“Dobre ranok” (Ukranian for good morning or good day).
Like many people in Canada, I was totally ignorant about Ukraine before the conflict erupted. I knew it was in Eastern Europe and had historical ties to Russia, but that was about it. Since I arrived in Ukraine on May 3rd, I have come to know a lot more. Ukraine is actually the largest country in Europe after Russia. From East to West it is more than 1,300 km and from North to South it is almost 800 km. Most people here are bilingual, speaking Ukranian and Russian, but quite a few will also speak the languages of neighbouring countries such as Polish, Hungarian and Finnish depending on where they are living.
I arrived via Romania and crossed the border at Halmeu, in the South West. The crossing was easy and being in the westernmost part of the country I was over 1,000 km from the conflict zone. In Mukacevo where the ADRA Office is located, people go about their lives with very little indication that this is a country at war. On sunny days, they can be seen walking along pathways, cobblestone streets, and market squares. People sit at cafes and shop in boutiques without any concerns.
The Ukraininian blue on yellow flag is everywhere and there are some military personnel walking about, but they do not even carry weapons other than their service sidearms. There are refugees from the east of the country, and they are staying at various shelters but with the help of NGOs and government welfare, they are able to maintain an acceptable standard of living.
I was deployed to support ADRA Ukraine as part of the Emergency Response team. There are six of us coming from the US, Australia, New Zealand, Kenya, Sri Lanka, and me from Canada. Our role is to supplement the small ADRA Ukraine team on the ground by providing tactical and strategic support. I was assigned as logistics manager, and I coordinate two main programs.
First, we are receiving donations of food and hygiene kits from neighbouring ADRA partners, in particular from ADRA Czech and ADRA Slovakia. Trucks come through the border with cargoes of donated food and supplies every couple of days and deliver to the warehouse in Mukacevo. From there, deliveries of these goods are scheduled and reloading of trucks is done for distribution inside the country in four ways.
We deliver meal boxes to areas close to the conflict zone where people have limited resources. When there is no electricity and/or limited water supply, the people have no way of preparing meals, so the meal boxes contain prepackaged food items that need little to no preparation but are nutritious enough to sustain them. One meal box provides food for seven days with about 700g of food and 3ltrs. of water per day per person.
Prepackaged meal boxes
In what are referred to liberated zones, which are slightly removed from the conflict zones, the possibility of purchasing goods may be limited because a lot of stores are closed or have no supplies. Many of the supply routes are disrupted, and commercial delivery trucks drivers are reluctant to go into those areas. In those locations, there are shelters established and those have kitchens, so we deliver bulk food and teams
Bulk food distribution truck prepare meals for the shelter occupants.
These same kitchens are also hubs for people who have evacuated to the area and are living with friends and relatives. They can pick up meals on a daily basis from the kitchens and go back to their homes. These hubs also distribute the hygiene kits and hygiene supplies to those people.
The third option is through churches. ADRA brings supplies to partnering churches all around the country and the church volunteers seek families and individuals in need that may not have registered for help. With the supplies we send to the churches, they can support vulnerable population, especially people who are unable to leave their homes. By working with local agencies and churches, we have a better chance at reaching people than trying to do it from a centralized location.
The last option is for people living in zones away from conflict. In those area, the shops are open, and people can go in to buy what they need. However, because of the evacuations and the fact that many are now unemployed, they need help, so we distribute money to those people and let them buy from local stores.
Since mid-February, ADRA has provided over 200,000 kg of food, prepared about 32,700 meals, and distributed over 25,000 hygiene kits and hygiene products.
The second program I am overseeing is the evacuation program. ADRA has 9 buses located in safe zones but in short distances to militarized areas. These are twenty-seater buses, and the drivers are on call to go near the conflict zones to pick up people who want to leave that area. Working with military and government authorities, calls are made to our office when a small group of people ready to leave are identified. An evaluation of the risk level is done and if the risk is acceptable, the drivers are sent to a pickup point. They transport the evacuated people to a designated location in liberated cities and people then go either to a shelter or to friend and families.
Occasionally, the military will go to a more dangerous zone with an armoured car to pick up the evacuees and bring them to our buses. This allows our buses to stay in relatively safer zones. Once the people are on our buses, we can bring them to their destinations.
Disabled person helped onto our bus
Since mid-February and as of May 16, this program had evacuated 2,548 people. All of them are now in safe areas inside of Ukraine. The program caters mostly to people who have no means of transportation, and people with disabilities or reduced mobility. Other NGOs worked on getting people out of the country while ADRA focused on the people who wanted to remain inside the country. We actually have an acronym for the people we help. They are IDPs which stands for Internally Displaced Persons.
Statistics to date of IDPs/beneficiaries
Note that I have to be careful with the pictures that I post as we have been advised that any pictures posted on the internet could identify a target location for the opposing forces. We have been asked not to take pictures of warehouses, depots, government buildings and other potentially sensitive locations. As well, we have been asked to refrain from taking pictures of workers as this could put them in harm’s way. Should the situation escalate and the opposing forces enter the country, the workers and volunteers we employ could be seen as plotting against Russia and could be put on trial. The pictures of our workers are almost always taken from an angle where you cannot easily identify them.
I am here until June 11 and will continue to support these resilient people through their ordeal. ADRA is committed to helping and I am proud to show that Canadians care. The people here are grateful to see help coming from far away. It gives them comfort and strength to know they are not alone.
On a final note, for those who have expressed concerns for me, I am thankful, but I can reassure you that while I am inside Ukraine, I am far away from the danger zones. The risk here is the same as having to cross the street back home and possibly getting hit by a car.
I will post more stories over the next few weeks. Please be aware that while some of the Ukrainian citizens we work with understandably have definite political views about the conflict, as a representative of ADRA, I must remain neutral and impartial.
Dyakuyu (pronounced dee-yah-koo-you), meaning thank you in Ukranian.
Alain Normand, May 20, 2022, from Mukacevo, Ukraine.