Ella Lambert,
CEO and Founder, The Pachamama Project
Pictured outside the Ukrainian embassy, Warsaw
I travelled to Poland in April 2022 and spent ten days visiting the refugee centres. These centres are temporarily shelter for thousands of Ukrainian refugees who have had to flee their homes. It has been just two months since the war on Ukraine began, and the destruction to people’s lives, the trauma to its citizens and the horrific atrocities which have been committed in certain regions are too much to bear.
On the 16th of April, I arrived in Poland with my friend and film maker, Jenny Barruol, on a mission to find out what those needs are and to work out how we at The Pachamama Project, an organisation supporting people dealing with period poverty, can help. While we were there, we listened to people’s stories and filmed a short documentary called ‘Voices of Ukraine’ which will be coming soon, to tell their stories, in their words to the rest of the world.
On our first day, we spoke to many people in Krakow where Polish and Ukrainian flags fly together in the wind on every street corner.
We spoke with NGO actors in the station where Russian and Ukrainian speakers in yellow vests are doing an incredible job at coordinating support - providing food and water, connecting people with the necessary transport and international sponsorship programmes, and giving people a place to rest for a few hours in a room full of camp beds. It was surreal to see so many people in the station holding their small children close. They were mostly women, not just with their own children, but also with the children of their friends’ and relatives’ who couldn’t leave themselves. Many of them were clutching little dogs, or had fluffy cats tucked under arms. But it was amazing to see such a host of support – the scent of hot meals filled the station as they were handed out in their hundreds for free, and blue and yellow signs were on every wall, sign-posting the help available.
We also had the privilege of speaking with two girls about my age (22) from Mariupol who were demonstrating in the main square, speaking out for their people. Mariupol is one of the worst affected cities by the war and their stories were incredibly emotional as they spoke of leaving loved ones behind, their homes being destroyed and their perilous journey to the border. The thing which struck me most was that, despite everything, they had no interest in moving away from the border. They were stoic in their sheer determination to go back home one day; to re-join loved ones and rebuild their beloved city. In fact, everyone we spoke to, just wished this nightmare would end so that they could go home. Photo credit: Bogdana
(Featured in 'Voices of Ukraine')
Throughout our stay in Poland, we spoke to many people from Mariupol and heard of some of the most appalling war-time atrocities. We heard from Olena, a classical music student who, with no access to transport, had to walk miles to a neighbouring city, not knowing where she was going or how to get there. She crossed dangerous check points armed with Russian military stripping
people to check for anti-Russian tattoos
and checking mobile phones before allowing people to leave, and she spoke of her time spent sheltering under a theatre – a building built for 100 people, housing 700. Eventually, without a place to sleep she decided to risk going home, but when she woke up to the sound of her neighbour’s houses being shelled and found that all the windows of her home had shattered, she realised she had to leave. Everyone we spoke to who had fled Mariupol confirmed the news reports: the reports of the rapes, executions, re-education camps and the sheer indiscriminate destruction of their beloved city. Yet, all of them wanted to go home. Olena said a sentence which I will remember forever:
’In Ukraine we dreamt of peace, and now in our dreams all we see is war.’
We stayed just two days in Krakow before heading to the capital, Warsaw, where the situation was far worse. Three to four thousand people arrive in the Global Expo centre on buses straight from the Central Warsaw station every morning, needing food, a place to sleep, to wash their clothes, take a shower and make a plan on where to go next. Meanwhile, the amazing staff work around the clock and around their day jobs to get the people what they need, despite limited resources and many, many needs. The refugee centres had a soft rule of a three day stay, as thousands of people were arriving every morning from the station in need of food, shelter, a night’s sleep, and some support in figuring out where to go next. Some who had relatives or friends abroad were able to take transport directly from the centre to Spain, France, and other European countries. Most had no idea where to go next and were hoping to stay in Poland to return as soon as possible. The local community in Warsaw and Poland in general have really stepped up, and hundreds of thousands of people have opened their homes to Ukrainian refugees – but with over 2.8 million new people having arrived in the country, it is now hard for people to find free accommodation in Poland and, as thousands of new people arrive in these centres each day, it becomes harder for people to move on.
Unfortunately, Ukrainian men are not met with the same welcome of love and support. Daniel, from Zaporizhzhia spoke of the backlash he had received online on refugee housing chat rooms. Due to a disability in his feet, despite desperately wanting to fight and defend his nation, he just wasn’t physically able. He had fled from his occupied city, even helping other refugees from Mariupol along the way, but once reaching safety, instead of being met with open arms, he was met with a host of insults. He had found a host for a few nights but, when we left, Daniel had still not found a long-term stay. It shocked me that this incredibly kind and interesting man, who had travelled the world as a sailor and who had so many stories to tell, would be rejected by society instead of recognised for his incredible resilience for fleeing his country as a disabled person.
A post interview lunch with the Pacha team, Jenny, Petro and I and Olena and Daniel.
Witnessing the UK government pledge huge amounts of money to ship people to Rwanda, whilst simultaneously encouraging people to take in Ukrainian refugees, shows us more than ever how important it is to shed this hierarchy of empathy. Everyone and anyone, regardless of their nationality, race or background deserves safety and dignity and opportunities.
Daniel and Olena had both been staying at the Global Expo centre where at the time there were just four washing machines for 4000 people. Luckily, whilst I was there, volunteers fundraised to get 20 washing machines and dryers into this centre where they had had sanitation issues – with just 4 showers and no hot water, and limited washing facilities, people had been getting sick. Everyone staying in the centre had either come down with a stomach bug or a nasty flu making living conditions even more challenging. But not for lack of effort from the amazing volunteers who had installed a play centre and a piano and were providing medical care, Covid vaccinations, free clothing, hot food, pet food and pet carriers, as well as arranging visa support and transportation for all. The largest refugee centre in Warsaw, the Ptak Expo centre was housing 7000 refugees and had even fewer facilities. The unit for pregnant women had no washing machines at all, and women were having to wash their underwear in sinks.
We realised that reusable pads wouldn’t work in these conditions, but we were able to raise over £3000 while we were there, and in partnership with
Pads 4 Refugees distribute pads to 1000 women and organise getting reusable pads to be used as post-partum pads by women in maternity hospitals in the East of Ukraine. We will be working with The Yorghas foundation to get our Pacha Pads to 2000 women in these hospitals in the next months. We currently have 8000 pads in the house (enough for 1,000 kits) and are doing everything we can to recruit more volunteers to double our numbers and meet this need. I have absolute faith in our Pachamama community that we will do that and more.
Delivery of pads bought in partnership with Pads 4 Refugees Meeting with The Yorghas Foundation Distribution of pads in the Global Expo Centre
Periods are not something we feel comfortable talking about generally and what I realised more than ever while I was there, is how hard it is for people to reach out when they need period products. People can ask for food, shelter and information, but the stigma around periods stops people from reaching out.
Imagine going through everything these people have been through, and then bleeding through your clothes in the metro, where you are sheltering, and not feeling like you can ask for help. This is not something anyone should have to deal with, and we are doing everything we can to make sure these people don’t.
To help provide sanitary products to Ukrainian women in Poland and Ukraine, please donate to www.pads4refugees.org and to help us get our reusable pads to Ukrainian hospitals as well as refugees all around the world, donate to https://gofund.me/63587312
Other ways to support:
Sign up to be a host a family via the UK government site and connect with Love Bristol who are doing a fantastic job on the ground in Poland assisting with the Visa process and connecting sponsors with people who want to go to the UK. My parents have used Love Bristol to match with someone and they made the process incredibly easy.
If you have the ways and means to provide much-needed wash and cream to prevent UTIs and Thrush contact us at thepachamamaproject@outlook.com Whilst we’re not doing a specific fundraiser for this, if anyone is in a position to be able to help with this specific issue please get in touch.
To donate washing machines and other aid directly to the Ptak Expo centre contact info@warsawexpo.eu or call +48 518 739 124
To donate to support ethnic minorities who have fled Ukraine but do not have access to the same support as Ukrainians: https://www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/nonukrainiansinukraine?utm_term=Wge2xbkgj
To volunteer in the Global Expo centre, Warsaw contact Gosia at +48 504 077 437. Volunteers are needed to hand out food, clothing, help organise transport, support with administration and translate.
A special mention to Petro, a Ukrainian film student who made this trip possible. He acted as our tour guide, hosted us, translated in Polish, Ukrainian, Russian and English and made sure we always had a coffee in the morning! Our trip wouldn't have been half as productive without him. Petro, we are extremely grateful.
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