Fighting war through love and compassion

I am a volunteer with “Embracing the World” (ETW). ETW is part of the Mata Amritanandamayi Math in India — an NGO with special consultative status with the UN and collaborates with various UN agencies in humanitarian work. ETW started doing volunteer work at various Polish and Hungarian borders (with Ukraine) right from when the Ukraine-Russia war started.

On March 4th I got to know that my ETW friends were going to volunteer at the Budomierz border to help the people fleeing from Ukraine. Budomierz is one of the Ukraine-Poland checkpoints. Meanwhile the ETW volunteers in Germany had started collecting a list of supplies required by NGOs in Ukraine and Poland. These supplies needed to be delivered to Budomierz. Additionally, ETW needed a second group of people to replace the first group who had gone to volunteer (shift system).

Ever since the war started I had been anxious to do my part in helping out and I thought this was a perfect chance for me to do some community service. Another volunteer and I decided to drive these supplies in a camper to Budomierz. We set off around noon on March 9th from Brombachtal and did the 13 hrs drive across two days. We reached Budomierz on March 10th around noon. What unfolded during the next 10 days cannot be put into words, but I’ll try to (I stayed there till March 19th).

I saw the border checkpoint where people were entering from Ukraine into Poland. The checkpoint was at a completely remote location, literally in the middle of nowhere. People had to wait for long hours in extreme weather conditions (the temperature was as low as -9 °C and it was quite windy) for their papers to be checked and to get the entry stamp.

Budomierz Checkpoint where people wait to enter the EU

The refugee camps (tents) were set up approximately 600 meters from the border where people could rest and decide where to go next. ETW set up a stall (temporary tent) between the border checkpoint and refugee camps to help people crossing the border. We were their first point of contact as soon as they came into Poland. Most of them coming in were overwhelmed and in fragile emotional states. They were leaving their country to flee from war and had just finished waiting many hours — sometimes up to 12 hours — to get their papers checked. They were having mixed emotions of relief at having reached safety and sorrow at having had to leave their country.

Men (any person with M on their passport) between the ages of 18 and 60 were not allowed to cross the border. It was mostly women with children and old people who arrived with lots of heavy bags. I saw four groups of people who came to our stall:

1. People from Ukraine who didn’t know anyone in the EU and had no place to go — they would go to the temporary refugee camps. We would help them carry their heavy luggages to the camps.
2. People from Ukraine who had relatives/friends or contacts in the EU — they would wait at the border to get picked up by their contacts coming in from other parts of the EU.
3. People from the EU who had relatives in Ukraine; who came in cars to the border and would wait anxiously to pick them up as soon as they crossed over; running over to greet them with hugs.
4. Volunteers working day in and day out at the border who’d stop by for tea or coffee between their duties.

We offered support for anyone who approached us in various ways. Our stall provided basic food supplies and drinks — hot coffee or tea and some snacks like baby food, fruits, energy bars, chocolates. We set up a tent, with chairs and warm heaters in the stall where they could sit and rest for a while. We also sometimes lent our phones with European sim cards so that they could call their contacts.

Some of our volunteers managed to take some medical supplies, jackets, sleeping bags, and other necessities to an army camp, across the border in Ukraine. This was the place where the Ukrainian army was recruiting civilians to fight the war. With one or two days of practice, normal people join the army, and start fighting. When they got our supplies, they were very grateful as there were not many supplies that reached across the border.

On March 13th around 5am, I heard loud noises, and saw bright lights close to our border. Later I came to know that the very same army camp where we delivered our supplies got bombed. This army camp was 25kms from our stall in Budomierz called Yavoriv base in Ukraine. This was the first time Russia attacked West Ukraine. Until then all the Ukranians had moved from east to west (in Lviv) thinking the west would be safer. After the bombing, more Ukrainians started arriving at the border.

Budomierz border on March 13th at 23:00

IMHO, the worst part of this war is that it’s tearing apart families, separating loved ones and uprooting people from their homes. These traumatic experiences get etched onto people’s minds. I saw women entering Poland with small kids. Their eyes were filled with anxiety at having had to leave their partners behind while they tried to stay strong for their kids. I saw old people coming in alone with heavy bags with nowhere to go and not knowing when (and if) they can go back to their homes. These are only the scenes I saw. There is probably much more happening behind the scenes like on the Ukraine side you are expected to reach the border yourself, so how can the disabled or old people make it to the border on their own? Each Ukrainian I met had a story to tell; a different experience they went through.

There was a girl working in IT around my age who told me she was from Lviv and had initially decided to stay in Ukraine up until Russia bombed Yavoriv. She decided to leave the country then and gave her apartment in Lviv to her friend who didn’t want to leave since she wanted to stay with her husband. She told me how heartbroken she was to leave her country and worse, face the backlash of her contacts blaming her because she was leaving her country in times of need instead of staying and fighting.

I met another Polish lady in her 50s who waited at our tent for almost a whole day eagerly waiting to receive her old parents who were 72 and 76 years old from Donetsk. She told us that 4 days ago, her parents house had been bombed. They had spent a lot of hours sitting on the street pavement till they were taken to the railway station from where they boarded a train. They were finally arriving at Budomierz after 4 days of travel. She was so worried and anxious and all our attempts to calm her down, distract her, and offer warm drinks were in vain.

There was another Ukrainian woman in her 50s who crossed the border with her two teenage daughters. She was waiting for a sister from Rome to pick them up. She didn’t speak English so we used the translate app to talk to her in Ukrainian. She told us how sad she was to see what Ukraine was undergoing and thanked and hugged us for volunteering and helping the people coming into the EU.

I could go on and on with many more such stories. This was a priceless experience for me and helped me grow as a person. At the end of the day war is a result of the human mind’s selfishness, greed and ego. So many people get affected. The only way to help fight this is by spreading love, compassion and strength to those who need it. Overall it was a very humbling experience that helped me get the right perspective on life. I am thankful and grateful to have a home I can come back to and food on the table. I wish that this conflict ends soon and all find peace and happiness.