war story
Kharkiv - Dec 14, 2022
Why do people volunteer?
Why do people volunteer?
aiHaving worked with many people since the early days of the full-scale invasion I wondered, how and why do people volunteer?
aiEveryone goes their own way to volunteer. And I will tell you about mine. I am sure volunteers are not born, they become them. My path began in childhood.
aiThis is thanks to my parents, who allowed me to bring home injured pigeons, crows, bats and cats for treatment. My parents instilled in me love and kindness, which I wanted to share with the world. That's why I wanted to help injured animals as a child. And as a working adult, I have been donating to volunteers who help those in need.
aiWell, on February 24, 2022, I myself became a volunteer. I was one of the first to meet the war from the window of my apartment in the very north of the city of Kharkiv. Severnaya Saltivka is one of the most affected areas of the city.
aiI had anxiously packed a suitcase three days before the war after Putin's statement: "I will show you decommunization." You had to see that expression...
They just slept on the floor in four rows, about 600 people, 78 of them children.
aiAnd fifteen minutes after the start of the invasion, in the early morning of February 24, we took our bags and went to the shelter. I found it at the school in advance when I was packing our emergency suitcase and inspecting the basements in the district.
aiStaying in the shelter, my wife and I united with musicians, artists, actors, and poets who came to help the hundreds of people in need. This is how our cooperation and volunteering began.
aiOur shelter was packed with people. They just slept on the floor in four rows, about 600 people, 78 of them children.
aiI organized assistance with medicine, food, warm clothing and bedding. Another big job was evacuating many to safer regions of Ukraine or to other countries: Poland, Austria, Germany, Lithuania, Norway and even Canada.
aiThis is my volunteer way: from childhood to full-scale invasion, from a pigeon with a broken wing to a bomb shelter with hundreds of people and pets too.
