Heart-wrenching experiences How aid organizations based in Bonn are helping people from Ukraine
Bonn · Numerous aid organizations based in Bonn are helping people who are fleeing the war in Ukraine. Aid workers from Welthungerhilfe, Care and other NGOs report that some encounters have been especially heart-wrenching. Here’s what the organizations are doing on the ground and how you can help.
Bonn is the German center for aid to Ukraine. Numerous aid organizations manage their (worldwide) humanitarian projects from here. Aid workers who have been involved with those fleeing Ukraine report on their experiences, some of them heartbreaking and distressing.
■ Welthungerhilfe: At the beginning of March, Kerstin Bandsom from Welthungerhilfe set off for the Romanian-Moldovan border region. The organization cooperates with local partners, sending food and other supplies. "It was harrowing. I saw women and children, some of them on foot, coming to the border in sub-zero temperatures. The children were silent and pale. And you could tell the women were just functioning and mustering strength to be able to organize the onward journey," the aid worker reports. "We are trained for such missions, yet it is overwhelming when people fall into your arms and burst into tears."
At the beginning of the war, hardly anyone at the border understood what was happening in Ukraine and why, says Bandsom. After all, many of them have Russian relatives. Those seeking help were met at the border by many aid workers, she reports. However, she says, many aid supplies come with an excess, and some vans even have to return full. "It's better to ask what the necessities are or donate to aid organizations that are locally networked and know what's needed."
■ German Doctors: The Bonn-based aid organization German Doctors delivers medicines and bandaging materials to Ukrainian hospitals, including a children's heart center in Kyiv. "The communication of needs and the distribution of relief supplies within Ukraine are carried out in close coordination between our local partner and the Ukrainian Ministry of Health," reports spokeswoman Vanessa Hepp.
On the western border with Hungary, across which more than 290,000 Ukrainians have now fled, German Doctors is helping to provide shelter and food for the people and is securing drinking water and sanitation supplies in Luhansk to the east.
Board member Harald Kischlat remembers one conversation in particular: "Our partner in Lviv interrupted a phone call the other day with the words: 'I'm sorry, I have to hang up, we have an air raid siren'. I have never experienced that, and it makes you feel helpless and speechless." Vanessa Hepp puts emphasis on the global impact of the war, which overlaps with the impact of the pandemic: "We have heard reports in the last weeks of very strong price increases and shortages, for example of wheat, diesel, and petrol. In Sierra Leone, according to our coordinator, diesel is only available on the black market at times."
■ Help: With the slogan "Helping people to help themselves," the Bonn-based organization Help provides emergency aid in Ukraine and in the neighboring Republic of Moldova. "Through our partners, we are currently distributing food packages, hygiene items and hot meals to refugees and other people affected by the war in Ukraine," reports spokesman Julius Burghardt. Transport, accommodation, financial aid and psychological support are also part of the concept.
"A story that moved me very much was told to me by an elderly lady named Lydia. She fled with her daughter from Mykolayiv to Chișinău and found refuge in the Moldexpo fairgrounds, where a temporary refugee camp was set up. She said: ,I am seriously ill with cancer, and the doctors in Mykolayiv have almost all fled. There were only four nurses left in my hospital, and they could only give me pain pills.' She is trying to travel on to Vienna to get treatment there," Burghardt said.
The aid worker reports that the movement of refugees is currently slowing down. "However, our partners assume that this is mainly due to the lack of access to gasoline and that many people are now traveling on foot. So the numbers could soon go up again," Burghardt says.
Care: Through its partners, the aid organization Care helps provide supplies to people in Ukraine and those who have fled to neighboring countries. The local volunteers also offer mental health assistance, especially for women and girls, as well as financial support. Just last week, employee Stefan Brand traveled back from Krakow. "The situation in the Polish-Ukrainian border area has improved significantly in recent days, partly because fewer refugees are crossing the border, but also because the aid workers have set up a system and refugees are being registered," he reports.
Police are on location and keep a close watch, for example, when private individuals make contact with refugees. At train stations, such as in Przemysl, the situation is somewhat less clear. Although no cases of abuse have yet been observed in the areas where aid is set up, some persons posing as private helpers could still take advantage of the situation, Brand says. "In the meantime, there are posters in various languages warning against revealing personal data, for one thing."
One emergency worker recalls talking to a young family from Vasylkiw, a town in the south of Kyiv that is particularly embattled. "They told me that they had to hide in the closets of the house to have any chance of survival," Brand reports. The situation with women and girls is also worrisome, she said. "Above all, they lack places to retreat for awhile and long-term mental health support," Brand said. "The question is, what will happen next for the people who have fled? Where can they live permanently, what job prospects do they have?"
■ BKK: The Federal Office for Civil Protection and Disaster Management is operating in crisis mode at this time. Current information related to civil protection is being evaluated in the Joint Reporting and Situation Center (GMLZ) and coordinated after consultation with other authorities, reports BKK spokesman Henning Hahn. "At present, there are already requests for assistance from Ukraine and various neighboring states, for which extensive aid packages are being put together," Hahn said.
Assistance is also provided for the transfer of patients requiring war-related medical treatment. Another BKK unit prepares a situation report and monitors in particular the critical infrastructures in Ukraine and the surrounding countries, such as security of supply or dependencies in the energy, transport and traffic sectors.
There is also a BKK unit that takes care of victim and family assistance, and arranges mental health support. So far, the BKK has been able to send relief supplies to the Czech Republic, Moldova, Poland and Slovakia, including almost 3,000 camp beds, around 2,000 sleeping bags, mattresses, towels, bandages and hygiene kits.
(Orig. text: Abir Kassis / Translation: Carol Kloeppel)