Russia-Ukraine war: Palmerston North woman travels to northeast Ukraine to lend hand to local charity

Merezhivo charity volunteers. Photo / Givealittle

New Zealander Emma Richardson visited the Ukrainian city of Sumy last year to bring aid and volunteer with women’s charity Merezhivo.

Between October and November, Richardson visited soldiers on the region’s borders, and saw volunteers weave nets, make candles, knit socks and collect and send packages to defenders.

She told the Herald her first sense of injustice was at the start of the March 2022 invasion.

“It’s an unfair invasion of somebody coming into somebody else’s country and wreaking havoc and destroying everything,” she said.

But as the war continued with no end in sight, Richardson asked herself what she could do to help.

“Maybe there is some value in going there and seeing whether I can do something.”

She was in Europe at the time and took the overnight bus from Warsaw to Kyiv.

But the story of how she was able to visit Sumy and link up with Merezhivo ended up being more complicated.

After searching online to find a volunteer group she could join, she submitted a form for delivering aid from Poland to Ukraine.

“I had no real idea how it was going to work at this stage, and they were looking for trucks to do it,” she said.

“I got a contact from a form I had filled in saying, ‘There is actually an organisation out there for an organisation who needs help and here is a contact for them’.

“Although I didn’t have access to a truck, I had to figure out a way to get there.”

Merezhivo called itself “a union of ideas, initiatives, good deeds, and undertakings”.

In a Facebook post last month, the charity said, “Emma Clare Richardson came to Sumy from New Zealand to see with her own eyes how ‘lace’ works.”

“Lace” is the knitted and sewn warm clothing provided to Ukrainian soldiers on the frontlines of the war.

Emma Richardson's aid for Merezhivo. Photo / Facebook

Richardson visited Kyiv, Sumy and Lyiv in the west of the country.

She said the people were very hospitable and happy to see someone from outside.

Richardson said Merezhivo’s organisers are very well co-ordinated, united behind the effort, and make all kinds of objects for people across Ukraine.

“Everyone, from grannies to young people, is behind the effort, working together and united and focused.”

However, Richardson doesn’t plan on going back any time soon, and would only visit Ukraine after the war ends.

“Having seen it, resources are stretched, power supplies, and even when I was there, they asked people to conserve power,” she said.

Richardson said the best way for New Zealanders to help Ukrainians is to raise money here and send it over.

“It helps to have an organisation or a contact on the ground that you actually know, and [you know] where they will distribute it.

“Apart from the psychological or human contacts, it’s not very practical to go over there and drive a car.

“For us to go over there is quite unusual, but for them, the constant threat of missiles is a day-to-day reality.”

The war has so far claimed an estimated 8000 Ukrainian lives - 470 of which are children.

An estimated 100,000 Ukrainian soldiers have either been injured or died.

Over eight million Ukrainians fled their homes since the start of the war.

Over 17 million Ukrainians are in need of humanitarian assistance.

Ways to help those in Ukraine

Emma Richardson has started a Givealittle page to raise money for Merezhivo.

Charity appeals

Voices of Ukraine: https://voices.org.ua/en/.

Unicef: https://www.unicef.org/emergencies/war-ukraine-pose-immediate-threat-children.

Red Cross: https://www.redcross.org.nz/about-us/what-we-do/what-we-do-overseas/ukraine-humanitarian-crisis/.

United 24: https://u24.gov.ua/.