In the planet of silence

rotary.org.pl 2 years ago

At noon, on the first day of Orthodox Easter, I come home with the Rotary global media squad in Wojciechów, Lublin Voivodeship, in which a group of Ukrainian refugees have been present since the end of March 2022. Most of them are deaf people who communicate with sign language.

The Silence of Dramatic Confessions

I'll talk to them. Their words scope me silently. And two-track: through intermediates in communication of sign language translators. First, Stanisław translates from Ukrainian sign language into Polish sign language, and Jolanta translates me from Polish sign language to spoken. That's what their eyes say all the time. They talk and profoundly look at mine, as if they want to read them, whether I realize correctly and what I think. This silence of dramatic confessions and their eyes will stay in my memory forever.

Welcome and Christmas customs

As the car pulls up to the parking lot, they look out the windows and greet the friendly people of it. Their grin and openness indicate that they feel good and safe here. Which is confirmed in later discussions.

Along with us come Rotarians from Rotary Club Lublin Centrum. They bring clean sheets and another things. They give it to the people. There's a festive table waiting for us inside.

Mrs. Oksana warns us that the Easter meal is modest, due to the fact that knowing that their men and loved ones in Ukraine may have neither electricity nor gas nor water nor food requires them to be modest.

“Emotions do not let us to spend these holidays in peace and joy,” Oksana emphasizes.

A brief prayer and we sit down. Meals match those consumed on Catholic holidays. There are besides eggs, salads, sausages and yeast cupcakes. There are besides lovebirds and cutlets. Natalia says that eggs are frequently painted red. You besides paint the faces of girls and boys to make them more beautiful. However, there are besides differences, e.g. in the region from which the guests come, they do not pour water on Monday. We were certain the chopper-dyngus was more common.

In accordance with interior need

The full group found shelter here thanks to the openness and willingness to supply assistance to Rotarianin Prof. Janusz Milanowski and his spouse Dr. Katarzyna Szmygin-Milanowska.

Prof. Janusz Milanowski is simply a valued Lublin pulmonologist and associate of RC Lublin Centrum. For years he has been head of the Clinic of Pneumonology, Oncology and Allergology in the Clinical infirmary No. 4 in Lublin. He and his wife became active in helping those in need. From their own resources they bought a home in Lublin, close Wojciechów, where according to the first assumptions, there was to be a medical and rehabilitation centre for about 30 people aged 13-17 with the school. little than a year ago, they founded the “Project Ark” Foundation. They wanted to aid youths conflict with addictions, drugs, alcohol, and electronics. They managed to invitation a squad of experienced therapists to cooperate. The outbreak of the war in Ukraine verified these plans, so... they invited a group of refugees from Ukraine.

– For any time, we felt the request to engage in helping others. We feel fulfilled ourselves. We have a warm loving family, together – 7 wonderful children who are besides pro-social. Therefore, we decided to share not only material resources, but besides energy, organizational capacity, social capital. Our fresh residents feel very liable for the home and garden, and we get to know each another more and more each day – the hosts emphasize.

– We do it in accordance with our interior need. We talk a lot – erstwhile we deficiency skills, we usage a computer translator. We do not encourage confessions – we know that any are besides painful to talk about. For now, our focus is on our Ukrainian guests. Ukrainians besides want to work professionally, but that is the problem. First of all, ignorance of the language is an obstacle. Although it sometimes works – recently, together with Kasia we found work on construction for six men – says Prof. Janusz Milanowski.

Home in Wojciechów

The home in Wojciechów, has about 400 square meters of space. There's everything in the home you request to live. It's clean and cozy inside and everything smells new. There is simply a large garden around the building, and there is an economical building.

– Maintaining specified a facility is simply a considerable cost. Heating the premises, shipping the dirt, electricity, gas... that's just any cost. For the current expenses, we receive support from the Old Town. The most hard was the phase of the facility. There were empty walls at home, and we raced with time and collected resources. No beds, no furniture, no household appliances. Friends, friends, befriended foundations and Rotary Club Lublin Centrum helped us. Currently, the biggest challenge is to rise funds for the regular maintenance of the home – emphasises Prof. Janusz Milanowski.

29 people – including 17 deaf people – from Ukraine found the shelter. They come from different directions. The largest group is from Kharkiv. Their home was destroyed. They escaped at the last minute with the kids. The group went to Wojciechów from the Centre for the Coordination of exile Assistance at the Provincial Cultural Centre in Lublin. Their guardians wanted the deaf to live in 1 place.

Oxana with children

35-year-old Oksana and her children: 11-year-old Sofia, 13-year-old Paul and one-and-a-half-year-old Denise arrived in Poland on 16 March 2022. Oksana and her household lived in Mościska, in the Lviv Oblast. close the camp in Jaworów. On 13 March 2022, a rocket attack occurred in the morning at this airport, where respective twelve people were killed and more than 130 were injured.

– My husband is simply a police officer, and he didn't come home for 3 days. I was afraid for my husband, but besides for myself and my children. Even before the war, television, and schools were called upon to have a bag prepared with papers and the most essential things. I packed, but I thought I wouldn't gotta usage it. The day he was shot at by a camp in Jaworów, my husband called me and told me to leave with the kids as shortly as possible. The next day we left. First to Lublin, where I stayed with my children with my friends, and then on March 29, 2022 I went to Wojciechów – says Mrs Oksana. – erstwhile the war began, many people from Kiev left and stood in front of the border for 20 km of queues. Parents with small children and grandparents left their cars, took backpacks, and walked with bags to the border. I want I could go home now. Children miss their dad very much – Oksana adds.

Oksana took care of the children before the war. But by education he is an economist and previously worked at a power plant as an accountant.

Mrs. Oksana's daughter – Sofia draws beautifully, especially for our arrival together with Katya and Taja drew a beautiful drawing on which they wrote: We love Ukraine, We love Poland, We love USA and signed the names of the localities from which the residents of the home come: Dniepro, Zaporizhia, Chernirsti, Kyiv, Kharkiv. It was a very good surprise for our global team.

Fighting with family

As the residents say, Walik is the manager here. He deals with all organizational matters, looks after the garden, the back and the economical part of the full bypass and most frequently contacts the owners.

Walik is here with his wife and his 11-year-old daughter. His wife worked as a prosthetic before, and he took care of his daughter. Walik came here from Kharkiv, and respective more people came through him.

– any of the people we're with here met 400 miles from Kharkiv at the gas station. They planned to go to Germany, but after talking to us, they decided to take a course for Poland – Walik says.

As Walik emphasizes, Staś, who lives in Lublin, helped them a lot and is besides deaf. The same Stas, who now explains our conversation and... smiles pleased. She besides supported Stasia as a translator of the Polish Sign Language Jola. Together they created a reliable aid team.

Natalia with her husband and son

Natalia, along with her husband Giennadij and boy Maks, arrived in Wojciechów from Kiev on 6 March 2022.

– On 5 February 2022 I started working in Poland. On February 24, erstwhile the war broke out, the company I worked for gave me notice. – says Mr. Giennadi. “When the war began, we were most afraid about the boy who remained in Kiev. I went to get him and we came to Poland together. From Kiev to Lviv we drove for 2 days, further, until the traffic in front of the border was delivered by a taxi driver. We walked the rest. In Poland, my telephone stopped working, I don't talk the language, but we found friendly people. In Wojciechów we feel safe, warm, home and food. If the war is over, we'll come back. We hope that in Ukraine 1 day it will be like in Poland. I believe in president Zelenski. He is brave, stayed in Kiev and fights – he adds.

Natalia, like her husband and son, is deaf. She was born in Stanica Luganska – a city defended by Ukrainian troops in 2014, erstwhile the war broke out in Ukraine and Russian troops occupied part of east Ukraine. In 2014, she had to aid her sick mother, who lived in the Lugansk Stanica, flee this town to her home in Kiev. Her mom has spent her full life trying to make things right for her and her sister. In Stanica Luganska, she opened her café and hair salon. Unfortunately, in 2014, Natalia's parent had to leave everything she had achieved and go to Kiev. It was hard for her. These thoughts and emotional and physical conditions had bad consequences. Natalia's parent died in Kiev despite all her daughter's efforts to save her life and support her mentally and physically.

– erstwhile Russian rockets began bombing Kiev on February 24, 2022, I could not believe that my household would gotta fight for their lives again. It was like a terrible dream. Today, my boy and husband are safe in Poland. We are very grateful to Poles who helped us find a home and supply us with food and everything we need. We are inactive worried about our families in Ukraine: the husband's parent who managed to escape from Kharkiv to Dniepra or my sister's household surviving in Cherkasy.

It's harder for deaf people than for others to get a job. In our hearts we are waiting for the triumph of the Ukrainian army and we believe that 1 day we will be able to return home and Ukraine will be an even better country than it was before. We miss our homes and our land and we want the sun to emergence over Ukraine. – Natalia tells with emotion.

Dima and Oksana with Svetlana and Shasha

Dima and Oksana arrived from Kharkiv on March 6, 2022. Their journey was besides long and tiring. They went to Poland for 3 days. erstwhile they got to Przemyśl, they went to a exile center. Walik gave them a telephone number and called Stasia. For respective more nights they slept in different places before they went to Wojciechów.

Dima tells that they left their home in a hurry: – We only took the most crucial things from the home to make the backpack light. In Kharkov, we both worked in a factory. I was the device operator, and Oksana worked in production. Our neighbour Svetlana and her boy Sasha came with us. Sasha hears and learns at the Polish school – Dima says.

On February 24, Svetlan called me and said there was a war. I was surprised. I looked out the window and I said, "There's nothing going on. It's quiet. We didn't hear the authoritative news until tonight. We were hoping things would calm down somehow. But it got worse. We were at home for a week, but rockets started falling on the adjacent blocks. I've got a video of the next block being bombed. Our windows fell out, no gas or electricity. There was besides a large problem with food and medicine, and I have diabetes. I don't know what would have happened if we hadn't escaped. It's peaceful, warm, family. I have medicine. Everyone's very kind. I don't know if my home is inactive standing. If there's anything to go back to, we'll be back. But there is our real home – Dima says.

Rotarian Care

Members of Rotary Club Lublin Centre. The Rotarians have joined in helping with the device and moving this Centre, together with the Foundation “The Ark Project”. Rotara thread is associated with the co-founder of the Foundation Prof. Janusz Milanowski. On 31 March 2022 RC Lublin Centrum donated PLN 20 1000 for the equipment of the centre, and earlier, Rotarianin Jacek Woźniak donated lighting equipment worth about PLN 7 1000 to the Centre.

Rotarians from Lublin are very active in helping Ukraine. They send transports with the aid of the Ukrainian border and care straight for about 40 people from Ukraine. They give them shelter, food and aid them adapt. In the last days of March, they donated medical equipment worth PLN 1.5 million to the field infirmary in Ukraine. The gift was realised within days of the decision being made. This was possible, thanks to the money received from Rotary territory 7870 fresh Hampshire of Vermont from the USA, as well as the engagement of many kind people, to whom the destiny of Ukraine is not indifferent.

– due to the closeness of the border from the first days of the war, members of the Club have felt its sad effects. respective border crossings are located close Lublin, including those for pedestrians. Many of us aid in different ways. In Krasnystaw, at the Social advanced School of General Education at Revival Street, a large gathering point and a hotel for refugees were created. It's where mothers and children go. People who are there are provided with medical and intellectual care. By the end of May, more than 1,000 people passed through the facility. After a fewer days, most of them go on. Our club is in constant contact with Renata Zwolak's reliable school principal, and our members give various gifts there. I myself am in this facility very often. I was on the border a fewer times, too, and I was driving people in my car. Now there is simply a free transport – says Grzegorz Wójcikowski president of the RC Lublin Centre.

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These are only any of the activities of the RC Lublin Centre for Ukraine. Almost the full planet is helping Ukraine. The Rotarians, too, service to change the lives of the needy.

When asked about the motivation and commitment to aid refugees, a associate of the Management Board of RC Lublin Centrum Jerzy Kargol answers:

My motivations are simple. Anyone in request has a right to help. And the Rotarians should be peculiarly inclined to give specified assistance. due to the fact that only erstwhile a man is needed by others does he find the meaning of his existence. I inactive believe in people who are above divisions and can and want to help.