We recently published a post by an ODF volunteer from a day spent helping Ukrainian refugees. This time, we bring you the notes of our foundation colleague Agata Dziopa, creator of the Homes for Independent Mums from Ukraine and coordinator of the project co-implemented with AirBnb:
“Just the usual day. Saturday 10:00 am, this time with Dominika Przychodzeń we are visiting the House for Independent Mothers in Jakubowizna. We visit the Foundation’s wards where we are treated with delicious borscht and talk about life, children, work, problems and needs.
We arrange the logistical details of next week’s scheduled medical appointments with the local volunteers. We go shopping together, there is time for jokes, lots of laughter and casual conversation, in order to provide a substitute for normality on our return we pick up the pizzas we ordered from a friendly restaurant that supports our activities.
After a visit that lasted about four hours, we receive a phone call from Łukasz Puławski asking for urgent cultural assistance. We set off to Warsaw to visit Mrs Zoia, who is waiting for an oncological surgery. Her health has deteriorated, so we immediately call the ambulance. Mrs Zoia is 69 years old and comes from the Dnipropetrovsk region. Her daughter is in Russia and her son died as a result of covid complications. This lady is an amazing person who has dedicated her whole life to working as a kindergarten teacher.
The ambulance takes her to the hospital and we set off for our service point at the East Railway Station, where evacuation buses with people fleeing the war arrive practically every day. For the most part, these are people who have gone through the filtration camps in Russia. We are waiting for a call from the hospital.
After 10:00 p.m. we set off for the emergency room of the Grochowski Hospital; after tests and a drip, Mrs Zoia is scheduled for an urgent operation. We go to the pharmacy to buy medicines and take her back to her place of residence. The lady does not hide her tears of emotion and thanks us for our help. She misses her daughter, her homeland and her former life.
After midnight we arrive home. The plan for tomorrow is to organise dietary meals and provide some books in Ukrainian.
Bсе буде добре! (everything will be fine!)
If you would like to support our work, thereby helping those in the refugee crisis, you can support our fundraiser: zrzutka.pl/PomocUkrainie and zrzutka.pl/DomMam.“
ODF already has dozens of volunteers in various spheres, including refugee-social, military-supply and communications. If you want to join our fantastic team – APPLY! And we’ll take care of the rest 😊.
