人道援助｜我們渴望擺脫恐懼 “We don’t want to live in fear anymore”

百靈佳殷格翰如何幫助紅十字會

在戰爭初期，百靈佳殷格翰向緊急救援組織捐贈了250萬歐元的資金。他們深知這些組織需要更多的支援，因此決定從2022年3月開始，每月向波蘭紅十字會和德國紅十字會各捐贈100萬歐元，並將持續到2023年。在2022年，百靈佳殷格翰承諾提供超過2500萬歐元的財務支援和藥物。

連續兩個晚上，Kateryna Afanasenko無法入睡。警報聲不斷響起，她的三個孩子則一直在哭泣。當又一次爆炸發生時，Afanasenko知道：這樣下去不行。

她決定逃離烏克蘭的戰爭，在第二天早上便帶著自己和孩子的必需品離開。他們搭上了一班火車，前往波蘭東部的熱舒夫（Rzeszów），那裡靠近烏克蘭和波蘭的邊境。

她回憶起在新環境的頭幾天是最困難的，他們懷念留下的一切：他們的家園、朋友、鄰居，尤其是他們不得不留下的狗。她的聲音顫抖，她稍微轉過頭去。

Afanasenko女士現在與她的三個孩子住在他們的小公寓中，該公寓位於華沙以東250公里的扎莫希奇（Zamość）。在波蘭紅十字會經營的一個培育中心，她剛剛結束了波蘭語課程。她現在可以用波蘭語問路或去購物，她說：「但我仍需更進步。」

仍需要幫忙

自八月以來，波蘭紅十字於當地的分會，每天為難民提供語言課程，並不斷擴大援助的範圍。

「為邊境難民提供人道援助仍是我們的主要任務之一，」整合中心協調人Viktoria Krasun表示。越來越多烏克蘭人在波蘭定居，因此需要融入社會。「最終目標是讓難民在我們這裡感到安全和舒適，獲得我們幫助的同時，也能在未來自力更生。」

百靈佳殷格翰自2022年3月起便支持著波蘭和德國紅十字會的工作，提供每月捐款（見資訊列）。透過這種方式，讓烏克蘭人在他們極度需要的時候得到了可持續且長期的幫助。

即使難民能像Afanasenko女士和她的家人一樣，抵達波蘭並建立新的生活，但越來越多的難民從戰區抵達，則意味著戰爭和苦難仍未結束。

安全抵達波蘭

在2022年11月9日星期三下午3:40，來自烏克蘭東部扎波羅熱（Zaporizhia）的火車抵達了位於普瑟密士（Przemyśl）邊境站的第5號月台。逾250名難民被引導進入一座朴素的黃色建築，進行護照和海關檢查。幾分鐘後，他們安全抵達波蘭。

親人們用彩色氣球和鮮花等待著難民的到來。有的相互擁抱且喜極而泣。但對於像Natalia和Alexander這樣的人來說，火車將繼續向西行駛。他們是兩位年僅21歲的年輕人，穿著紅色運動服和運動鞋。其中一人說：「東部的戰爭變得越來越危險，甚至斷電了。我們不想再生活在恐懼中。我們將繼續前往卡托維兹（Katowice）與朋友會合。」

然而，大部分剛抵達的人並沒有任何聯絡點。波蘭紅十字會的志工和普瑟密士（Przemyśl）的工作人員將負責與他們會面，然後引導他們前往Anna Miśniak所在的波蘭紅十字會營運的過渡中心（transit centre），該中心距離火車站只有十分鐘的路程。

這個曾經是倉庫的地方，現在提供了多達1,200張床，並在一個咖啡館供應熱食。如有頭痛、高血壓或其他症狀的患者，則在醫生的辦公室接受治療。兒童和年輕人可以在遊戲室玩耍；在一角，兩個孩子正在繪畫彩色的圖畫。

Miśniak女士說：「對許多難民來說，我們的過渡中心是他們旅程的第一站。我們可以提供一個睡覺的地方，照顧他們，並在48小時內安排他們前往其他城市和社區。」普瑟密士（Przemyśl）一直存在著住房短缺的問題。Miśniak女士估計，現在已有超過10,000名烏克蘭人在這座原本只有60,000人口的小鎮定居下來，無法再乘載更多人口。

如果您希望捐款幫助受到烏克蘭戰爭影響的人們，請查看該連結。

銳減的捐贈意願

然而，每天仍有數百名烏克蘭人抵達這個波蘭邊境的城鎮。波蘭紅十字會預測，在未來的幾個星期和幾個月內，將有多達75萬名烏克蘭人可能離開他們的國家。

為了做好準備，波蘭紅十字會的成員Maciej Budka竭盡所能填滿該組織的倉庫。他請求供應商發送食物，嘗試購買帳篷和床墊，並向他的同事索取衛生用品套裝。當Budka先生走過魯布林市郊一座佔地5000平方米的建築時，他嚴謹地檢查著庫存。

他指著一堆大藍色袋子說：「我們收到了大批睡袋。」再往前走一段，Budka先生用美工刀切開一個棕色紙箱，拿出給皂器。他沉思地點點頭。整體而言，我們的庫存比戰爭初期多。但這足夠嗎？Budka先生表示懷疑：「永遠不夠。這需求實在是太巨大。目前，發電機仍然短缺。此外，捐贈的意願也有所下降。」經過幾個月的戰爭，人們對這場衝突的關注已逐漸減少。

「現在，我可以幫忙。」

Budka先生對每一次的捐贈和每一位幫助者都格外感激。

在志工中，有一位名叫Afanasenko女士的志工，她是一位有三個孩子的難民母親。而她是一位受過訓練的理髮師，在波蘭紅十字會的語言課結束後，她免費為她的同學們理髮。她表示：「我受到了很多幫助，我知道這些需求有多大。今天我已經感覺好多了。現在我可以幫助別人，而我們每一個可以幫助人的舉動都很重要。」

如果你想捐助幫助受到烏克蘭戰爭影響的人，這裡有一些建議：

紅十字國際委員會
https://www.icrc.org

聯合國難民署
https://donate.unhcr.org/sg/en-sg/general

德國援助行動組織協調災難援助
https://www.aktion-deutschland-hilft.de

Aktionsbündnis Katastrophenhilfe
https://www.aktionsbuendnis-katastrophenhilfe.de

HUMANITARIAN AID

“We don’t want to live in fear anymore”

The war in Ukraine continues to cause suffering and hardship. The Polish and the German Red Cross – supported by donations from Boehringer Ingelheim – are making every effort to help.

HOW BOEHRINGER INGELHEIM HELPED THE RED CROSS

In the first days of the war, Boehringer Ingelheim made a first financial donation of 2.5 million euros to emergency relief organizations. Knowing that more than initial support was needed, the company also decided to make monthly donations of one million euros each to the Polish Red Cross and the German Red Cross, starting in March 2022 and will continue in 2023. In all, in 2022 Boehringer Ingelheim committed more than 25 million euros in financial support and medicines.

For the second night in a row, Kateryna Afanasenko got no sleep. Sirens were wailing, her three children crying continually. When another detonation occurred, Ms. Afanasenko knew: It could not go on like this.

She decided to flee the war in Ukraine, packing up the essentials for herself and her children the next morning. They boarded a train that took them to Rzeszów in Eastern Poland, not far from the Ukrainian-Polish border.

Those first few days in a new place were tough, she remembers. They missed everything they left behind: their home, friends, neighbors and above all their dog, which they had to leave behind. Her voice breaks, and she briefly turns away.

Ms. Afanasenko now lives with her three children in their own small apartment in Zamość, 250 kilometers southeast of Warsaw. At an integration center run by the Polish Red Cross, her Polish lesson has just ended. She can now ask for directions or go shopping in Polish, she says. “But I still have to improve further.”

The need for help continues

Since August, the local branch of the Polish Red Cross has been offering daily language courses for refugees and is constantly expanding its range of help.

“Providing humanitarian aid to refugees at the border is still one of our main tasks,” says Viktoria Krasun, coordinator of the Integration Center. More and more Ukrainians have settled in Poland and need to be integrated into society. “The ultimate goal is that the refugees feel safe and comfortable with us — and that they stand on their own two feet in the future, also with our help.”

Boehringer Ingelheim has been supporting the Polish and German Red Cross’s efforts since March 2022 with a monthly donation (see info box). In this way, the Ukrainians are helped in their great need — sustainably and in the long-term. The war and the suffering are far from over.

Even as refugees like Ms. Afanasenko and her family are building a new life for themselves in Poland, the war and the suffering are far from over. More and more refugees arrive daily from the war zone.

In Poland, and safe

At the border station Przemyśl, on Wednesday, November 9, 2022, at 3:40 pm the train from Zaporizhia in Eastern Ukraine arrives on the completely fenced Platform 5. More than 250 refugees are led into an unadorned, yellow building for passport and customs control. Minutes later, they are officially in Poland, and safe.

Relatives are waiting for some of the refugees with colorful balloons and flowers. There are embraces, tears of joy. For others — like Natalia and Alexander — the train will go further West. They’re two young adults, just 21 years old, wearing red tracksuits and sneakers. "The fighting in the East became more and more threatening,” one of them says. “In the end, the electricity broke down. We don't want to live in fear anymore. We continue to travel to friends in Katowice.”

Most of the new arrivals, however, have no point of contact. Polish Red Cross volunteers and staff in Przemyśl meet them — then guide them to Anna Miśniak. She manages the so-called Transit Center run by the Polish Red Cross, ten minutes from the train station.

Up to 1,200 camp beds are available here in a former warehouse. In addition, hot meals are provided in a café. Patients with headaches, high blood pressure or other symptoms are treated in a doctor's room. Children and young people play in a games room; in one corner, two children paint colorful pictures.

“For many refugees, our transit centers are the first stop on their journey,” says Ms. Miśniak. “We give them a place to sleep, take care of them — and place them in other cities and communities within 48 hours.” In Przemyśl there has long been a lack of housing. Ms. Miśniak estimates that more than 10,000 Ukrainians have now settled in the small town, which formerly had a population of 60,000. There is no more spare capacity.

If you would like to donate to help people affected by the war in Ukraine, please find some links below.

The willingness to donate has waned

And yet, several hundred Ukrainians continue to arrive at this Polish border town every day. The Polish Red Cross predicts that up to 750,000 people from Ukraine could leave their country in the coming weeks and months.

To be prepared, Maciej Budka, a member of the Polish Red Cross, tries everything to fill the group’s warehouses. He asks distributors to send food, tries to buy tents and mattresses, and asks his international colleagues for hygiene kits. While walking through the 5,000-square-meter building on the outskirts of the city of Lublin, Mr. Budka critically examines the inventory.

“We received a large shipment of sleeping bags,” he says, pointing to a pile of large blue bags. One aisle further, Mr. Budka cuts open a brown cardboard box with a carpet knife and takes out soap dispensers. He nods thoughtfully. Overall, we have more stock than at the beginning of the war. But is it enough? Mr. Budka is skeptical. "There is never enough. The need is simply immense.” Currently, there is a lack of generators. Also, the willingness to donate has decreased.” After months of war, attention to the conflict is declining.

“Now I can help.”

Mr. Budka is all the more grateful for every donation and every helper.

Among those who volunteer is Ms. Afanasenko, the refugee mother of three. She is a trained hairdresser — and cuts the hair of her fellow students from the language course after class in the rooms of the Polish Red Cross, free of charge. “I have received a lot of help and I know how great the need is,” she explains. “I feel better today. Now I can help. Every gesture counts.”

IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO DONATE TO HELP PEOPLE AFFECTED BY THE WAR IN UKRAINE, HERE ARE A FEW SUGGESTIONS:

International Committee of the Red Cross
https://www.icrc.org

UNHCR – The UN Refugee Agency
https://donate.unhcr.org/sg/en-sg/general

Aktion Deutschland Hilft
https://www.aktion-deutschland-hilft.de

Aktionsbündnis Katastrophenhilfe
https://www.aktionsbuendnis-katastrophenhilfe.de