Max and Kolya are male refugee volunteers for MERCY WORLDWIDE in Lviv, Ukraine. In spite of the intensification of bombing in Lviv they are continuing to work as humanitarian aid workers for MERCY WORLDWIDE in it’s Advocacy Network Project helping to orientate mostly female refugees to various places in Europe. You will find their accounts both harrowing and humorous. Where they are living, they have air raid sirens every night and bombing both day and night. These young men are Street Volunteers with no office other than their mobile phones and they actively seek out refugees needing orientation. As you can see there are always those that are shell shocked, despondent and victims of the chaos of war.

Kolya

23.3.22

That day we met three people: a woman, Zoya, who was traveling from Kremenchug to Poznan (Poland) and she was with a big bag, a package and a huge suitcase, she had a bus ticket and we couldn’t find it for a long time and Max and I were looking for him  , then she called the hotline indicated on the ticket to clarify the location of the bus, we were given the driver’s phone number, but he did not answer.  I went around all the platforms in search, when I returned again, two more young girls approached us, who were waiting for the same bus and also could not find it.  There were 10 minutes left before his departure.  And now imagine a picture: three passengers, with things, suitcases, with tickets in their hands, have no idea where their bus is, it’s registration numbers, from which platform they depart, and two MERCY volunteers, who also don’t know where the bus is, but are trying with all their might to help.  And at that moment, a new bus pulls up, I go up, check with the driver the time and direction, after which he confirmed that he was going to Poznan and the passengers had tickets for this bus.  We helped load the girls’ suitcases, put them on the bus, exchanged numbers and sent them the orientation information documents.  Conclusion: if the bus has not yet arrived at the station 5 minutes before departure, you should not panic, because it is traveling on a flight from another city and it can happen on the road, maybe a Deer can run out onto the road, maybe one of the passengers will get sick on the road  and the driver will have to stop, everything can happen on the road (I said about the Deer in a figurative sense, they don’t run out onto the roads in Ukraine, they mostly drive cars 😂😂😂😂) Deer – I mean not an animal with horns, but a driver  , who absolutely does not respect other road users, believes that he drives alone on the road and does it as it is only convenient for him 😂😂😂😂 a moment of humor, unfortunately there are a lot of them in Ukraine😂😂😂

The second person we helped was a woman from Kharkov, who was with a child and a dog, they were sitting on a bench at the station, and had no idea where to go, because she had no relatives or acquaintances abroad, when Max and I  they approached her, found out the situation, she was going to go to Poland, but we clearly explained to her that Warsaw is busy, it’s hard to find housing or work, in general, they don’t expect her there, but with a teenage son it’s so even more so😂 Because in Warsaw the concentration of people is about the same  the same as in Lviv, only more men live in Lviv, and women live in Warsaw.  Then they decided to spend the night in Lviv, I sent them to a shelter run by Yura, our wonderful friend, and they were gladly received there, the next morning she called me and clarified the route to Amsterdam, I gave them up-to-date information on how to get there from Lviv and which  train to board.

We took another woman to Warsaw, but I’ll write about this case in the morning, because it’s already 4 in the morning and I want to rest, because I fell asleep very

Max

23.03.22

Irina and her son – they wanted to get to any country in Europe, so that rockets would not fly – we suggested about Amsterdam.

Grandmother – could not find a bus and is not understanding how is the situation in Europe -> helped to find a bus and clearly explained about Europe (she did not have a normal phone). – Helped the woman to get to the bus, seated her and consoled her. –

Helped a father with a daughter who cannot speak, get on the bus and distract the girl with attention so that she would not cry.

25.03

Alena – it was necessary to find out how to spend the night in a Polish city, not in Warsaw, and it was interesting what conditions await Ukrainians in other countries of the world -> they suggested how to find information about accommodation on the spot and provided a package of up-to-date information about those countries that we have.

Oleksandra – was with a child and bags, waiting for transport, it was interesting about the countries of Europe -> they supported me emotionally and threw off all the relevant information.

Julia – I wanted to know about Germany -> they explained how everything is in this country and sent our information document.

Grandmother Valentina – stood with her granddaughter and cried, could not understand where her grandson said to go and how she should be with her granddaughter in Lviv, the volunteers gave information, but the grandmother did not understand anything, she already wanted to go back to Slovensk, where the border with the DPR (Donetsk People’s Republic) -> We consoled her, persuaded her not to go, found acceptable housing for them in Lviv, phoned her grandson and coordinated the route, brought them to the housing, where they were fed. We keep in touch with them.

– helped Mom and her child go to Warsaw

Supporting our MERCY WORLDWIDE support-ukraine fund will support volunteers like Max and Kolya to continue their work in Lviv, Warsaw and beyond and train more volunteers to meet the needs.