Offaly aid worker on the border of war torn Ukraine

Just days following the outbreak of war and the shattering of "living life in peace" in Ukraine, the UNHCR has reported over 1,745,459 people have fled to neighbouring countries, including Poland, Slovakia, Hungary, Moldova and Romania, with the hope of finding safety for themselves and their loved ones during a time of intense violence and uncertainty.

People fleeing from Ukraine to neighbouring countries desperately need our help. Border crossings are filling up, local capacities are overstretched, and the situation is opaque, to say the least. People often wait up to two days at the border, with outside temperatures dropping well below zero at night sometimes as low as minus10. 

It's been nearly two weeks  since the unthinkable and unbearable happened as I write this article  from the border of Ukraine and Slovakia in a place called Vysne Nemecke. A place where over the last two  weeks  over 129,000 refugees have crossed over from their homeland of Ukraine. In total, at this moment, over 1.75 million people have crossed over the various Ukrainian borders into the surrounding countries. To quote one refugee, Marianna, as she came across the border with two of her children and her mother, "being on the Ukraine side of the border is living and waiting in hell and then coming across to the Slovakian side of the border is like arriving in heaven." 

I am here on behalf of Self Help Africa, and  our partners in the Irish Emergency Alliance, to bring medical supplies into Ukraine and provide food, blankets, and emotional support to people, women and children as they pass over the border from Ukraine into Slovakia broken-hearted and weary from their journey, leaving their homeland and loved ones behind.

People might be familiar with my work in Africa, and they might be wondering why are we involved in this terrible situation that has emerged in eastern Europe - so I'm happy to explain how this came about. The core of our work has always been in Africa, of course, but down through the years through that work we have developed the skills and the experience to respond to emergency situations elsewhere around the globe. In Slovakia, we have linked up with Slovak Aid, with whom we have had a fruitful partnership over the past four years in Kenya.  Together we are purchasing supplies for onwards distribution to a hospital that has been bombed, in Ukraine.   

As one of the founder members of the Irish Emergency Alliance, a consortium of charities that was formed just two years ago, we respond to crisis situations by teaming up and working together to help people around the globe - just like that in Ukraine.

The people of Ukraine are suffering on a scale not imaginable only a short time ago. In response, all people of goodwill must pray for peace and work at creating peace.  We must all contact our leaders in power and implore them to strive for peace, and ensure humanitarian aid, charity and assistance for the people of Ukraine as war rages in the Eastern European country.  The abhorrent and needless killing of so many people in Ukraine must cease now.  It is evil. And it is inhumane. War and violence is never the answer. War and violence on this scale can only lead us all towards more death. Let us all call for an end to war and violence especially in trouble spots in our world and especially in Ukraine.

We thought the year 2021 was  like no other in our lifetime. Well,  2022 has definitely put an end to that. Nearly two years of battling the coronavirus has devastated our economy, our world, divided families and led to tragic loss of life. But this David versus Goliath war has only made things far worse.  Our world at present seems to be spinning so erratically and becoming so unhinged. Everything feels so sad, uncertain, fearful, unknown, harrowing and disheartening especially here now as I work with Ukrainian refugees as they come across the Slovakia border. Once again we are faced with feelings of dread, terror and worry. With each day that passes, we have feelings of shock, fear, awe, hope, patriotism, anger and guilt at what is happening in Ukraine and indeed in other parts of our world. And with each day that passes, sadness creeps in more and more and hope dissipates. It seems we must expect the unexpected evil and horror these days. As my Nana Scully used to say, "be shocked or astonished by nothing and be ready for anything and everything." It’s a David versus Goliath type of war between Ukraine and Russia. But we are hopeful - remember who won that war? David, who was fighting for his principles. Ukraine too is fighting for those principles. 

Self Help Africa, with its partners in the Irish Emergency Alliance and volunteers throughout eastern Europe, is working tirelessly to support the thousands of refugees fleeing Ukraine.  People fleeing Ukraine can rest in a warm place while awaiting relatives to come pick them up or they reach a reception station, from where they are directed to accommodation. The refugees include mostly Ukrainians, but also people of other nationalities who were in Ukraine when the war broke out. In Slovakia, around 129,000 Ukrainians have crossed the border and Self Help Africa is helping out and preparing efforts to coordinate their response to meet the refugee crisis and also supply medical supplies to a hospital some 270Km within Ukraine.  Border crossings are open, but the flow is often hampered by bureaucracy. People wait in queues for as long as six to 12 hours in some places and even longer in other places, which is really challenging, especially during freezing nights. On the positive side, most of the refugees so far seem to know where they are going - friends, family, acquaintances. But of course, this can change over the days as the conflict escalates. If a wave of refugees with no contacts arrives and asks for asylum, the whole situation could become seriously complicated.

Self Help Africa, in conjunction with the Irish Emergency Alliance, has had a team working on the Slovak-Ukrainian  border since 3rd of March. Humanitarian workers in  Ukraine  near Velky Berezny—where the situation is critical— built facilities for people waiting for border control. Various organisations  have provided toilets, heated tents with food, hot tea and other urgent material aid.  In the eastern Slovak village of Vyšné Nemecké where Self Help Africa  have been based, there are also toilets and large heated tents  with a capacity for many people where refugees can rest or even sleep. They also receive food, drink, hygiene items and even charged SIM cards from volunteers when they arrive from across the border.  We are also monitoring the smaller border crossing of Ubla, where there is also a steady flow of refugees. Meanwhile, on the  Ukrainian  side of this crossing, Self Help Africa is hoping and  trying to deliver medical supplies to Victor Francheska Hospital to enable those in need at the hospital and its staff to get much needed medical supplies.The people who had to leave their homes and flee the fighting are often shaken and need not only material support when they arrive across the border so we hope to be able to look  emotional  supports in someway too.

The capacity to help people and children in need especially during war times is a measure of our humanity. War, hunger and poverty are not abstract; they have a human face as I myself well and truly know. In order to tackle what seems insurmountable, we must encounter the face of those who are refugees, displaced, hungry and poor in the most tangible way. It is never possible to forget the gaze of a child who is hungry and poor after leaving their homeland or the desperation of a mother trying to secure her child's next meal because of the devastation of the war they are  running from. The need for food to sustain one's life is primal yet the ability to do so depends on many complex factors beyond oneself. Today, more than ever, we are continually exposed to and aware of hunger and poverty in our world,  and especially now for the people of Ukraine as well as other places where Self Help Africa works, whether it is in Malawi, Ethiopia, Congo, Nigeria, Bangladesh or Zambia.

Yet, the ability to help those who are suffering seems like it can be far from our reach.  Many of our brothers and sisters all over the world and especially now the people and children of Ukraine are surviving on just one cup of food if they are lucky per day. Intellectually, we understand the common drivers of food insecurity: war, conflict, displacement, poverty and climate change. We understand the basic human right to life and a basic standard of living, including food. We understand, and we are outraged and so upset about what is happening now in  Ukraine. But is it enough?  While being empathetic is necessary, it must also be translated into good deeds and real action.

This war in Ukraine is looking like it's going to be a multiplier and a magnifier of global hunger. The people of Ukraine  have also been fighting more than a global pandemic these last two years and especially these last few weeks. But it is now experiencing an intense humanitarian crisis, with people left in Ukraine wrestling against high hunger rates,  war restrictions and war health threats that aren’t the coronavirus. Action needs to be taken to make sure that Ukraine’s people are considered in global recovery efforts, and that the country is not left behind by any means. 

Peace is a Choice

Perhaps we have all taken peace for granted. The horrors being visited on Ukraine must be a wake-up call for all of us that peace is something we all need to work so hard at. What is happening in Ukraine is truly shocking and devastating, but, sadly, it is not surprising. We, if we are honest, have seen it coming. Ukraine now stands alone, unprotected by the treaties that protect us and allow us to believe that peace is a normal state of affairs.

But it isn’t. Peace is a choice. It is a decision that we need to make each day about the way we live and about our responsibilities to and with our neighbours, be that in our family, in our local community, or between the countries of our world. For there is no better thing that you can do in life than to help, love and care for someone especially someone in need whether that be a family member, neighbour, friend or helping the people of Ukraine. We need the policies of peace, the wisdom of peace, the tenacity of peace and the international resolve that will deliver real peace for our world and especially now for the people and children of Ukraine. Previous generations knew this. They knew it, because they had experienced the horrors of war that most of us haven’t.

Right now, as well as generous, humanitarian aid and support for refugees, about which I hope many of us will continue to help and support, we must use all our know-how for peace, continue to use our diplomatic muscle and energy where we can for peace. I urge us all in some way to be peacemakers, not simply peacelovers and especially peacemakers for the people of Ukraine. This is an important distinction, because it is a call to action.  First, in support of Ukraine and other troubled lands of our world, and especially support for the many innocent children and families, potential refugees living with this conflict and other conflicts and its consequences, and support for those who are bravely protesting on the streets of many of our cities around the world. But peace, lasting peace, requires more. It requires a new commitment to law and order, accountability and investment so that we make peace and choose peace, not just hope to keep it. The suffering of the people of Ukraine, the dictatorship ambition of Russia, our own acceptance of immorality that flows through our world has to stop and we have to help it stop now so that real peace can exist and come into our world and our lives. 

Please, if you can afford to, make a donation to help us continue this work with some of the world's poorest people now especially in Ukraine. Why not organize with your family, friends or businesses a fundraising event or to make a donation, buy Lifetime Gifts or support our Ukraine Appeal and find out more about the work of Self Help Africa to “Act locally but impact globally”.  You can make a credit or Laser card donation by phoning ((01 )  6778880  or by calling 1800-939-979 or texting IEA to 50300 or simply send whatever you can afford to Self Help Africa, Westside Resource Centre, Seamus Quirke Road, Westside, Galway or to Self Help Africa, Kingsbridge House,  17-22 Parkgate Street, Dublin 8.    If you are interested in finding out  more about Self Help Africa’s Lifetime Gifts, or want to find out any other ways you can help us or partner with us in our work, just visit  www.selfhelpafrica.org, or  www.irishemergencyalliance.org  or drop me a note at  ronan.scully@selfhelpafrica.org. I’d be happy to chat!