THE RUSSIAN INVASION OF UKRAINE – ONE YEAR ON
FEBRUARY 24, 2023
“A year has passed and the headlines on your phone have changed, but as thousands more refugees flee to Poland daily, our job is far from done.”
Madeleine, AHAH Ukraine Crisis Relief Volunteer
ONE YEAR ON
February 24, 2023 marks the one year anniversary of Russia’s violent and unfathomable invasion of Ukraine, and the devastating war persists. Thousands have been killed and injured, and millions more have been forced from their home.
Throughout October and November 2021, Russian troops assembled at the Ukrainian border. On February 21, 2022, the estimated 190,000 troops encircling Ukraine were ordered into Ukrainian territory. In the early morning of February 24th, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy addressed Russia to declare that Ukraine would defend its independence. Later that day, Russian explosions hit cities across Ukraine, killing innocent people and igniting an uproar across the globe.
The unprovoked invasion quickly spiraled into the largest humanitarian crisis in Europe since WWII, displacing over ten million Ukrainians.
All Hands and Hearts (AHAH) has been working in Poland, which has received the highest number of Ukrainian refugees in Europe, since early 2022. Our Ukraine Crisis Relief program is focused on the critical need to provide shelter for Ukrainian families who continue to flee from invaded Ukraine.
Spoken through the lens of two Ukrainian women whose lives and their families were upended by the war, watch this video from AHAH’s Ukraine Crisis Relief program to hear their stories.
ALL HANDS AND HEARTS UKRAINE CRISIS RELIEF
Our initial response work began in March 2022 and included supporting the transportation of families across the Poland border to safe territories. From July to September of 2022, AHAH’s Disaster Assistance Response Team (DART) worked in Southern Poland, connecting with local and international partners to assess the need and identify the areas where our expertise could be utilized.
In October, volunteers arrived on base to support the project’s second phase, which focuses on expanding and winterizing Ukrainian refugee shelters in Poland. While in Ukraine, we are collaborating with a local partner, Save Ukraine, to build a network of 92 transitional shelters for housing internally displaced Ukrainian families as well as winterized mass tent shelters used for evacuations. According to the UNHCR, Europe recorded 7.8 million refugees fleeing Ukraine, with over one million fleeing to Poland, making it the country receiving the highest number of refugees among its neighbors. The UNHCR is anticipating an additional million refugees crossing into Poland for the winter months. It’s clear that after a year of supporting Ukrainian refugees, our work is far from over.
MADELEINE’S VOLUNTEER STORY
“Sand, tape, plaster, prime, paint, paint again, watch small children run their hands through the wet paint, try to touch it up, and repeat until the least amount of child handprints can be seen. This is a brief summary of the process of brightening up three hallways and two stairwells in a former psychiatric ward, Radymno, now occupied by Ukrainian refugees. A thin coating of dust from the yellow paint I had sanded all day covered me from head to toe. My mind would get lost in work, and I often forgot the importance of the work I was doing and who I was doing it for. Without fail, in these moments of low motivation and high exhaustion, one of the many children living at the temporary shelter, Radymno, would come running through the hall and cheer me up in some way. Whether it was a brief hug, a fist bump, a pat on the head, or even just sitting and watching in fascination as I worked, the children somehow knew when I had lost my sense of purpose. I would gladly fix their scuff marks and handprints on our fresh paint hundreds of times over.
“Each of us on base dedicates a few weeks or more to this work, but at the end of the day, we go home. For thousands of families living in places like Radymno, “home” doesn’t exist anymore.”
Madeleine, AHAH Ukraine Crisis Relief Volunteer
A question I have been asked frequently since deciding to volunteer with AHAH is: “Why did you decide to seek out this opportunity?” Every volunteer I met in Poland had a different answer. For some, it is a personal connection to Ukraine, for others, it is a dedication to humanitarian work, and for most, it is a complicated mix of either of these reasons and/or many more. My answer is multifaceted and arose two months earlier when I was asked another probing question that forced me to consider my plans and motives for the next four to eight years of my life.
Throughout high school, I knew I wanted to serve in the United States Armed Forces in one form or another, so when the prospect of working through some of my training in college through ROTC (Reserves Officer Training Corps) arose, I was sold. Before I began this course, however, I chose to take a year off school to travel and enjoy a little freedom before a rigorous eight years. Throughout three months of traveling abroad, I was frequently asked the question: “If the US was to get involved with a conflict that you don’t support, what would you do?” To be completely honest, I had never considered such a possibility. After some deep thought, I answered that the only conflict I could foresee US involvement in during my military commitment would be in Eastern Europe. The cause for Ukrainian independence is one I would happily defend.
Though this response sat well with most, I couldn’t help but feel guilty for answering such an important question based on little information or connection to who and what I would hypothetically be dedicating four years of service to. My sources on the Ukrainian conflict were limited to biased American media. So with a quick google search, I found All Hands and Hearts and decided that three weeks near the Ukrainian border would be a way for me to gain perspective and clarity.
When I arrived on base, I was introduced to the newest work site, Radymno. Like most of the AHAH sites in Poland, Radymno is a dilapidated building that is being repurposed to house incoming refugees. In the case of Radymno, most residents stay temporarily. They are placed there by the International Organization of Migration (IOM) until they can find more permanent housing solutions elsewhere. During my time there, contractors worked on the bottom floor, remodelling multiple bathrooms and showers. The same contractors also began work in the bathrooms on all three floors, which were completely occupied by displaced families and individuals. In addition to the constant noise and dust created by the jackhammering and tile cutting of the contractors, anywhere from 8-18 AHAH volunteers were working on repainting each of the living corridors, the two stairwells and remodelling kitchens on each floor. Between residents trying to live their lives as normally as possible, contractors drilling and cutting and AHAH doing our best to stay out of the way but also efficiently improve areas of the building, it’s difficult to imagine how chaotic a living environment Radymno is while construction is occuring.
After returning home, it’s clear to me that the media coverage and publicity about the Ukrainian crisis has significantly died off, but not because the issue has become any less pertinent. As the one-year anniversary of the Russian invasion is upon us, the destruction that rages on now seems distant and irrelevant. Naturally, the media gets fewer hits on old news and stories about destroyed homes and fleeing families get pushed to the backs of our minds as we return to our normal lives.
When talking to a departed volunteer who had returned to the program twice for long periods of time, I learned that her return home reminded her of how those she has spent so long working to help, don’t get to go home. Each of us on base dedicates a few weeks or more to this work, but at the end of the day, we go home. For thousands of families living in places like Radymno, “home” no longer exists.
“AHAH’s mission is to arrive early and stay late. After everyone at home forgets and moves on from the tragedies on the news, AHAH promises not to move on until the survivors can too.“
Madeleine, AHAH Ukraine Crisis Relief Volunteer
A year has passed, and the headlines on your phone have changed, but as thousands more refugees flee to Poland daily, our job is far from done.”
All Hands and Hearts remains committed to supporting those impacted by the devastating war in Ukraine. To stay up to date with our work or to find ways to support, visit our Ukraine Crisis Relief program page.
