I met a gentleman named Dave at an underground train station in Poland last week. He was standing outside of a food line wearing a neon yellow volunteer vest and a kind smile. I had just finished up a shift of checking toddlers’ infected ears and giving arnica cream to worried mothers with their own minor complaints. I saw the overflow of people waiting for sandwiches and was ready to switch from medical aid to food prep. The confusion of the Ukrainian and Polish language mix had become commonplace at that point, and I was used to flowing through rooms only understanding a handful of things being said, but when I asked him if he spoke English he turned to me and said “It’s the only thing I speak! I’m from Texas, you?”. We both smiled from ear to ear, as if greeting a neighbor we’d known our whole life. I asked him what brought him over the Atlantic and he responded “I couldn’t just watch the news and do nothing anymore”.
I understood what Dave meant. I’d felt that same feeling just a week prior when I was presented with the opportunity to put myself on a plane and over onto the edge of a war zone to assist the Save Our Allies team with humanitarian aid. As a southern girl who has endured one too many devastating hurricanes, I know what needs and fears can come with displacement, uncontrollable circumstances, and untimely life-altering changes-but this was gravely magnified. War is always the most devastating to the innocents, and that’s exactly what is happening half a world over. Men are called to bear arms for their country, and women-many of them mothers- children, the elderly, and the physically handicapped have been left to flee to safety. An entire country’s hopes, routines, dreams, and security left blowing in the rolling hillsides of Western Ukraine.
Outlining A Plan
As with any proper endeavor, to be prepared and ready to visit a volatile area and undertake international travel alone, I had to prepare as thoroughly as possible in the short time that I had leading up to the trip. We knew that I would be assisting with humanitarian work on the ground both in the refugee areas of the city as well as near the Ukraine border. We also knew that my primary focus would be on the women and children assisting with medical aid and whatever other needs took precedence in the quickly changing landscape. While medical supplies were of obvious importance, personal protection and communication plans were also paramount. I wouldn’t be able to carry a firearm and I also wouldn’t be speaking the native language, so diligent planning was going to be an integral foundation for my overall safety.
Observations From The Front
As a mother and woman myself, my first goal when I got on the ground was to get connected with the overall mentality and commonalities among the refugees so that I could best gauge how to serve them. Communication was challenging due to the language barriers, but not impossible. A common theme that I heard among the women as we spoke about their journey to the point at which I had found myself next to them was “I wasn’t prepared for this” or “I wish I would have had time to prepare”. Some of these women had come from homes destroyed by bombings, or from basements where they had stayed hidden for days prior with scared children, limited resources, a lack of facilities, and fear-laden minds. The security of being “prepared” never painted itself as necessary for hope and survival as it did in those days of conversations with women who never imagined that they wouldn’t have had more time to make the most important and hardest decisions of their lives. I wish I could have had a conversation with them two months ago-I wish they would have been able to plan in advance for the things that they could have prepared to make this terrible time a little easier to navigate- but replacing those wishbones with set spines is what we all needed. Now is all we have, and now is what we worked with.
On a trip out to the border, we were able to secure a bus to transport a group of disabled youth and their families safely into Poland from a dangerous area in which they were stuck. Roads exiting Ukraine were blocked by gasless vehicles and public transportation had been halted. We had conversations with wheelchair-bound individuals who held nothing but hope in their bones. I once again was able to talk to the parents about what key challenges they faced in this moment of survival, and once again their answers were “We never thought to prepare for this”.
Families with unique needs. Families who couldn’t escape the way other families could. Families who needed support and supplies for their own nuances. Preparedness is a very personal thing, and it was showcased so very evident in the reality that unfolded before me during that successful evacuation.
International Travel From My Perspective
Personal Safety
Traveling alone as a small female can bring with it its own vulnerabilities but utilizing situational awareness and attention to my surroundings is always my primary focus regardless of whether I’m also carrying a firearm or not (and maybe even more so when I am carrying). Scanning my environment for deviations from normal patterns, attention to body language, and walking with a stature of confidence with eyes up, shoulders back, arms swinging at the side- are all things that I routinely implement. A great reference for these skill sets and more is a book called Finding Danger Before It Spots You by Gary Quessenbery. I also created a code word with trusted friends and family back home that I could use if I needed emergency help. I ensured at least 2 people had access to my location at all times and could dispatch help if I were to use the code word as an SOS. I also checked the country’s laws on blades and carried a legal knife on my person at all times.
Communication
Traveling to an area where English is not the primary language can definitely feel uncomfortable for the first time. Learning to be creative about communicating is great for our interpersonal skills but it does take some effort. Here is how I safeguarded my ability to communicate both with those around me as well as those looking out for my safety:
- I downloaded the languages that I knew I would be needing (English—Ukrainian and English—-Polish as well as the reverse translations of those) in Google translator so that I could access the translations even if I wasn’t connected to a cellular network. I also utilized the microphone function to capture the auditory words spoken by the older refugees so that I could understand their questions without too much confusion.
- I always had a fully charged cell phone battery pack with a short lightning cable and solar-powered capabilities. I brought two on the trip so that I could leave one charging and keep one on my person, swapping them out every day. I also made sure to travel with multiple European outlet adaptors so that I would never be stuck unable to charge my devices.
- I changed my SIM card to a native Polish SIM card during my travels in order to divert any intercepted technology from recognizing an American SIM card and to create clear network usage on local towers. When traveling internationally SIM cards for that region are readily available once you get your feet on the ground there.
- Carried a satellite communicator device called a Zoleo that utilized an app on my phone for communicating through satellites if and when cellular network service became unavailable.
- I always carry a small Rite In The Rain notebook and pens with me to write important directions, locations, numbers, etc. without having to exclusively rely on phones and with no concerns about damage to the writing.
- I attach a whistle to my bags for quick access to a signal that I can use anywhere and anytime.
Medical
Having a comprehensive loadout of medical supplies was definitely a priority since I would be assisting with medical aid on the ground, but also a concern being so close to the edge of war. I kept my medical supplies stocked in my 20 L Duffel from Fieldcraft and transferred whatever I needed for my daily tasks to my Vertx Gamut Checkpoint backpack. I recorded a video on what this looked like for me that you can find here on the Fieldcraft Survival Instagram. The molle panel and Velcro brand layers made transferring my medical tools and tear away pouches so easy, and I was extremely satisfied with the overall capabilities that having the synchrony of this loadout provided for those everyday supply refills and transfers. The medical supplies I brought along on this trip were:
- Children’s medications
- Body assessment tools: thermometer, otoscope, measuring tape, penlight.
- Trauma shears, tape, hemostats
- Mobility Trauma Kit from Fieldcraft
- SOF Tourniquets in the Fieldcraft tourniquet holder
- Skin stapler, Tegaderm, wound cleaning agent, gauze
- Fieldcraft Survival BCK (bleeding control kit)
The Takeaways
This war has been and will continue to be devastating to a first-world nation of people caught in the crossfire. These individuals will be forced to continue to seek refuge as the peril pushes west, and the humanitarian crisis will grow as the rest of Europe is forced to provide refuge and some semblance of normalcy. The challenges are great: with not only the cultural and language barriers but also the confronting issue of women left alone to care for children while also having to make plans for income through work in a foreign country. The infrastructure of the cities providing aid can only stretch so far, and as with all humanitarian crises- the help and focus are strong in the beginning but begins to wane as time progresses.
Dave from Texas said it best when he said “I couldn’t just watch the news and do nothing anymore”. I hope we can all adopt that attitude of responsibility for one another in whatever way is possible for us. Flying across the ocean to place your hands and feet in the space of volunteering isn’t an option for many, but opening our eyes daily to the plight and needs of the innocents is, and supporting organizations like Save Our Allies or the Fieldcraft Foundation who are doing their very best to get the proper aid to the proper locations is one way to counteract the “doing nothing” that the world can’t afford in this current state of disaster.
Self-reliance, preparedness, and community take on a new meaning in times such as these, and I can say from firsthand experience that while war itself is uncontrollable for these innocent citizens, the other three are within all of our power to utilize in order to affect change in our own homes, our own country, and around the globe. We never know when it may be our turn to say “I wish I would have had more time”.
Now has never been a more timely moment to choose to begin.
Thank you for all of your encouragement and prayers during my travels. I’m so grateful to be back on American soil, but my heart aches for the women and babies I held so dearly during my time in Poland. However, I stand in gratitude for this community of men and women who show up in the ways that they are able- to collectively support those being the hands and feet that are so desperately needed.
Thank you, truly
It all matters
Xo
Amber Elle