Alina is a blogger and volunteer. When the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine began, Alina was abroad. That is why her volunteer activities are focused specifically on work with forced migrants who were forced to flee from the occupying Russian troops.
The story of the beginning of volunteering
On February 24, 2022, my mother and I were in Budapest. My mother’s birthday was on February 24. We woke up at 5 a.m. from calls and texts. We were shocked and didn’t know what to do. We were supposed to return to Ukraine on February 25.
We had the last night at the hotel. We packed our things and went to the Consulate of Ukraine in Budapest. There were a lot of people who didn’t know where to go. They had no money, no food, and no water. I remember how an employee of the Consulate simply took out water from the trunk of his car and started giving it to people and added: “This is all we can offer you.”
A year has passed and Hungary still has nothing to offer us, except these bottles of water.
I remember how we returned to the hotel, and there was a bottle of champagne, a tulip and a card “Happy birthday!” waiting for us. We burst into tears.
In the morning we decided to go to Krakow. On February 25, we got off the train in Krakow and went to the police. We understood that we could not go to Ukraine now and did not know where to go.
I had the impression that we were probably the first Ukrainians who came to the police, because they didn’t know what to do with us. One employee put us on a bench and went to make a call somewhere. Half an hour later he returned with three numbers and asked if we had a place to spend the night. I had the impression at the time that he was ready to welcome us into his home.
We rented an apartment for a month. On February 26, we woke up and it became obvious that we have everything for life at the moment, but we could not just sit indoors.
I realized that more and more Ukrainians would come, so I decided that I wanted to help in some way. I thought: “Why the hell should the Poles help us, if I’m here and can help my people.” I found an organization through Facebook and was invited to help make beds in a hostel that had just opened for Ukrainians. When my mother and I arrived at the hostel, there were already mountains of humanitarian aid and many bunk beds. In two days, this organization was able to organize about 100 beds.
Contacts of our hostel were given to everyone who was going to Krakow. People from the station walked straight to us. Thanks to cooperation with restaurants and businesses, it was possible to open a dining room. There was a lot of food.
My mother and I also took turns working at the reception desk: my mother worked during the day, and I worked in the evening. Most people came at night.
Representatives of organizations from other countries came to us and offered to transport people further. Ukrainians were afraid to go somewhere because they were shocked. However, we sometimes helped people move on, because there were no more places in our hostel, and new refugees were arriving.
Before that, I had never volunteered.
A blog for Ukrainians
When the full-scale invasion began, my friends and I started blogging. At first, we planned to make a news blog for Ukrainians who found themselves in Europe: where you can get payments, where to submit documents, and the like.
At that time, I went to Spain to get a resident card for 2 years, which allowed me to leave and return. We started recording videos in Spain. I found a lot of Ukrainians on Facebook and we recorded videos with them, about their lives, and how they got settled. But while we collected the materials and edited the video, it became clear that the content began to quickly lose its relevance. Therefore, we decided to make short videos about the latest news and publish them immediately. Or we tell our viewers about “long-running” topics that are also relevant.
Also in Spain, we recorded several interviews with Ukrainians who found employment in Spain. These videos are aimed at showing Ukrainians moving to other countries what professional opportunities they can count on.
Volunteering abroad VS in Ukraine
It appears to me that volunteering in European countries is a bit more conscious. In Ukraine, volunteerism should be promoted, and in Europe, people treat each other more empathetically.
Helping here is cool, not a sign of weakness.
When the war started, I was shocked when Europeans let strangers live in their homes, gave them help, and made documents. For example, my acquaintances were driven to the border in Przemyśl (Poland) and taken to the Netherlands.
It should also be taken into account that Ukraine is known in Europe as a poor country and, accordingly, with a poor population. However, even such a stereotype did not frighten the Europeans and they helped a lot.
It seems to me that volunteerism and, first of all, humanity should be taught in school. There were many needy people in Ukraine before the war, and now there are even more, at least because we are not taught to help them. To help someone we don’t know.
We are not taught to show humanity and approach a stranger lying on the street and ask if everything is okay? Do you need help?
We have been told since childhood: do not approach, don`t you see that it is lying drunk? It may be so, but it does not mean that he/she does not need help, or that the person did not have a heart attack or a stroke, so he is dragging his tongue and does not understand where he is.
Well, of course, apart from our upbringing, our state is not going to help anyone either. And now, during the war, we have a paradox: the state almost does not help the needy, and those people who suddenly went to volunteer, consider it the norm to give everything, work 24/7, deny themselves everything, and not live their life to help others. But this is not the norm. It’s just that neither the former nor the latter were taught HOW to help.
Standards of volunteering
I was not familiar with the standards of volunteering, as I had never volunteered before. I didn’t know how it should be.
It so happened that the people I worked with also started volunteering when the “great” war began. No one knew how to volunteer properly.
Now I work in another volunteer organization and here we already have scripts by which we communicate.
Volunteering is not a job where you can only talk to people from a script. Emotions and what people feel play a big role.
You have to stay positive to help others.
