Two Days In Odesa

Full Photo Album: https://flic.kr/s/aHBqjAUprT

Driving a car in Odesa

I had finally met Mark Cary, a U.S. Marine turned humanitarian from Arizona, and his humanitarian colleague, Hymie Dunne. Hymie hails from the art world in London. She and Mark met while volunteering during the unpredictable early days of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

While 99% of foreigners (and many Ukrainians) were evacuating, Mark and Hymie headed into the great unknown.

Anastasia and I had already visited their home base in Irpin, just outside Kyiv. But now we were heading to Kherson City, and it would just be Mark, Hymie, and me. (Anastasia’s family felt visiting Kherson was too dangerous, so she declined this trip).

We and supplies were crammed into Hymie’s crowded and Crowdfunded humanitarian van.

Kherson City is near the front in Southern Ukraine. Ukraine liberated Kherson City in the fall of 2022 after many months of Russian occupation. It was very near the Russian front and bombed daily. It would be the most dangerous part of my journey. Body armor was not only desired but also required, at least for foreigners.

But first, we were due to stop off in Odesa*, the famed port city by the Black Sea, a place I’d always wanted to visit. Odesa is typically a tourism paradise in the summer. Odesa was mostly peaceful during our visit, with just a few air raid sirens. The town had little recent bombing activity. But soon after our visit, when Russia pulled out of the Black Sea Grain Transport deal, the city would sustain even more difficult moments than in the early days of Russia’s full-scale invasion, as many of the places you see here were relentlessly pounded by the Russians.

We spent two days in Odesa mainly because the recent Russian sabotage of the Kakhovka Dam had caused a humanitarian crisis of epic proportions. Odesa was overflowing with families escaping their flooded villages. Hymie had a couple of stops at a family shelter called “Way Home” and a women’s shelter called “Aurora House,” where we were going to drop off supplies such as kitchen starter kits for the families, laptop computers for their administrative teams (courtesy of Bank of Montreal in London), and cold hard cash for the recently displaced mothers.

Woman playing with kids

Many recently displaced mothers and their children at the women’s shelter are not pictured here for their safety. Most lost everything in the flood, and when Hymie gave them cash, they openly wept.

Some ran from abusive husbands and relationships, but most fled the Russian soldiers, many of whom were former convicts of Russian prisons.

I witnessed the women’s tearful testimonies of these traumatized but brave women who could now finally breathe a sigh of relief as they were lucky enough to escape with their lives.

I heard heartrending stories of narrow escapes from Russian occupiers’ hands. They recounted tragic tales of husbands arrested, tortured, and killed by Russian forces.

I heard heartrending stories of narrow escapes from Russian occupiers’ hands, husbands arrested, tortured, and killed by Russians from women the Russian Occupiers threatened.

They told pulse-pounding stories of harrowing searches of their homes, where if the Russians found anything with a Ukrainian emblem, such as socks, a t-shirt, or a flag, it meant jail, torture, or worse, death.

They had to delete all contacts on their phones or social media of friends with Ukrainian symbols in their profiles or posts. Anything Ukrainian meant potential imprisonment, torture, or death (or all three). The occupiers were intent on sowing terror, and by the traumatized look on these ladies’ faces, they succeeded.

One lady told of her uncle in his 40s who was killed by Russian bombs. His head was the only recoverable body part, so they buried it.

There are many, many more atrocities they told than I can list here.

The shelters were full of women and children because it was easier for them to cross from occupied territory than men. Men and older boys are imprisoned or killed because they are perceived as a threat. But crossing over is risky and not easy for anyone, man or woman.

The women had no choice but to flee, fearing for themselves and their children’s safety. Russians took all the food and water, so there was nothing to eat. When Russians left a village, they destroyed infrastructure, gas, and water. Many had no water, gas, or electricity for two months. Their only choice was to leave behind their home, become a refugee, and try to escape to Odesa.

Odesa was a refuge, but it was struggling. There once were over 100 kindergartens in Odesa, but now, only six were operating during our visit because of the war. The shelter, which began 15 years ago to help HIV-infected women, was trying to help fill the gap as best they could with English classes for youngsters, which we were allowed to sit in on.

Hymie gave candy to eager and adorable children while Mark gave each some of his cute and cuddly teddy bears. The teddy bears were a big hit with the kids and are knitted by some folks supporting Mark’s efforts in Arizona associated with “Knitting Without Borders.”

There are one million people in Odesa, and at our visit, there were 100,000 refugees or 10% of the population.

One recent refugee young mother at Aurora House had been an assistant cook at the school cafeteria in her home village before Russian bombs destroyed the school. Despite Russia’s laughable and cynical claim that they don’t target civilians, we saw ample and repeated evidence to the contrary.

Schools, hospitals, playgrounds, and even daycare centers seemed to be some of their favorite targets. It’s one reason between 500 to 1,000 Ukrainian children have been murdered so far. Compare that to zero Russian children killed. Tell me again how this is a geopolitical and NOT a moral issue? I digress.

The kind folks at Aurora house insisted on cooking for us, and thanks to the former school cafeteria cook, we had the best Vareniki (Ukrainian dumplings) perhaps of the entire trip, and I had sampled quite a lot!

We spent two days shuttling supplies to Way Home and Aurora House, and the folks there were very transparent and open to sharing how they worked. I’m posting some photos of the families and children we had permission to film and photograph, and I hope you will understand why others are not included here.

Towards the end of day two, we visited a contact of Mark’s who had an auto garage and repair business. Like most Ukrainians, he’s had to turn away from business and has taken his skills into supporting the defensive effort. Despite NATO contributions, most Ukrainian troops don’t have basic transportation and use private vehicles. His garage takes trucks, 4x4s, etc., and outfits them to become battle-ready. It was a great insight into how regular Ukrainians do whatever it takes to do their part, even if they aren’t fighting on the front lines.

We capped off our last evening in Odesa with a somewhat swanky dinner. It was only slightly more expensive than a fast-food lunch in the USA. That evening, I passed out and slept the sleep of the dead until an air raid siren woke me up. I rolled over, tightened the earbuds in my ears playing from the white noise app on my phone, and went back to sleep.

NOTE: *You may notice two different spellings of Odesa / Odessa. One is Ukrainian, and the other is Russian. We stick with the Ukrainian spelling of Odesa. It is the same situation for Donbas.

holding dolls