Visiting Ukrainian Refugees in Poland

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Deciding to go to Poland

We wanted to go and do something closer to the Ukrainian crisis but knowing when and how to support seemed daunting. Out of our initial group of volunteers, I spoke Russian, my brother-in-law, Brodie, spoke Polish, and we were confident we could navigate the travel between the two of us. We were prepared for mental, physical, and emotional support. My wife Mindie and sister Katie have big, kind hearts, communication and organizational skills, compassion, and endless empathy, and we knew that the level of trust between women would be a comforting factor for those who we would serve. Between the four of us, we had something to offer.

Due to work, school, and other scheduling conflicts, and commitments, we were not able to go as quickly as we had hoped. We had to push our trip back to July 2022.  We booked our flights and lodging, not confident in our expectations of the trip. What would the state of Ukraine look like in a few months? What could we offer to the displaced families we would be serving?

We leaned into our connections to rally resources and advice on what to expect and how to prepare for our service trip. Mindie was able to make connections with a family; Marcee and Lance Foster, who are from Arizona and went in March 2022 to serve the refugees and misplaced communities. They saw such an ongoing need that they sold their home in Arizona to move to Poland fulltime. They were eager and willing to share their experiences to help set us up for success.

Brodie had contacts from his time in Poland and from his previous church group who had also served the communities in Poland. They were able to coach us further on resources and setting expectations.

While we continued to gather information and prepare for our trip, we were simultaneously checking the World Central Kitchen website to see what opportunities were available to volunteer in the cities we were visiting in Poland. We were told by all our friends and mentors that things were so fluid, and circumstances were changing so quickly, that it was impossible to plan. We were advised to touch base the week before we were going to fly out to see what was happening in real-time.

As our travel dates neared, we reached out to see where our help was needed. The situation had changed so drastically and was changing day-to-day, we wouldn’t know what we would be doing in advance; we were to prepare to show up and just start working. We were ready.

Not knowing what to expect, we mapped out various scenarios and made adjustments that could set us up to have the biggest impact in the time we were there. We thought we might help with relocating people and families to new residencies or shelters, so we rented a crossover SUV for more space. We thought we might assist with paperwork and documentation, so we bought a couple laptops to make things more efficient.

We anticipated supporting in situations where a translator would be required; so, I prepared by spending the two months leading up to our trip brushing up on my Russian. We thought we would pick people up from the train station and transport them to refugee centers. There would likely be different types of service opportunities requiring varying attire, so we packed accordingly. Friends and family donated money to support the shipments of supplies we were taking with us. We were able to take additional funds with us to support any financial needs when we arrived; we wanted to have the flexibility and availability to address any need we came across.

Life as a Ukrainian Refugee

With any travel, you can anticipate delays, this trip was no different. Train delays pushed our arrival back, making our arrival near midnight on Saturday. We couldn’t pick up our rental car until the next morning, but as soon as we did, we attended a local church meeting and began making connections and meeting with relocated Ukrainian refugees.

Mindie coordinated with the Fosters when we secured our rental car. They had traveled to the border to help relocate a family who was crossing, and they referred us to Alen to help find us work. Alen was working with World Central Kitchen at one of the larger refugee centers, the Plaza. He was a refugee himself at 13-years-old from Bosnia and understood the impact these families and communities were facing. When the Russo-Ukrainian war began, he left his home in Spain and came to Poland to help without a plan, connections, or resources. He wanted to help. In a matter of time, he was essentially running the Plaza and the World Central Kitchen operation on-site.

The Plaza was an old mall that had been converted into a refugee center, but it was closing. The Plaza didn’t offer great living conditions; cots were stacked deep, side by side. Large rooms could hold 70+ cots at capacity. There was no privacy or personal space. Makeshift showers and restrooms were assembled to support the population, and dinner was provided in a World Central Kitchen food tent that had been established in the parking lot.

There were 300 refugees currently housed at the Plaza and needed to be relocated to other locations, Snyadetski, Kapilanka, and Zloty. The moving had already begun when we arrived. Monday we were assigned to helping families pack and move their personal belongings. Some had suitcases and backpacks, many people were using large Ikea bags, and there were endless small bags and loose items to be transported.

Everyone and everything were moved using buses, vans, Ubers, and even our rental car. Volunteers were coming together to help in a very dire time. These families had created a micro-community at the Plaza and now had to relocate again. At the Plaza, they were able to get to know people, make friends, and establish a temporary normal. The refugees had moved into the Plaza anticipating a short stay, instead it had become months and evolved into another relocation and attempt to find a new normal.

In just two days we had were in this midst of serving hundreds of Ukrainian refugees and seeing firsthand the impact that the Ukrainian crisis was having on families. We made new friends, helped move people into new temporary homes, handed out bracelets young women made back in the States as gifts to brighten everyone’s day, and finished it off shopping for more supplies to be shipped back to those still in Ukraine. Our schedule was almost as full as our hearts.

The shopping list Alen and his volunteers provided us with was humbling. It included things like portable chargers, phone charging cables, razors, shaving cream, canned meat, pasta, rice, soap, shampoo, coffee, tea, etc. These supplies were intended not just for citizens still in Ukraine, but also for soldiers. No one was without the basic needs of living.

One family’s story

During our first interactions with Ukrainian refugees on that first Sunday, we met so many people with their own unique stories. One of the families invited us to have dinner with them Monday evening after our full day of serving – we were honored.

Their names are Yuri, Ina, Bogdan -17, Vlad -14, and Melissa – 8. They were living in a town about 60km outside of Kiev, Ukraine so that Bogdan could serve an LDS mission when he turns 18 before fleeing to Poland. It was because of Yuri’s three children that he was allowed to flee from Ukraine.

They shared with us about their life in Ukraine leading up to the Russian invasion. In their home, they had a ward member who was in the police department. He encouraged many to follow the advice of the Prophet; get food and water storage, store a heater, prepare your home and family.

During Covid-19 their family began having family home evening with their ward remotely every Sunday night, and ward prayer every Thursday night. Melissa was baptized as a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints just a couple days prior to the war beginning. But when the war started, they were forced to move into their basement with several friends and neighbors. Their basement was more of a crawl space they used to seek shelter. It had only been a couple weeks since they had fled to Poland, and they were very grateful to have a normal social evening in a new city.

The same week we met Yuri, Ina and their family, their sons Bogdan and Vlad were going to FSY in Germany on a bus with 150 Ukrainian youth. Ina and Yuri also had a friend over named Anton who was an 18-year-old friend of Bogdan’s who was going to school in Poland. We were able to enjoy Ukrainian Borsch while we learned about their family, their interests, and hobbies. Anton likes the NBA and Melissa is a wonderful singer.  Inna is a hairdresser, and a bit of a social media influencer. Yuri is a contractor with his own business in Ukraine, and already found work in Poland.

It was a long day, physically exhausting (carrying luggage in the heat), mentally exhausting (trying to remember my Russian language) and emotionally exhausting meeting all these people who have been going through such a difficult experience.

Continue reading > Supporting Ukrainian Refugee Centers