Ukraine Crisis Appeal: World Vision's Brianna Piazza reports from the Romania border with Ukraine. Video / World Vision / AP / Getty
The NZ Herald is joining forces with World Vision to help as more than 2 million Ukrainian women and children flee their country in the world's fastest-growing humanitarian emergency since WW2. From Saturday to Tuesday World Vision Emergency Communications specialist Brianna Piazza is covering the refugee exodus from the Ukraine-Romania border. This is her report.
As we cross the border from Romania into Ukraine, the line of people stretches for more than three kilometres. Three kilometres of unimaginable misery and suffering. Each person in that line has a story of heartbreak, of loved ones and lives left behind. I see it on their faces: Fear, sadness, frustration and absolute exhaustion from days spent fleeing the unimaginable terror that's rained down on them.
But in a sense, these are the lucky ones; the ones with the means to get out of the country, those able to collect a few precious belongings and flee to the border of Romania, Poland or Moldova.
For others, like 56-year-old grandmother Iryna who I spoke to inside Ukraine, escape isn't an option.
She fled Kyiv when the bombs started falling from the sky. She was forced to leave her elderly parents and her husband behind as there simply wasn't room in the car for everyone.
With her grandchildren sitting beside her, she tells me how they cried as the bombs rained down.
Grandmother, Iryna (left) fled Kyiv by car with her son, Vitalii (21), his wife Anastasiia (19), daughter Kateryna (19,) and Kateryna's 15-month-old daughter Annabelle. Photo / World Vision
Iryna is disabled and uses a crutch to get around - she stands little chance of survival if she had to run to escape fighting. She's completely reliant on her children to care for her and right now is sheltering in a hospital in southern Ukraine where I visited this week.
Supplies there are running out and the small town, currently sheltered from the brutal fighting in other parts of the country, is already experiencing an influx of people seeking refuge and medical help.
Doctor Mykola Stroich tells me that many of those arriving have flu-like symptoms and signs of trauma; they're in need of urgent psychological first aid.
World Vision Emergency Communications Specialist Brianna Piazza. Photo / World Vision
I was there with the World Vision team responding to an urgent plea from the hospital for much-needed food and medical supplies. The hospital, about the size of North Shore Hospital in Auckland, is coming under added pressure as those from bombarded cities flock to other parts of the country as safe havens, to seek food and shelter.
These are people who don't have connections, don't have money or the means to get across the border and are in desperate need of emergency assistance.
Many are older, are sick or, like Iryna, have disabilities and travelling long distances is difficult.
Our delivery of sheets, towels, soap and disinfectant, as well as staple food items for hungry children and families, was welcomed but we know that hospital supplies are already dangerously low.
World Vision makes a first aid delivery into Ukraine, providing food, pillows, blankets, duvets, sheets, towels, soap, detergent and bleach. Photo / World Vision
This is just one hospital in a huge country which is rapidly running out of access to life-saving basic essentials as the conflict expands.
I'm fearful that food and medical supplies won't be able to get through in the coming weeks, particularly as numbers of people needing emergency support increases.
Your urgent donation will provide vital essentials for children & families affected by the crisis in Ukraine. Please click here to donate now at worldvision.org.nz
At the hospital I also met Olga and her 15-month-old son, David. They fled Kyiv by car towards the border when fighting broke out, but when David's temperature spiked she aborted her plans and bought him here to the hospital for urgent care.
As I sat and spoke to her, I couldn't help but notice the enormous toll that the past few days has had on her.
Olga, 31, and her son, David, who is 15 months old, fled Kyiv region by car. Along the way, David started to feel unwell with a temperature. Photo / World Vision
Her face was drawn and tired, dark rings under her eyes. The sheer exhaustion of fleeing bombs and gunfire with a sick toddler was etched on her face.
Their chance of leaving is now diminishing as the conflict intensifies and humanitarian corridors become cut off. It's one of the devastating ramifications of this conflict; children play no part in creating any of this mess, but they're the ones bearing the consequences.
Back on the border, those I'm speaking with are becoming increasingly desperate. Those who were able to flee early had time to collect and organise a few precious possessions, but many of those I'm seeing this week have fled with just the clothes on their back and their documents.
Others have had to leave without family members because there isn't space. I've heard of grandparents saying 'you go, come back and get us when it's safe, just get the young ones out'.
I can't imagine having to make that choice, having to say, 'okay, there's five spots in the car and there is six of us, who stays behind?'. It's devastating.
You see kids crying because they miss their dad, because he has had to stay back home in a war zone, or you see families split apart because some of the older brothers are 'of age'.
I can't even begin to imagine going through that. There are so many of these stories, so many instances of families being ripped apart. It's so chaotic and children don't understand why this is happening.
Ivan, 17, arrived with his grandfather on foot. They walked for about one hour in snow to get to the Romanian border. Photo / World Vision
I met a teenager called Ivan, whose grandfather dropped him at the border to relative safety before going back to be with his elderly wife. With snow falling around us, Ivan told me about how worried he is for all his friends left behind in Ukraine.
On his own and between tears he tells me 'I love my friends...' He trails off and manages to compose himself before saying '...they could die'.
He removes his glasses and begins to sob. That's something that no 17-year-old should ever have to think about.
These children are being forced to grow up so fast, because of what they've been through and what they've witnessed. It's so unfair and tragic that the course of a kid's life can be so drastically altered by something that's so completely outside of their control. And they have to live with the consequences of that for the rest of their lives.
As well as providing food, water and heating to refugees fleeing the conflict, World Vision has set up activities for children when they arrive across the border.
At the very least, if there are kind, caring professionals there looking after their children, their parents can start to plan their next move - where they will sleep that night, how they will get food in the coming days, how they might try to set up their lives with nothing but the clothes on their back.
A new camp for processing refugees has been opened 15km from the border crossing. Photo / World Vision
Providing a safe space for children to play brings relief for parents but also provides a sense of normality for children. For kids who have had their lives torn from them in an instant, something as simple as play is so important.
We're identifying children and parents who need psychosocial support. As you can imagine, there are many.
To be honest, I can't fathom how anyone could escape the horrors that we are all seeing in the news without enduring scars. The people I talk to every day are certainly carrying with them incredible trauma which no human should ever have to bear.
As I left the border last night, I stopped in my tracks. There with his mum was a boy, about three years old, crying for his dad who they had left behind to fight.
Some mothers have told me that they are pretending that they're going on holiday, to try to save their children from the cruel reality that they face.
But for this child, and so many others, there is no hiding how much their lives have been torn apart.
Grandmother, Iryna, fled from Kyiv when bombs started falling. Photo / World Vision
Escaping Kyiv: Iryna's story
Iryna, 56, is a grandmother from Kyiv. When bombs started falling in her home city, she fled Kyiv by car with her daughter, son and daughter-in-law, and her grandchild Annabelle (15 months). A week into the conflict, the family arrived in a town in Southern Ukraine, where the number of displaced people had reached 500 people and continues to grow. Displaced people, such as Iryna are being housed in a school and accommodation near the local hospital but are fast running out of essentials like food and water.
"In Kyiv, we were being bombed, we were terrified, we were scared. Everything was being bombed and we had to leave. We learned, since coming here, that our home has probably been bombed too.
"When we left Kyiv, we took all our documents and things we needed. Our children were crying.
"We had to leave my husband and my parents behind because there wasn't enough room in our car for them. We can't return to get them, and they have no means to come here.
"There is a lot of trouble in Kyiv, people are really suffering. People are crying and they are running out of food. We are so scared.
"My son is looking after me as I have a disability and cannot walk very easily.
"We had hoped that we would be able to cross the border, but customs officials did not allow us to because we didn't have some of the required documents. And so, we are staying here as displaced people.
"We have nothing. There isn't enough water to drink. There are no showers. There is no hot water.
"But we are grateful for what we do have. We thank God that we and our children are alive. We would love to return home and go back to our previous life, but we can't, so we are going to stay here for now."
Olga, 31, and her son, David, who is one year and three months old, fled Kyiv region by car. Photo / World Vision
Escaping Kyiv: Olga's story
When the bombing started in Kyiv, 31-year-old mother Olga, her husband and their son, David (15 months) fled the region by car. During a long journey in freezing snowy conditions, Daniel became unwell. They managed to make it to a hospital in Southern Ukraine. Doctors who are helping David recover say many displaced people are presenting with fevers, colds and coughs due to the extremely cold weather that families encounter on their journey. They're also noticing other medical issues such as hypertension, stress, psychological stress among people on the move. The hospital urgently needs medical supplies and basic items such as food, water and medicines.
"When the bombing first started, we left our apartment in Kyiv. It was so difficult to have to leave our home. David was crying, he was so distressed.
"We first went to stay on the outskirts of the city in a cottage in the countryside for a few days. But then bombing started there too. So we hid in an underground shelter overnight, and in the morning decided to leave and head south away from Kyiv towards the border.
"While we were fleeing, David came down with a high temperature, and he wasn't well for three days. I was so worried about him.
"Thankfully, when we arrived in Southern Ukraine, we were able to get David to the hospital where he was given some medicine.
"He is feeling better now, but he is still very distressed. He doesn't understand what is going on.
"I'm worried a lot. Maybe he's feeling like this because I'm so stressed out.
"We don't know where we will go next. For now we will try to stay here. We just want the conflict to stop, so that we can return home."
Ukraine Crisis Appeal: Where your money goes Your support will help children and families affected by the crisis in Ukraine with • Food and hygiene kits • Child friendly spaces and shelter • Psychosocial support to help kids cope with trauma
Your urgent donation will provide vital essentials for children & families affected by the crisis in Ukraine. Please click here to donate now at worldvision.org.nz
