Our director Stano Bielik writes directly from Ukraine.He visited the Ukrainian branch of ADRA and took part in the distribution of humanitarian aid on the ground.
Together with our partners from ADRA Japan, we crossed the border in Upper Germany to meet our colleagues from the Ukrainian office in Mukachevo ADRA.
We are followed by another aid truck, accompanied by my colleague Ľudo. We stopped at a petrol station in Mukachevo, which was a mistake - I didn't start the car and we had to tow it on a rope. The non-EU environment obviously scared him and he cowered like Balaam's donkey.
Distribution of aid packages in Mukachevo.
On the way, sirens sounded in Mukachevo and another air raid alert was issued. But nobody paid attention. People had already got used to it. Maybe because the missiles have not yet arrived here.
We were here today assisting with the distribution of humanitarian aid. Our van with aid packages parked at the refugee aid centre in Mukachevo. Immediately a long line of people formed, followed by document checking, registration, and signing of acceptance documents. Our 15-kilogram boxes are really heavy for seniors and women with small children. But no one complains. Apparently the heavier the better.
Right next to us, volunteers from ADRA Ukraine cook for about 700 people a day. They receive food from parcels sent to them by our colleagues from ADRA Czech Republic. Today there was cabbage soup, a piece of bread, porridge and water with syrup.
Only ruins of the ADRA office in Mariupol remain
The director of ADRA Ukraine, Nikita Anatoly Valentynovich, came to Mukachevo as a refugee. During the bombing of Mariupol, Nikita and his colleague Roman managed to evacuate to the west of Ukraine in time. They would like to return, but they have nowhere to go. The office is in ruins and so are their houses.
The ADRA van also took a full hit and has already managed to overgrow the middle of the minefield, from where no one can drag it away.
Only ruins of the Mariupol office remain.
Nikita and Roman and their families found temporary shelter in a sanatorium in the middle of a forest, near the town of Mukachevo in the Transcarpathian region. Together with them, 150 other displaced people live there. Nikita pHe bought a car so that he could hastily renovate the abandoned buildings of the sanatorium for the needs of the refugees. More than 150 people from around Kiev, Kharkiv, Mariupol and other cities have found temporary shelter there. For a couple of nights I joined the refugees, and together with them I tried accommodation in a sanatorium.
Roman describes his current situation like this: „We prefer not to deal with personal losses and our own future right now. We prefer to concentrate fully on the coordination and distribution of humanitarian aid.“
So I also got fully involved in helping and suddenly my own worries also seem kind of insignificant.
However, winter is inexorably approaching and many of them have nowhere to go back to. So we are sitting here with our Ukrainian and Japanese colleagues, discussing how best to help them. Because winter will ask us what we did in the summer.“
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