A well-developed logistical plan and a clear understanding of the needs of the victims help to avoid chaos in the provision of humanitarian aid in flooded Kherson.
The idea for the project “Synergy of Volunteers of the Kherson Region” was conceived immediately after the de-occupation of Kherson. After 255 days of occupation, the Ukrainian Armed Forces liberated the regional centre on November 11, 2022, and in the second half of the month Kherson became a kind of Ukrainian Mecca. Everyone wanted to come to the liberated southern outpost of Ukraine: volunteers and the military, MPs, politicians, public persons, musicians, artists, photographers, activists, journalists from all over Ukraine and all the international media that have offices in our country. Everyone wanted to be photographed on Freedom Square, the city’s central square, to make a post or a story, and to bring humanitarian aid to Kherson.
They were carrying everything: food, drinking water, hygiene products and warm clothes. The city had been without electricity and water for 3-4 weeks, so generators, lanterns, power banks and even candles, batteries and matches were the most valuable aid.
The warehouses that the city and regional authorities quickly found and adapted to receive humanitarian aid, were filled with vegetables, cereals, flour and second-hand goods.
The hype created chaos. Many volunteers did not bring what the people of the right bank of the Kherson region needed, but what they already had. There were a lot of funny cases. For example, one NGO brought to Kherson a batch of five hundred plastic children’s pots for very young children (these are used to teach children to go to the toilet). None of the volunteers asked about the fact that there were almost no such young children left in the city – most of them had been evacuated.
“The local authorities had no idea what people needed and how to organize the distribution and delivery of humanitarian aid onsite,” – says Volodymyr Kosiuk, Chairman of the Public Organization “Journalists Association “Alternative”. – Moreover, they had no people to do it. The commissions set up in the district executive committees were collecting applications from the heads of condominium associations, then were studying them for a long time, were making decisions… Meanwhile, potatoes and carrots were rotting in warehouses, and mice and rats were eating cereals and pasta”.
A volunteer team of Kherson journalists worked in Kherson throughout the occupation. It is not surprising, then, that at the end of November 2022, the team took over most of the coordination of the Kherson volunteer movement.
“We knew exactly what people needed and prepared applications to Ukrainian and international foundations for humanitarian aid,” – says Iryna Miezientseva, the main coordinator of the team of volunteer journalists. – “We had a database of large families, people with disabilities, the elderly and people with reduced mobility in Kherson and the suburbs. So every day we collected, packed, delivered and distributed the aid to the residents of Kherson”.
By March 1, 2023, when the project “Synergy of Volunteers of the Kherson Region” was launched, the team had a clear action plan and a logistical scheme for delivering aid to residents of Kherson, its suburbs and villages on the right bank of the Kherson region.
During the 5 months of its work, the Public Organization “Journalists Association “Alternative” has established cooperation with dozens of civil society organizations in Ukraine and abroad. In the city, the team works with NGO “Kherson League of Social Workers”, NGO “VeloKherson”, NGO “Autism. Special Universe” and NGO “Community Matters”.
At the all-Ukrainian level, the permanent partners are the International Renaissance Foundation, the East Europe Foundation, the “Voices of Children” Foundation and the Institute for Economic Research and Policy Consulting.
At the regional level, there is ongoing cooperation with NGO “Center of Information Studies and Resource Service ”Meridian” from Lviv, NGO “Impulse” ( Skole, Lviv region), NGO “The Tenth of April” from Odesa, NGO “Rotary Club of Kharkiv “New Level”, CO “Power of Uzhhorod”.
The team is also constantly supported by European partners: German-Ukrainian Society of Freiburg, Freedom for Ukraine – Braunschweig (Germany), Zuera Solidario María Pilar Comín Pueyo from the town of Suera, Zaragoza province (Spain), Caps and Candles for Ukraine from Sweden.
“We don’t even have enough paper to list all our partners,” – smiles Iryna Miezientseva. – “We have friends and helpers in most regions of Ukraine: Rivne, Dnipro, Kyiv, Kharkiv, Zakarpattia and many others. And also in Italy, Romania, France, Portugal, Poland, the USA, Canada”.
For the Kherson region, the occupation did not end with the tough experience. On June 6, 2023, the russians blew up the Kakhovka hydroelectric power station. The lower districts of Kherson and the villages on the banks of the Dnipro were flooded.
“There was a rush to help and support Kherson again. People from all over Ukraine and the world wanted to help. But we were already prepared for this rush,” – says Volodymyr Kosiuk. – “For example, the aid we delivered included women’s stiletto heels and caracul coats. And that was for flooded Kherson (he laughs). But 99% of the aid met real needs. In the early days it was drinking water, boats, rubber boots, motor pumps and instant food. And now it is hygiene and household chemicals, disinfectants, cleaning products, wheelbarrows, shovels, ordinary household items, pillows, sheets, towels and blankets. We are providing all of this to the flood victims”.
A well-established logistics model and a clear understanding of the needs of the people in the flooded areas helped to avoid chaos. In June-July, humanitarian aid was delivered to Kherson faster, better and, most importantly, to the people who really needed it.
The floods in the houses of the people of Kherson took away everything: furniture, household appliances and equipment, personal belongings… Only the dishes could be saved and washed off. The team of volunteer journalists knows that it will take years to overcome the consequences of the disaster caused by the explosion of the Kakhovka hydroelectric power station by the occupiers. And all this time, people whose homes have been flooded will need help.
