I'll Be Your Hands

I WILL BE YOUR HANDS, YOUR BRAINS, YOUR NETWORK, YOUR JOKES, YOUR SOUL. I'LL SLEEP FOUR HOURS A NIGHT. I'LL CATCH THE WORST COLD YOU'VE EVER HAD (which I got after the first day at the Tesco Refugee Center,) I'LL CLEAN THE TOILETS, I'LL HAVE THE DIARRHEA (which I got the second day after working at the Tesco Refugee Center) I'LL BUY THE DIAPERS AND TAMPONS.
ALL YOU GOTTA DO IS THROW ME A FEW BUCKS.

Hello Sailor!

My name is Martin, and after sitting on my rear end and being moved to tears, boiling with rage seeing the news about what is happening to the people of Ukraine, I decided my arse had had enough of the sofa of self-pity, and that I was going to do something about it. I bought a ticket to Poland from San Francisco, and filled a suitcase with a few clothes and a lot of deodorants, toothbrushes, diapers and feminine hygiene products for donation. It took three planes and one enormous bus journey to get here- a total of thirty-five hours. I arrived in Przemysl a few miles from the border on the morning of April 1st.

I went straight to work before even checking in at my hostel, pulling a 12 hour shift at World Central Kitchen making sandwiches to be sent to various processing points for refugees between here and the border crossing itself at Medyka.

After a few days of that, I then went to volunteer at the refugee processing center in Przemysl, located in an enormous disused Tescos. This was true misery as I have never imagined it and was a real bloody wake-up call.

I mopped the floors, changed the bedding in the cots, cleaned the toilets, organized the nappies by size, unloaded vans full of donations when they arrived, and helped people too infirm to load their belongings onto the buses which would take them to their countries of final destination. It is very intense work and I have been reduced to tears several times by things I have seen here.

After what was supposed to only be a TEN day trip to do this, I decided I was going to stay on as it is the most tragic and yet invigorating thing I have ever done. Perhaps the ONLY thing I have ever done.

Now this is where you come in. Poland is well-stocked with the necessary items for human health and cleanliness, which are THE most necessary things for women, children, and the sick or elderly men on the run besides food and shelter (beds and grub for a night are well covered by the volunteers and few NGOs already here.)

 

Cold, flu, lice, coronavirus, and scabies have all had their turn here. Also, cleanliness is next to Godliness, as the saying goes. It is your dignity. 

 

I aim to buy as may toiletries as can be taken to the big cities for distribution inside Ukraine and also for donation to the refugee center I’m working at here in Przemysl in Poland. I seem to have a knack for networking here and have made many, many connections with volunteers, NGOs, and journalists. So I will have no problem getting this stuff to the right place and in short order.

 

Yesterday morning I awoke with the thought in my head to start a makeup counter. I had no idea how I might do this or who talk to. At one point in the day I had to get a disabled and distraught woman a translator and counselor. I was pointed to an Israeli volunteer. I went to get her and what is she doing? Setting up a makeup counter. I got her contact info and now I will also be shopping for cosmetics. Expect a whole new me when we have time!

Update- Well there was time today. Note to you all: this makeover was done by a bunch of nine year olds. I think they did a pretty good job, considering.

Also, I helped an American mate of mine to buy a van a few days ago, as you can’t cross the border in a rental. I got him a Polish translator and driver to bring his rental car back and threw $500 his way for a temporary share in the van. He will do trips of supplies (including some of mine) across the border to Ukraine into Lviv and Kyiv, while also picking up refugees to bring to the border crossing at Medyka.

 

For the hell of it decided to go on the first run to Ukraine.

 

Here we are at 3:53 local time on April 12th. We are attempting our first trip with the van full of supplies to a distribution point in Lviv. Let’s hope we get through. We look normal enough, right?

A little bit later around 6:30pm- bloody starving. Luckily the Irish volunteer desk came through for me earlier with rations of the national cuisine:
Finally get to customs at the border. We're  next in line. Can’t see how anything could possibly go wrong for us here:

Made it through. The roads inside Ukraine are bloody awful. But the churches? Ruritania, anyone?

After an hour and a half of no cell service, a bit of panic, and wishing I had packed a few Adult sized diapers for myself as well, I made it to my contact in Lviv before the curfew. It had to wait until next morning but our delivery got through:

I was famished. My contact brought me to get something to eat:

“Would you look at the size of that sausage?”

 

At 12:30 on April 13th I’m back at the border crossing on the Ukrainian side:

As of 2:00pm on April 13th I’m back at the Tescos Center in Poland with a massive Liverpool fan who took this photo:

Snug as BMW in a Rug.

 

While my American friend is doing refugee runs from Ukraine to the border, I will be working both at the Tesco refugee processing center and also volunteering wherever and with whatever organization I can, and will continue to purchase and donate health and hygiene supplies to any trustworthy group that will take them. 

 

This will include the refugee center itself as for instance we have no disposable gloves that aren’t a size X-Small or X-Large.

Half the volunteers doing the cleaning are females and as of last night I am too, so we will need gloves to fit at least 60% of us.

(Update: I am at present in Ukraine itself, assisting to get a travel and information desk set up in Lviv for refugee settlement in the Republic of Ireland. Depending on what happens, I may be back to cleaning the toilets, real soon.
Horatio Alger or O. Henry? YOU DECIDE!)

While doing this, I will also need a small bit of help paying for accommodations as I did not expect to stay anywhere near as long as I'm going to.

I'll try to narrate this for you as often as possible with stories and photos as it goes along. I can get Facebook posts going even though I’m terrible at that sort of thing.

We don't have to raise anything close to $7,000. I just picked a number. If you can scrape anything together, it will be put to bloody good use.
(Please note we are forbidden from taking photos inside the refugee centers that have anyone but volunteers in them, due to restrictions, the danger it might pose to refugees and family members still in Ukraine, and to respect their privacy.)

You can make a tiny bit of difference, a butterfly flapping against the winds of history perhaps, but a difference all the same. And I'll do the suffering for you. I love you all.

"Life's not complete
  Till you heart's missed a beat"

-Martin Madden

 P.S. Here’s me on a Brit radio station. Milly Luxford, the journalist I journeyed with across the border describes the day in her video and there is a brief interview where I get all blubbery below that (apologies in advance to the hard hearted out there.)

https://www.v2radio.co.uk/news1/millys-mission-friday/

P.P.S. We made into the Irish papers! (MANY details inaccurate, but that's the press for you.)
https://www.thejournal.ie/irish-team-help-ukrainian-refugees-przemysl-5744290-Apr2022/