With the Refugees in Przemysl, Poland
Two weeks in Poland as part of the NATAN humanitarian aid delegation has come to an end. Feels to me like I've been here a long time. This is the first time I've been to Poland.
Oded Regev (2nd from right) with NATAN team members at the border
Everywhere you feel and meet the "Jewish aspect" that reminds us of the events here about 80 years ago, such as the local synagogue* – almost all that remains here of the 25,000 Jews who were murdered in this city during WWII. It probably makes a more profound and stronger emotional connection to the refugees from Ukraine. After two weeks of intensive work around the clock with these people, whose suitcase is their home, something in the heart connects with them and tempts me to stay a little longer, do a bit more. Still, the head and longing for home bring me back to reality and send me back home.
*The synagogue was used as a stable by the German army during World War II, then used as a textile factory under the Communist post-War government before being turned into a library in the 1960s.
Przemysl Synagogue - remnants of a lost community
However it may be, humanitarian aid is a drop in the ocean. Still, when this drop touches dozens and hundreds of people, the sense of satisfaction and action fills you and expands your heart. And the amount of "drops" that are here from Israel is amazing and the heart is filled with pride on a blue and white flag that is hoisted here in this surreal situation on Polish soil in 2022.
In recent days, many refugees have arrived from the eastern regions of Ukraine, the areas where fighting is taking place, where the Russian military are committing war crimes and atrocities. We meet people with shrapnel in their bodies, exhausted from days of wandering, leg wounds from prolonged walking. More worrying is the trauma and profound mental strain of those who have experienced war with all that this implies.
Most of them are women with children because men are obliged to stay and join the army. The medical and psychosocial teams work around the clock with dozens of volunteers from all over the world. There is an international meeting of volunteers here who have no connection and familiarity. They have all mobilized in cooperation for a common purpose.
It is also surprising and exciting to witness the mobilization of Polish people to volunteer and help the refugees. We work in partnership with a local organization, "Folkowisko," of young people who, before the war, were engaged in producing music festivals . The war in Ukraine caused them to make an abrupt change – to transform themselves into an aid organization. In their words, creating a festival and helping refugees uses the same logistical capabilities, transportation, finding shelter for people, water, electricity, food, first aid, and more. They manage a logistics warehouse to receive supplies and distribute them in Ukraine. They operate ambulances, (one donated by NATAN) to transport seriously ill and injured persons from Ukraine, all with the help of volunteers from Poland and all over the world. All this operation is run voluntarily by 2 amazing young people, Basia and Marcin.
Besides the refugees who come to Poland and other European countries, there is a large concentration of refugees inside Ukraine who come to escape the war zones and stay close to the border if necessary. I am starting the return home and wish all the refugees that soon, they too will be able to return home.