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Awar unlike any conflict Kiwi aid worker has seen

With the northern winter looming, supporting Ukraine’s displaced millions is proving more crucial than ever. By Gianina Schwanecke.

To learnmore or donate, visit tearfund. org.nz/ukraine

AKiwi aidworker who has travelled tomany conflict zones, says Ukraine is unlike any he has experienced before. Tearfund’s international programmes director, Tim Manson, arrived in a small town inwestern Ukraine – which The

Dominion Post has decided not to name for security reasons – a few days ago.

Before crossing the Polish border, he was handed a gas mask and decontamination kit – in case of a nuclear event.

‘‘Thatwas definitely a first forme and I’ve been to a lot of post-conflict zones for my work. It’s a stark reminder of the strain and fear people in Ukraine have been living under for a long time.’’

What also struckMansonwas the scale and beauty of the country.

Removed from the fighting, he described the ‘‘stunning’’ scenery of the European towns, fields of bright yellow sunflowers, and acres of autumnal trees just beginning to shed their leaves.

Manson said it was ‘‘quite confronting’’ to drive through these endless stretches of sunflowers and realise muchmight be left to rot as it could not be harvested or processed because of the ongoing war.

Similarly, winter iswell on its way, and with it comes new challenges.

‘‘Winter is a couple of months away here and the temperatures are going to drop dramatically.’’

Heavy snowfall and a lack of roadcleaning equipment means parts of the country will be completely cut off, while windows blown out by shockwaves from nearby shelling need to be replaced in shelters housing displaced Ukrainians.

The International Organisation for Migration estimates there are more than 8million displaced peoplewithin Ukraine and millionsmore who have crossed the border into other European countries where they have been registered as refugees.

Without NZ$2million in funding from both government and the public, Tearfund is helping support this displaced population through a range of measures providingmedicine and shelter for those displaced.

Tearfund is also providing winterisation kits, with non-food items like blankets, warm clothes, bedding, mattresses and hygiene kits. Just $80 can help provide medicine for up to 20 people, while $140 covers shelter, food and essentialmaterials costs for a refugee family.

Manson said of the Ukrainians he had met – most of them women, children and elderly – that they were united in being

‘‘extremely determined and resilient’’.

He recalled the story of 82-year-old Halyana, told to him through tears, relayed by a translator.

Halyana had been through ‘‘massive, unimaginable loss’’, her adult son, daughter-in-law and grandchild having been killed in the conflict before she was forced to flee her home.

She was now living in a rundown Soviet-era building.

‘‘Imaginewhat this woman has lived through being born in 1940 during the second worldwar in the Soviet Union at the time and everything she has seen,’’ Manson said.

Another group of people he spoke to, many of whom had disabilities, told him they had spent an entire week in an underground shelter because of ‘‘incessant’’ shelling.

‘‘It’s easier to think of the scale as kind of macro but when you get down to it and hear a story like that you realise the toll the conflict has on people’s lives.’’

Manson said this conflict felt different

from others he had experienced in Uganda and northern Iraq.

In someways it was more relatable for Kiwis back home.

Many of those most affected lived in houses not dissimilar from our own, they drove cars like ours and worked jobs like ours, he said.

New Zealanders had really got behind the response for this reason, Manson thought and he was impressed by the level of generosity shown which mirrored that of many Ukrainians.

Manson isn’t the only Kiwi involved with the war effort. FormerMPRon Mark, who has visited Ukraine twice, is one of a number of New Zealanders assisting with aidwork. Meanwhile, others hadworked as medics.

Some Kiwis – including killed soldier Dominic Abelen – have travelled to the war zone to fight alongside Ukraine’s armed forces.

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2022-10-01T07:00:00.0000000Z

2022-10-01T07:00:00.0000000Z

https://fairfaxmedia.pressreader.com/article/281642489052955

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