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 overseas events to help struggling refugees.

 

In 2016, on my way to Greece to work with Syrian refugees, I bought a bottle of iced tea and on the inside of the bottle cap was this quote from Helen Keller: “The world is moved along not only by the mighty shoves of its heroes but also by the aggregate of the tiny pushes of each honest worker.” Of the hundreds of thousands of bottles of iced tea on the shelves of markets throughout the US, what were the odds that I would pick the bottle with that message, just as I was joining thousands of volunteers from around the world?

 



In 2019, a week before going to Greece to help Yazidi refugees, I opened a fortune cookie at a Chinese restaurant and it said, “Travel with an open heart and positive expectations.”

 

 

Two days ago, on the way to the airport to fly to Poland, President Biden came on the news from a small city in Poland (Rzeszow), right near where I will be working (Przemysl) and acknowledged the hard work of all the humanitarian workers assisting Ukrainian refugees. 

 

All three events occurred immediately prior to going overseas to support refugees. Coincidence or synchronicity?  You make the call.  I know what I believe.

Comments

  1. ShandiApril 13, 2022 at 1:59 PM

    What if we don't label it?

    ReplyDelete
  2. 101April 14, 2022 at 3:33 AM

    I was very moved reading of your volunteer experience with Ukrainian refugees. You committed to an urgent humanitarian need and exposed yourself to great potential harm to do good. Bless you.
    I volunteered in Greece 2016 to help the thousands of refugees arriving there from Syria, Pakistan, Africa and Afghanistan. I’m struck by the difference in how these refugees are treated compared to the refugees you cared for. Those that arrived in Greece, also escaping war as well as poverty and other violence, were immediately locked up in detention camps if not returned “back to where they came from.” They are still suffering inhumane conditions in detention camps or left to survive on the streets with no hope or justice. My hope is that one day all who need care are treated equally.

    In Peace,
    Sallie Latch

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Image
    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 continually served by the World Central Kitchen.   The center i
Read more
Image
  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 nucle
Read more
Image
  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 out, "Bon Appetit"
Read more