Amerikano Molokow – One of the most important combination of Ukrainian words I learned early on. It’s the Ukrainian version of Tim Horton’s medium coffee with milk. Coffee is available everywhere here, so my survival is assured.
This week, I had the opportunity to ride along for a delivery of food to one of the shelters about 15 km outside of Mukacevo, where our office is located. The shelter used to be a sanatorium in the Carpathian Mountains and renowned for the quality and health benefits of its mineral water. There were medical professionals on site to monitor and provide health advice to people attending. With the conflict, these professionals were relocated to areas near the front lines and mobilized to serve as medics for the military forces. The sanatorium was almost abandoned but with the influx of refugees from the conflict zones, it was transformed into a shelter.
Currently 130 adults and 40 children live in this shelter. There are rooms with washrooms for all the families, a common kitchen/dining room and a number of playrooms. Outside there is a playground, a soccer field, basketball nets and places to relax. There is a creek running through the property and logs were placed at intervals to create falls that would make soothing sounds for people to meditate to.
Most people here were evacuated from Mariupol during the siege of that city. Their spirits are generally high even though they know there is nothing left of their town. They are grateful for the support we provide. They are safe, with a roof over their heads, food and essential goods, hygiene, and activities for kids and adults alike. This shelter is entirely run by ADRA, and I am proud we are able to bring this level of safety to the residents.
This week we evacuated another 250 people to safe zones and had three full convoys of food delivered to shelters. A couple of smaller shipments of meal boxes were also delivered.
ADRA Ukraine was originally located in Kiev, the capital. With the siege of Kiev in February, the office had to be moved, which is why we are now in Mukacevo, at the farthest Southwest point of the country, near the Romanian border. A warehouse was located and for the first couple of weeks, the staff worked from hotel rooms. Then a small apartment was rented but it soon became too small. Now we are working from a second floor of an industrial unit with a garage and a car wash on the first floor. We have three rooms about 12 x 12 and a dining room/ meeting room. There is a small café that also serves meals downstairs. We currently have 12 regular ADRA Ukraine staff and seven members of ADRA international working on site. There are no desks, just tables and no office chairs, just ordinary table chairs. We acquired enough laptops for everyone to work on and have a router for access to internet services. The décor is spartan, but we are all grateful that we have a safe place to work from.
Ukrainians are very friendly people. Every morning, the staff come to the office and go around shaking hands with everyone. People here don’t just say good morning (dobre ranok), they take the time to shake your hand. Also, back home we almost always add “How are you?” with our greeting. Here if you say, “How are you?”, it signifies that you are truly interested in their well being so they will tell you in detail, how they are; not an artificial “I’m fine” kind of response.
Most Ukrainians have sky blue eyes, and many have blond hair. To date, the only black or brown person I have seen is one of our Australian staff members. This is not a multicultural country in terms of race and colour. They speak many languages but almost everyone is Caucasian.
People here smoke a lot, and there are no restrictions for smoking in public places. From our office, the staff go outside to smoke but in restaurants, every table has ashtrays and when it gets busy, the smoke is everywhere.
This past week, I have been working on putting together videos to train our bus drivers on first aid and CPR. Since they are spread out in various locations within a short driving distance from the front lines, we can’t have them come to the office for training. They also have limited access to the internet, so zoom sessions are not practical. We decided to create short videos with instructions, turn them into YouTube segments, then provide the drivers with the links.
So, I am creating the videos using online resources readily available, then collating them and having them translated into Ukrainian. Once translated, we format them for YouTube and send them out. We have one on scene management which aims at ensuring drivers stay safe while treating an injured person. We have a one on primary assessment of a victims. One more deals with mass casualty triage. Then we have the usual CPR/AED training, stop the bleed, fracture immobilization, victim transport, and more.
We were able to provide the drivers with bulletproof vests and helmets, but they tend not to use them as those are heavy, hot, and impede their ability to run away. They also feel they are far enough away from the danger of snipers and bombs, and they mostly work in areas where the Russian army has not been so the risk from land mines is low.
The same goes with our food delivery drivers. They go to drop off points and people come to them to pick up the meal boxes.
Meanwhile, I am staying in a three-star hotel, breakfast included, with a comfortable queen-sized bed, restaurants and convenience stores across the street, and sirens going off only for drill purpose. This is luxury compared to what so many people of Ukraine have.
I am relaying to my Ukrainian colleagues a lot of the comments I received from friends after posting the first part of my diary, and people are happy to hear that Canada is supporting them in their ordeal. With a bit of turnover, our team has changed slightly. The members of ADRA International support team only stay in the country for three to six weeks each so we rotate. We now have staff from Denmark, Germany, US, Australia, New Zealand, Sri Lanka, and me from Canada.
I still have two weeks to go, so I will continue to share my adventures and post to various outlets. Thank you to all who have liked, commented, shared, followed, connected, emailed, and more as your support means a lot.
Pryvit (hello or goodbye).
Alain Normand