Heading to Eastern Europe: Ukraine Refugee Relief

The Russian invasion of Ukraine has been unfolding as a nightmare the past few weeks, one that has no end in sight. I have been connecting with relief groups in Eastern Europe, primarily in Poland and Slovakia, via email, whatsapp, and Facebook. I want to help more than making a contribution, as meaningful and important as that is. I have come up with plan revolving around refugee housing (and have assembled a fund of $10,000 to start with), one that has resonated with some of the groups I’ve been connecting with. I’ll focus my efforts on Slovakia and will heading to Eastern Europe on this Friday. I will probably be blogging every few days. So check back to follow on what I see and find on the ground.
1. Just going to Eastern Europe shows support for countries that have opened their doors to refugees makes a statement. Hotels and restaurants that have suffered under Covid for two years are now experiencing massive tourist cancellations because of the war.
2. Slovakia has taken in more than 300,000 refugees. While this is a much smaller number than the 2.5-3 million into Poland, Poland is a far larger country. The per capita input on Slovakia is comparable to that of Poland, which seems to be getting far more attention and resources. Poland has almost 40 million people, and Slovakia has about 5.4 million.
3. I will be flying to Budapest, Hungary in two days and will then take the train into Kosice, Slovakia, where I will be meeting with the local Rotary chapter, which is spearheading relief efforts. I confess that I had not realized how active Rotary International is and how many incredible projects they are involved in.
4. Kosice (pronounced KHO’ shi tse)is the second largest city in Slovakia, with a population of 240,000. Kosice is in eastern Slovakia about 50-60 miles (80-97 km) from the Ukraine border. The two countries share a common border about 60 miles (97 km) long. Kosice is a key staging ground for supplies, from food & water to medicines, for Ukraine. Its proximity makes it a housing and transit point for refugees.
5. Trivia question: What country has the most Ukrainian refugees? If you answered “Poland,” you are off by a few million. There are now 7 million Ukrainian refugees in UKRAINE, mostly from the east to the west. Uzhhorod is the Ukraine town on the border with Slovakia that is a key distribution point of humanitarian aid, which Kosice is supplying.
6. While my plan involves working with moderately-priced hotels to stretch my fund’s buying power for as many rooms as possible (providing both housing to refugees and revenue to hotels), FLEXIBILITY is the key as the situation can change instantly and constantly. If I have to help acquire meds for high blood pressure or diabetes from local hospitals or pharmacies, that may be the project of the day.
7. With so few refugees vaccinated against Covid and so many of them packed into crowded areas, I realize that I may (likely?) contract Covid. But with four vaccines (got the second booster 10 days ago), I expect and hope (no guarantees) my symptoms if any will be mild.