8th March 2022
Day 1 at Medyka train station.
Our affiliates at Food For All, based in the UK has traveled to the Ukrainian border in Poland in order to help the refugees trying to escape Ukraine.
They are providing hot vegan meals to refugees as well as some members of the Polish army who have been sent to the border to assist with the relocation of refugees.
The following update comes from Peter O Grady, the Director of Food for All U.K.
Medyka train station is an old disused station, a stone throw from the Ukraine border, on the Polish side.
What I saw today was very disturbing, women and children fleeing their country, climbing onto trains, carrying only a little bag of whatever they could manage.
There were similarities here that reminded me of scenes from “Schindler List”, and I felt I was actually in the horror movie.
The extreme weather, the snow blowing in your face, the bleak winter countryside, and now I am writing this account in the cold dark night, on a wasteland, waiting with hundreds of refugees for the last two trains to arrive.
The Mayor of Medyka had immediately welcomed us on arrival and had arranged an perfect field kitchen location, a small shed, access to running water and electricity.
And the Polish soldiers, fire men , and police were very helpful to the refugees and engaged in distributing our hot vegan meals and chopping vegetables with us. Local ladies from a nearby office immediately leave their office as soon as the train arrives and help carry the meals into the train carriages.
We are fortunate to have a team of very experienced and hard working international volunteers ready to take on the austerity of the rough conditions, and the risky environment.
The first hot meal consisted of Pasta ( lots of children ), pakoras, bananas, oranges, hot fruit tea and a bottle of water.
Second meal from our gigantic pot was a mix vegetable curry, with tofu and a coconut cream sauce, they loved it. We use very little spice as most of the refugees are children and their mothers.
There were no male refugees, except very old, those in wheelchairs or those who had been wounded.
All able men in the Ukraine were obliged to fight the Russian army.
The people fleeing were in anxiety to get on the train , so the best way to serve the vegan meal is when they are less stressed in the train carriages.
My suggestion is to stay here another week and then move the operation to the Polish City of Wroclaw, one of the biggest cities in Poland that has the biggest number of Ukrainian refugees that we know of. There we want to buy a small van, called a combo , and kit it out for the enormous task ahead. We have the committed team there for an ongoing continuous refugee welfare.
We wish to thank Paul Turner and the Food for Life Global for making this happen.
2 Comments
My husband ( vegan 12 years) loves to cook. It very good. We are retired but full of energy. My husband’s family (grandparents) are all from Ukraine and Poland.
Is there anything we can physically do to help? We have traveled may places and are good roughing it.
Best regards,
Wendy Ginsberg
Ps he is also a street photographer.
We are not taking any new volunteers for this effort as it is way too dangerous. Thanks.