A Bag With No Handles

My Ukrainain Update

Two years ago this weekend Putin invaded Ukraine. A full scale invasion. Two days later Michael Capponi, founder of GEM, arrived. By the time I touched down three weeks later Michael had amassed his own army of volunteers, had filled a warehouse with aid, and was delivering it into the right hands, making deals with local leaders, relocating refugee’s and beginning to lay down firm foundations for a long term humanitarian war effort. But no-one thought it would be this long. Putin had underestimated the Ukrainian spirit.

I return to Ukraine every couple of months, in my role as a GEM board member, as a friend of the team and in the hopes that sharing stories from these trips will continue, in a very small way, to remind people that Ukraine is the front line between that terrifying authoritarian and the democratic world.

Two years on and the country is exhausted. The sirens still scream, shelling is constant, and the threat of death ever present. “There is a clear distinction between right and wrong” says philanthropist and Ukraine GEM Godfather, Howard G. Buffet, “and this war is clearly wrong”.

It used to take about an hour to fly from London to Kyiv. It now takes 2 days. Two long days. I ask friends what they need, what can we bring them. For my soldier friends it’s hand warmers, for the ladies living underground it’s lip balm and chocolates. For Vitaly, our GEM leader, a baby monitor for his wife. I am lucky that my boys come with me. Carrying the overloaded cases, filled with more treats for the kids and medicines for the elderly. Across the border, from free and safe Poland into dizzying Ukraine we drag our cases.

Conrad blowing up the football’s we had carried with us

From Kyiv we drive 9 or 10 hours to the front lines. “The first mission is the road” Vitally says in his thick beautiful Ukrainian accent. He also says “this is the berry in the cake” when there is a little moment of joy in our day, and he says “this is a bag with no handles” when there is less joy.

We move around a lot. There is so much need, so many villages, towns, communities that ache for assistance. It’s exhausting physically, it’s exhausting emotionally. When some of the older folk see me they begin to cry. They don’t see civilians, they don’t see mother and son volunteers. We hug each other. I ask “What can we bring you?” It’s always the same answer “Peace” they say sadly.

Chocolates for this lady who has been living underground since the invasion

When we are in active areas our phones are turned off. The military support with us will send out disinformation over the airways. Trucks of aid would be a juicy target. Clear sunny days are bad days, easier for drones to spot us. We pray for bad weather.

We live mainly off gas station food. You can normally tell how close you are to active areas because the gas station no longer has cold fridges or hot food. When you use the toilet you pee in a big bucket that is beside the toilet, you don’t pee in the toilet. I made that mistake once.

One night on this last trip we where honored to be invited to have dinner with the General of the region were we visiting. We sat around a long table with impressive military commanders, our volunteer team, Vitaly, Conrad and me. It was in an Italian restaurant that was still operating, although no Italian food is served, it’s Ukrainian. The menu was in Ukrainian. There was some confusion in trying to translate what was on offer….in the end the four page menu was simplified down “would you like cow or bird?” I chose cow. It was delicious. At the end of dinner the soldiers thumped each other on the back ‘slava ukraini' they say, raising their fists into the air.

I can’t imagine how it must feel for them as Western support fades. I see it on Instagram. I can post a picture of Stretch, my silly dog and it gets huge engagement, I post a picture from Ukraine and it gets flipped past. Eyes averted.

But as Michael always says, as long as there is a need Global Empowerment Mission will be there to serve it.