

  March 29, 2022   Three Generations of Women and a Dog of Unknown Gender     Meet Irinia (mother), Alla (grandmother), Myroslava (younger child), Kira (older daughter), and Dara (dog)   They barely escaped from Chernihiv, site of a devastating siege and some of the fiercest battles in the war.  They were part of one of the last evacuation routes out of the city. They didn't tell me anything about their husband/father/son whom they had to leave behind and I didn't ask. I picked them up at the border and noticed that they were carrying all of their possessions in large plastic bags. I suddenly remembered that some of my colleagues had bought a van load of new suitcases that they were going to distribute at the border. We rendezvoused in Przemysl and gave the family three new suitcases for which they were very grateful.  We stopped for gas and dinner on our way to Krakow. (I made sure this time to buy gas). As we were about to eat, Myroslava blurted ou...

  March 30, 2022 "Cool" Last night I transported a different type of family--a mother (Tania) and son (Mark).  Not only that, Tania spoke excellent English so during our car ride to Krakow, I was able to ask her a lot of questions and learn in greater detail the experiences of refugees as they flee from a war, something I was unable to do with my previous two families.   Here is her story. Tania works for a French company in a high level position in Kyiv during the week and spends the weekend with her son and her parents in a small town near the Chernobyl nuclear plant. The town was built in 1987 to house displaced residents and workers from the plant after the disaster in 1986. Tania told me that the town has not been damaged from the war but fears that it may not escape damage. When there were rumors of war, she and her friends thought that Putin was bluffing and that war would never break out, so they were shocked when it did. As the battle came closer (the Chernobyl n...

  March 31, 2022 "This is My Lucky Day" I wrote about the dangers of human trafficking of refugees in my last post, and last night I came face to face with the issue. When an announcement was made that I had room for four passengers to Krakow, a woman traveling alone stated that she would like a ride to Tarnow, a city about an hour's ride from Krakow. Her name was Natasha and I agreed to drop her off there and asked her to wait to see if there were any more passengers who needed a ride to Krakow. She readily agreed and seemed relieved that she might not be the only one traveling with me.  A family of four requested a ride to Krakow and I had to turn them down since I only had room for four passengers in my SUV. I called a colleague, thirty minutes away, who had a seven passenger van to come and pick up this family of four.  When no one else expressed an interest, Natasha appeared anxious and hesitant. Then she asked to take photos of my passport and driver's license a...

April 1, 2022   "Crying in the Rain "   Yesterday was my first trip to the actual border crossing where the refugees step onto Polish soil. I went there with my Canadian friends, Peter and Lee, to distribute 26 new suitcases and some children's backpacks to those carrying their possessions in plastic bags.     Once they enter Poland, the refugees walk down a path for about a hundred yards lined with tents, booths and tables manned by relief agencies offering food, clothing, medical supplies, hygiene products, shelter for mothers and children, etc. We stood at the gate and offered the suitcases to those in need, and the offer was always gratefully received.   Yesterday was a miserably cold and rainy day.  I could feel the cold cut right to my bones as the rain soaked through my waterproof windbreaker.  Peter was told by a woman that they had to stand in line six hours at the border control before they were allowed into Poland.  As I walked back...

April 2, 2022       A Guardian Angel Suddenly Appears   Last night I transported two sets of families pictured above. Elena (mother) and Denis ( 11-year old son) are standing next to me. Olga (mother) and Zlata (15-year old daughter) are next to them.  Both families escaped from the most dangerous zones of warfare.  In fact, Olga and Zlata were one of the 6,000 people who escaped from Mariupol this week when a humanitarian corridor opened up briefly and then closed, trapping the remaining 200,000 people.   Denis is the type of kid who can drive you nuts, but all in a good way. He's the type who can't shut up, has an opinion on everything, asks a million questions and blurts out answers in class while everyone else raises their hands. You get the picture. He talked nonstop during the three hour ride to Krakow. He spoke a little English and every once in a while he would say, "John, you are cool."  Several times he said, "My mother likes your car." ...

April 3, 2022   Dr. Jekyll and Mrs. Hyde   "This is not going to be a pleasant ride," I thought to myself with dread as three women followed me to my car. One of them, Olga, angrily headed back to the Information booth. Another took out a cigarette and started smoking furiously, knowing that this would be her last cigarette for three hours. Since none of them spoke English, I had no idea what was going on. We found an interpreter who spent 15 minutes trying to convince Olga to proceed on the ride to Katowice, Poland. According to the interpreter, Olga lived in Lviv, Ukrania, while her husband and children were in western Poland.  She was on her way to meet them but didn't consider herself to be a refugee, nor to be associated with that population. (Why she was availing herself of the services to refugees was beyond me.) It was all very confusing to me as she was stressed out and appeared on the verge of a breakdown. I'm sure the effects of the war and separation from ...

April 4, 2022 Who was taken for a ride?   I've had instances when two women were upset and angry about getting in my car to ride to Krakow but, by the end of the trip, were smiling and giving me big hugs and telling me, "This is my lucky day," and "You are a good man."  My experience with Sasha two days ago was the opposite.  Here is what happened.   Sasha is the type of women who, when she walks into a room, all heads swivel to look at her and all conversations stop, not because of her beauty, but because of her magnetic personality. She is equal parts loquacious and flirtatious. Men sit at her feet like dogs waiting for a treat. When she orders them to jump, they respond, "How high?"   I saw evidence of this at the refugee reception center. She asked two burly, rough looking Spanish mercenaries who were on their way across the border to fight for Ukraine to carry her two very large bags from the bus into the reception center. Not only did they comply...

April 5, 2022   "You can never have too many books or too many hugs."    Margherita was scared to get in my car with her children, as I later found out at the end of the ride. However, she was a bit more reassured when she learned that I would be part of a convoy with a van with other two families. She and her son (David) and daughter (Alexandria with the painted face) slept almost the entire three-hour ride. Due to the language barrier, we hardly spoke more than ten words to each other.     I've discovered that Ukrainian people love to give hugs. When we arrived at the hotel and I prepared to say goodbye, Margherita surprised me by giving me a warm hug. When I went to hug Alexandria, she opened her arms wide and with a big smile, gave me a long hug.   At first David was a little shy, but he soon warmed up and buried his head in my shoulders for a big hug.   Someone once said that you can never have too many books or too many hugs. How true.   Fo...