Going home.
It’s been six weeks since I arrived, and I have completed my mission. Leaving the team today was mixed with emotions. We shared hugs and well wishes. I made many friends in Ukraine. Maybe someday, I’ll go back. Hopefully the war will be over, and I can go as a tourist.
I didn’t really see much of the country. As expats, our insurance forces us to stay in a designated location so we could only be around Mukacevo. It was one of the safest places in Ukraine. Although we did get an air raid siren this week. It sounded off on Wednesday afternoon and stayed on for 35 minutes. We checked and it was basically an alarm for the whole country, but our area was still considered low risk. We looked up the web site that provides instructions. In Mukacevo, there are no shelters. It is recommended to go to the basement but the office where we are located doesn’t have a basement. The only other thing we can do is stay away from the windows and outer walls.
Nothing happened but there were missile strikes in the East. We also heard a couple of jets flying by, but they were Ukrainian. They were patrolling and I was reassured that any Russian plane trying to get to the West would be shot down long before it got to us. In fact, Russian planes do not even try to reach targets in the centre or the West of the country.
In my last week, I worked mostly on documenting the processes used by the various programs. When all of this started in late February, the focus was on getting things done. There were no set protocols for this kind of operation although some of it was borrowed from our disaster relief experience. The staff in Ukraine quickly put together plans to evacuate people from conflict zones, obtain food from neighbouring countries and deliver them to people in need. They established contacts with churches, soup kitchens and many other agencies. There was no time to write procedures. At best, some excel spreadsheet were quickly modified to keep stats on the work accomplished.
So now that experts from other countries were on site, we took the time to review the processes and document them. The good thing is that since they had been doing this work for almost three months, many of the bugs had been ironed out. I was happy to leave them with flowcharts, and protocol documents accompanied by one-page summaries so they could follow it more easily. There have been a number of positions created and new people hired, so having these processes detailed will also make it easier for new staff.
Some new members of the ADRA International contingent will be arriving next week to continue the support to the ADRA Ukraine team but the local team is already in a much better position then when I arrived six weeks ago.
We have deliveries throughout the country, even sometimes going to what is termed liberated towns. Those are locations where the Russian army had initially invaded but retreated leaving ruins. One of our workers actually went back to his home town of Bucha, one of these liberated cities, and took pictures of the destroyed Russian tanks. He sent them back to the team, in a way trying to boost morale by showing some success from the Ukrainian army.
Our vehicles are identified as “Гуманітарна організація” meaning Humanitarian Organization.
The ADRA logo is also included but Russian troops are probably not familiar with them so adding the text reduces the risk somewhat. It also allows our trucks to go through Ukrainian checkpoint. There are such checkpoints throughout the country.
Beyond checking for weapons and contraband, they also stop vehicles with young and middle-aged men. The martial law is still in effect until at least August, and this means the citizens can be mobilized. So far, only men between the ages of 20 to 40 are being sent for military training but they could eventually recruit women as well. People with medical conditions are exempted and there are special provisions for people registered to work for a humanitarian organization. All of our ADRA Ukraine staff and volunteers have been provided with an official letter confirming their employment with us and they also have a photo ID that they need to have with them at all times.
We received confirmation this week that we would obtain a donated ambulance from Germany arriving some time in July. This will enable a more comfortable transport for people with disabilities and injuries. The ambulance will be accompanying the buses when they go out to pick up evacuees. We are hoping to get another ambulance to position one in the East and one in the South.
The donations keep coming in. We also received an offer from Denmark to fund a camp program for children of evacuated families. The funding will allow for the hiring of camp counselors, some games and activity equipment, and lunches for the children attending. We hope to start the program for July and August.
Another request is being considered to support education initiatives. With children and teens displaced, access to schools and education has been interrupted for many. Although unclear yet what ADRA will contribute, an appeal for funding has been launched and a consultant hired to do some planning. In some countries ADRA repairs damaged schools after disasters, in others we provide funding for teachers, and others yet we provide books and educational material.
Even though I am leaving, I know there is still a lot to be done for this country. Ukraine needs help and the world is rallying behind them.
I go home proud that I was able to add a small drop in the bucket while knowing that others will continue coming after me to add more drops. We may never fill it to the rim, but we are making a difference.
Alain Normand, June 10, 2022, from Satu Mare, Romania