February 24, 2023
One year ago today, Russia invaded Ukraine. While the world recognizes this as the day the war began, many Ukrainians say the war began in 2014 with the annexation of Crimea. One Ukrainian refugee told me today she, for almost a decade has not felt heard. I asked her, is having the West’s involvement now, too little, too late? She said no, it’s better late than never. This reminded me of something a Ukrainian refugee told me last year when I was touring Poland, he referred to himself and other Ukrainian people as ‘war meat.’ Truly heartbreaking.
I recall being in Chelm last year, shortly after the invasion happened and refugees showing up in vans with just one or two grocery bags with a few clothes, important documents and maybe some family mementos and pictures. GROCERY BAG(S)!!!! That’s it. Their entire life, packed into not-reliable grocery bags. Many of these folks elderly; people who survived WWII and the collapse of the Soviet Union. Now this, and for some, they have been living in shelters throughout Poland since.
Headed back to the danger zone. At the end of this month, the Polish government will stop giving monthly aid to Polish people and businesses who house Ukranian refugees. Some of these people say they will be forced to go back to Ukraine, because they cannot afford rent. Many women do not have jobs, as the shelters they’re staying at are in remote areas. Right now, Texas Baptist Men, the Texas non-profit I embedded with last year, and again this year is trying to figure out next possible moves. Can they build apartments, homes where people can live, in areas jobs are plentiful. These refugees want to contribute to society. They want stability for themselves and their families. So, part of this trip, TBM is meeting with Polish people to see what they can do. TBM urges people who want to get involved to donate money: https://www.tbmtx.org/
Today was our first full day back in Poland. We arrived yesterday afternoon at around 1 PM. I was awake from 5 AM Eastern Standard Time on Wednesday, February 22 till 10 PM on Thursday, February 23 (local Poland time), which would have been 4 PM Eastern Standard time on Thursday, February 23. What a day it was! I got off a cruise ship Wednesday morning in Tampa, boarded a plane to Newark, another plane in Amsterdam and finally arrived in Warsaw Thursday afternoon. During the descent into Amsterdam, I had a painful sensation in my right ear. It wouldn’t pop. (I was recently sick, but was better.) By the time I landed in Amsterdam, I did not feel well at all. I was in a lot of pain and felt sick. I couldn’t hear all that well in my right ear. It felt clogged. This is where I met my photojournalist Michael Lemons. Together, we boarded the plane for Warsaw. The descent into Poland I experienced pain like no other. My right ear hurt so bad (again, it wouldn’t pop), I was seeing stars. I thought I was going to pass out. It felt as if someone was cutting in my right ear with a knife. When we landed, we went to baggage claim. My suitcase was a no show. After waiting in line for close to an hour, I confirmed my bag was lost, possibly still in Newark. I then went to the paramedic at the airport. He did not speak English and I obviously do not speak Polish. We with many retakes, spoke into an app, that translated. He gave me an anti-inflammatory pill and sent me on my way (he did take down my passport number?). Still not feeling well, I tried calling a few clinicals/emergency services. No appointments available. Wiktor, a Polish resident and a friend of Texas Baptist Men, also our translator on this trip was able to make me an appointment in Warsaw. I was seen and diagnosed with a ‘significant’ sinus infection. The visit was an experience. Pretty fast and thorough. $55. I was overall impressed. The doctor wrote me a script, which I filled at a pharmacy within minutes. Also pretty inexpensive. Then it was off to Kluki, Poland which was about a 2.5 hour drive SW of Warsaw. We checked in, met briefly with TBM, went to a grocery store for me to buy a few essentials, stopped by McDonald’s (a completely different experience from those in the US. I might have raved about this last year in my journal. The veggie burger is delicious!!), went back to the hotel, did some research and tried troubleshooting some tech issues. I remember seeing 10 PM and then passing out. If my math is correct, I was up 35 hours. I think that might be a record.
I woke up this morning at 6, caught up on emails and did more research. Met for breakfast in the hotel and then it was off to work. If you watched my reports from today, you will see we spent much of the morning in Zelow at a Baptist church. The pastor there, Greg, was doing his weekly delivery of food to a shelter in Kluki that houses 150 women and children. We were LIVE from this hotel, converted into a shelter today, and you will see my sit-down interview with refugees tomorrow, Saturday, February 25. Kluki is a rural area. So cell service was very spotty and I dealt with tech difficulties all day. To help alleviate some challenges, we had two translators. One who translated my English to Polish and another Polish to Russian. At the hotel, I saw this really cute dog. You know I am a dog lover. Surprisingly this was a little dog. I usually gravitate to big dogs, hence Sully. This little dog is called Susan. She apparently is an outdoor ‘half stray, half dog with home’ who stays at the shelter. She is fed. I may or may not have accidentally left the front door open. Susan darted right inside and made herself at home on the couch with the Ukrainian children. Isn’t she BEAUTIFUL?! I so badly, wanted to bring her home with me. She just wants to be loved (and I think is, but I do not like the fact she’s mostly an outdoor dog. The reason why I might have accidently left the door open, was because she was shivering outside… sometimes you have to just ask for forgiveness instead of permission. By the way, ‘sorry’ in Polish is Przepraszam! 😊
We left the hotel at around 4 PM to go back to the church in Zelow where we had homemade perogies!!! OMG!!! These were AMAZING!!! I had spinach and potato and cheese. Truly, the best perogies I’ve ever had. I am a big sauce guy, I love my condiments, and they had dipping sauce, but these were so flavorful, I did not need the sauce!!! So good. Thank you, pastor Greg!
Sometime during the day, I got a call my bag had been located and it was back in Warsaw. So after dinner, we headed to Warsaw. I got my bag and now we are driving 3.5 hours to Chelm, a beautiful Polish town near the Ukraine-Poland border. We visited this location last year, and I look forward to visiting again. Last year, TBM had a major presence here given the city’s proximity to the border.
Tomorrow, we plan to go to the church that served as a shelter last year, TBM’s warehouse and the Ukraine-Poland border crossing. I hear, truck drivers are waiting up to four days in their trucks filled with supplies to go into Ukraine.
Ok, it is now 10 PM, we will have an hour and 15 minutes to go to Chelm. I am exhausted. I am sure you are too, after ready ALL of this. If you have any questions, let me know. I’d love to hear from you.
Talk soon,
ZL