(by Deirdre Morgan)

I’m sure you’re aware my husband James left quickly from Scotland to Poland in a tizzy, thinking he was about to enter a war zone. That hasn’t happened yet!

He’s had fruitful labour here in an ‘advance team’ effort. He’s gathered valuable information on how to help settle refugees into safe environments. These include a few people from our church and many others from vulnerable groups.

While he’s been very effective, there is a need for a woman’s touch. The majority of those leaving Ukraine are women and children. There is a need for women’s ministry. Due to the heart of generosity of our family and contributions, I could join him in Warsaw after 5 days on 10th March.

Though our efforts spring from Christian values this is not an evangelistic effort but a mission of mercy. The objective is not to study the bible with people but to ease the passage for these embattled women into their new norm.

My first day in landing off the plane was close to midnight and I rose after 5 hours sleep to meet my sisters coming across the border overnight from Lviv, Ukraine. It was a stressful morning as I quickly bundled myself into warm clothes for the subzero temperature of Warsaw. I had no time to have time with God or even eat (both very rare omissions for me) – we wanted to be sure we met them from their 20 hour long overnight journey from Lviv across the Ukrainian border and through Poland to Warsaw.
Myself and my husband stood in the freezing bus station, hungry and tired, we said a prayer and prepared ourselves to meet our dear sisters who were in so much more need than us.

It was an emotional moment as we saw them in the distance in a circle with their earthly possessions from the coach. Lesia had coordinated with James overnight during the journey and he spotted her by her full length puffy bright orange coat.

The Polish (and EU generally) have gone to great lengths to make the journey as comfortable as possible, sensitive to many needs. One example was a pile of cuddly toys in a pop up gazebo on the Poland/Ukraine border itself, to encourage the weary and distract children from the monotany of hours on buses. Most are not fluent in English but that was a circle of love at the coach station. The women and the children were tired but smiling so grateful for our welcome. We prayed in that circle in English and Ukrainian so relieved for their safe arrival.

As we wandered through the bus station there was a sea of people lying on floors, or sitting with bags around them. They were all wrapped up against the cold most wore a cloak of dejected resignation.

James skillfully navigated through the station and the administration. He kept everyone’s spirits up through telling funny stories.
One of the boys caught my eye. He was so cheerful, the adults were tired and hadn’t slept and despite their trials as good Christians, were outwardly focussed, trusting, with a spirit of joy. But with this boy, there seemed even more of a light from his eyes than everyone else as he hung on James’ words, very humoured by his funny story. His spirit touched my heart thinking of the scripture that ‘the kingdom of God belongs to such as these’. He’d just said goodbye to his dad not knowing when he will see him again ( men are conscripted from 18 – 60 years and cannot leave Ukraine). He really lifted my heart.

God’s face was clearly shining down now, not only through the bright morning winter sun, but because the station was nowhere near as busy as it had been in the 5 days that James had been there. Whilst James gave directions and entertained I managed to have a heart to heart with most of the women. In those brief one to one exchanges, there was pain in their eyes and held back tears as they’ve left family members and their men behind – even though parts of Ukraine are ‘safe’ the situation is unpredictable. This is a load they alone must carry. They just don’t know when they will see loved ones again – they are so far from them now and will be further soon as some will move to farther away countries. Yet there’s joy in their eyes still as they firmly believe God has a plan.

Another blessing from God occurred as we were quickly able to see them off on their transport to the shelter. Their wait was just 30 minutes which is unheard of. God made them feel his loving guiding hand in this moment.

We left after they boarded and tears from deep within suddenly surged up as I walked away to go back to where we’re staying. It was both a heart warming and heartbreaking time. It was an all too visceral truth in that moment these women simply don’t know when they will see their loved ones again.

Later after breakfast and time with God we headed back to the busy bus station. Now it was heaving with people. It’s well organised with soup kitchens and medical facilities. We’re both nurses and James has already offered his services. He introduced me to those teams as well letting them know we’re around if they need help – there are plenty of Army Reservists and sometimes Paramedics on hand. We came and went quickly so I didn’t get to look closely in the medical bay. But James told me they’re now mostly tending to exhausted mothers and young children, mums who’ve had to cope with inconsolable babies and toddlers with virtually no rest. Their partners are far away in Ukraine and these women have shouldered the childcare alone with no sleep on arduous bus journeys lasting days. They let the mums sleep there on camp beds and the support workers entertain and keep watch over these young children. The women look unconscious as they sleep. They’ve probably not slept in days.

There’s 10 women to every man in this bus station and many of the women are frazzled and totally exhausted by their child care responsibilities. One woman was openly breastfeeding in a cafe with her toddler nearby – there isn’t the energy for niceties. It wasn’t a shock as people are just surviving from the traumatic wrenching from their homeland.

There’s a lot of withdrawn faces breaking into smiles as we greet the ‘aliens’ sprinkled about with good news, that although they’re not European they’re still refugees and there’s services dedicated to their care too in Poland and Germany. Yes James has found a plethora of information and they share this eagerly with their non Ukrainian friends. Some express they wish they’d heard about it earlier as James advice would have saved them money. They look a little dazed as though they’ve seen an angel. Why a man of a different colour from them, without getting anything back? It’s simple. It’s the Mercy that we have received ourselves just passing it forward!

Sadly we hear that our friends have been given a shelter that’s has very unkempt conditions. They literally do not feel safe ( the Polish authorities are doing their best but we are told all the best hostels are now full in Warsaw) . We desperately need more resources here. Poland has taken so much more than it’s fair share of the refugees (1,200,000 as of 11.3.22) and the coaches keep coming. The trains are still full. The report comes back and friends in 5 countries scramble together to bring funds together. Disaster averted as the women and children are placed in hotels.

This was my first today on the Mercy mission field. My heart is full.