Humans of Odesa
THE HUMANITARIAN HEROES
"Before the war I had a vegetarian café with cultural programs. During the war we continued this program on a small scale and gave food to around 20 people every day - families, elderly and people in need.
We have closed the café now. Thanks to our friends, we were able to expand the food distribution via a larger public kitchen. In the beginning we distributed 50 meals a day, then 100. Now we are feeding 500 people every day. Many are IDPs [internally displaced people].
We are distributing food to anybody without religious or nationality restrictions. Basically to anyone who is in need. A special thing about the food we distribute is that we only serve vegetarian food because we don’t want to contribute to spreading violence in the world.
If we sell violence, it comes back to us according to the law of Karma.”
Ruslan - organizer at Food for Life Odesa
“The more you help people, the more substantial you feel. We had a blackout for two days, you were there, you know it, and today when the electricity came back, everyone came earlier on purpose since there's electricity again and everyone sat down to work. Just imagine!
We didn’t wait until nine o'clock until we officially open! We all got to work earlier in order to get more done. I always say when you help everyone a little bit, then one day all of these little bits will help you".
Marina Semenyuk - senior volunteer at Gostina Hata
“I am a volunteer of this volunteer Center since September and I'm helping here because I feel that I I need to help the people from my country.
Before the war I work on the cruise line so I have been on the ship when the war started. When I heard about the war I signed off and came back to Ukraine and I started to help with the camouflage netting for the Army. I helped them for three months and later I moved to the distribution center of the city so I changed to this one. Here we provide a grocery, medicine and hygiene products. I have been here for two months already".
Oxana - volunteer at Gostina Hata
"Our organization is operating in the Odesa region and we support this region as good as we can with whatever is needed through our volunteers.
I do it because I’m Ukrainian. As our president says everyone should do their best, all they can do. I want to live in Ukraine, I want my child to live in Ukraine. If I am being protected by soldiers who are defending us at the cost of their lives today, liberating our territory, I am obliged as each member of my team is to help them, to help our country in order to keep our Ukraine.
I am strongly against Russia. We are all here pro-Ukrainian, and we want to keep our Ukraine. We will work here until the very last day of the war, which will certainly ends with the victory of our Ukraine. Only then we will rest. My main motivation is the victory of Ukraine and I will do everything in my power to make it happen. Helping people, helping military, helping those in need, resettlers, everyone who needs it, I will be doing it till the very last day, until our Victory. This is the most important motivation.
When the war started, we all understood that it would be a catastrophe for us, because of all resettlers, people losing their jobs, families losing their breadwinners, as our men are fighting and therefore our lives have completely changed, we have ceased to be lawyers, economists, and so on, we have become volunteers".
Alena Vavilova - head of public organization “Spilne Rishennya”
“I am a dentist but since the war started I try to help the volunteer center as much as I can. It was difficult to stay home and do nothing.
I hope the war will end soon and that we fix the things that have been broken and to live happily after as we used to before the war…But I am not sure if it will happen very soon..but we will hold on and hope that it will end soon".
Victoria - volunteer at Gostina Hata
"We are engaged in feeding people that are in need. Here at this organization we have a dream team, we enjoy it a lot and the people that are coming to eat can also perceive the good mood of our team that uplifts their own mood.
The poverty of people during the war has increased a lot but luckily there has been lots of people helping each other. This help needs to be ongoing to help the most vulnerable people".
Elena - Volunteer at Food for Life Odesa
"We are now at our headquarters of our humanitarian center. It used to be the office of the party of our president. So we set up our headquarters and a warehouse here. Initially, these were some kind of minimum supplies, we were buying food with our own money, packages for low-income people, and then just about a month and a half later, international community began to supply us with such food packages, we collect them and help both temporarily displaced persons and low-income families, large families. Also on my list I have several people whose husbands are at war right now.
Due to the war, the whole operation has expanded so quickly that so many IDPs have arrived here, many became impoverished and we are doing our best to help and support them.
For our region, the international support is so important. Especially medical help and medications is urgently needed".
Natalya Vladimirovna Fox - deputy economic director, health/distribution center
"Since the first days of the war, our life has changed dramatically. We immediately started volunteering . As of today we are connected with many public organizations in order to help the residents of our villages Novaya Dofinovka and Vapnyarka, in order to slightly change the lives of our inhabitants for the better.
We try our best, we accept refugees here: Many are from Kherson and Nikolaev. We distribute a lot of humanitarian aid to internally displaced people, including clothes and food. And a lot of help is given here on the spot to people who have lost their job.
The first month it was very scary to go outside, basically everyone was sitting home, no one was in contact with anyone. But at the moment, it is different. Everyone who has the opportunity, either financially or physical, many doctors, psychologists, came to the rescue in order to organize all kinds of webinars and seminars, offline and online, to support those people who were emotionally affected by the war. It seems to me that the war in our country has very much changed the mentality of our people in general towards unification".
Natalya Prudnikova - Starostinsky district