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MEDYKA, POLAND – Our crews visited the Poland-Ukraine border as well as a checkpoint in Poland where refugees have to pass through. A lot of people from all over the world are willing and ready to help the Ukrainian people and it showed at the border and checkpoint where they greeted the refugees.
Once the Ukrainian people cross through these green gates, they’ve safely made it to Poland. Crossing into Poland, you can see people carrying as much as they can, which most of the time, is just one suitcase and a child or a pet. At this southern border crossing near Medyka, Poland, it can be described as chaotic but filled with people with good intentions.
Along the walkway that refugees pass through, several international groups and organizations are ready to greet them, give them food, SIM cards for their cell phones and even a therapy dog to comfort them.
“It took us almost two days to get from Kharkov to L’viv,” said the refugee woman. “We spent some time with our friends and today we arrived here.”
This woman just made it to Poland with her child. We spoke with her shortly after she crossed the border. She’s grateful for how friendly everyone is and has a message for her fellow Ukrainians: “We want to say everyone hold on because it’s very scary out there but we will win.”
Refugees board buses waiting for them to take them to other cities or to checkpoints like this one about 20 minutes west of the border.
Weeks ago, when there were just thousands and thousands of refugees making their way to this checkpoint, they wanted to make sure they had a place to stay and so they were basically being set up inside this building and it’s a large building but there still wasn’t enough room so they put up these orange tents as a temporary spot for them to stay.
We weren’t allowed access inside the building for privacy reasons, but inside we’re told refugees could get help with other administrative business and transportation to big cities in Poland or other European countries.
Outside of the building, more volunteers from all over the world are cooking fresh food for the refugees.
“It is in my nature to do some voluntary work but not at a scale like this not at wartime,” said Gerdein Hammer, a volunteer from the Netherlands.
“We are really happy to be here and to see and feel like our island is helping,” said Sabina Poulsen and Andrias Klein from the Faroe Islands. “We are a small country in but we do a great job I think.”
For these volunteers they see how these refugees have endured the worst and hope their help will bring them some relief.
“For me, seeing those smiles, it made everything like a little kids; it feels like everything that is happening is horrible but it feels like if we can give them what they need then it’s like satisfying you know,” said Poulsen and Klein.
“For us it’s just a small thing to do but the people are really sometimes they’re really desperate and don’t know where they’re going so for us it’s kind of a blessing to do such a thing,” said Hammer.
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