*not edited
We set our alarms for 7 am and 4 of the 6 of us were up by 5. I consider this a monstrous success in number and am choosing not to focus on the fact that means 2/3rds of us only got 4 hours of sleep.
Breakfast was an assortment of salad-esque choices including delicious pickles, many cheeses, a variety of yogurt flavors (I enjoyed the apple. My friend had told me apples are important here), Nutella, fruit, cereal and sizable packages of their version of slim Jim’s.
After breakfast, we headed to the border which turned out to be a 5 minute drive from our guest house. Where we are is quite lovely and peaceful and seems to be a farm town. It seems unfathomable that a war could be so nearby.
We arrived and easily found the tent. As we walked through there were a variety of organizations from many countries offering food, SIM cards (these people brought tunes and are the DJs of the situation), heavy coats, clothes, shoes, socks, toiletries, diapers, formula, suitcases, water. The volunteers all seemed to be wearing fluorescent yellow or orange vests. Some of the organizations: World Kitchen, A vet tent, A Scottish refugee assist organization (they have all day chai tea and make pizza in a wood burning pizza oven), the Red Cross Poland, the Sikhs, an Indian food truck, a group that has 24 hour gummy candy and chocolate covered star and circle shaped ?biscuits? And of course Sauvateurs Sans Frontieres (SSF). Everything is free for the refugees and the food is free for the volunteers. Overnight we discovered we certainly wouldn’t starve.
Jacob who is subbing in for Ayala who was I don’t know what in relation to Malka came to orient us to the medical tent and the border village. The SSF tent was the first one at the border and up within 3 days of the first bombs dropping. They recently gave part of their space to the Polish Red Cross. In addition to the medical tent there is a supply tent and a women and children’s tent. Jacob is an Israeli here for a number of weeks.
The medical tent is split into three sections. The entry and front is where the wood burning stove is and also the medications, medical accoutrements, snacks and chairs as well as an exam table. The next area as you walk back is where there is a wheelchair and a bed. The Final area is extra supplies and the place where you chop wood which we did a lot of during our first night.
This morning, Jacob told us that they underestimated the amount of wood they would need (we used 2.5 parcels). It is possible that they should give guidelines when your entire volunteer shift is made up of people from Southern California and the South of France.
He gave us the reminder that this is a field hospital. There are no follow ups, no notes, no returns. If someone requires transfer to the hospital we are to tell the polish border police and they will call the ambulance for us. This is a type of medicine I have never done before.
The women and children’s tent is a place for them to relax, play, refuel, get new clothes and spend the night. There are no pictures allowed in this tent and no men who aren’t with SSF or the Sikhs.
After being oriented to our jobs and taking in the lay of the land we headed back to the hotel to sort through some of the donation bags. Our shift didn’t start until midnight.
I wanted to do a border run to hand out supplies on the Ukrainian side to those waiting in line.
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