Alumna spends two weeks in Poland nurturing families who fled Ukraine
By Mandy Haase-Thomas (’10, ’17)
Adjunct professor and Lincoln Children’s Museum director of operations and engagement
In my office at the Lincoln Children’s Museum, I hear my phone alert sound.
It is a notification from the Telegram app — the phone app volunteers of Operation Safe Harbor-Ukraine use to communicate with other volunteers and the program’s Ukrainian refugees.
I read, “(she) just found out her house was bombed.” My heart sinks. This type of message is not unfamiliar.
Since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in late February, it is estimated that over 3 million Ukrainian refugees have entered Poland. Of those in Warsaw, the government reports nearly 60% will stay in hope of returning to Ukraine when the war ceases.
Thanks to efforts of a community of Nebraskans, Operation Safe Harbor-Ukraine has helped to provide shelter, meals and assist with immediate medical needs for hundreds of women and children that fled their home country for safety in Warsaw.
Led by business leader and former Husker football player Steve Glenn (’79), the Operation has obtained hundreds of thousands in monetary donations and recruited volunteers to support the temporary housing effort at the Best Western-Felix in the capital city of Poland. I was one of those volunteers.
I will never forget one of my first interactions upon arriving at the hotel in late April. Fellow volunteer and executive director of the Lincoln Children’s Museum Tara Knuth and I noticed a group of kids wandering the hallway of the reserved floor of rooms. We retrieved some notebook paper and began making paper planes. The children soon joined in creating their own.
I noticed one child off to the side taking small pieces of the paper and wrapping them up like you would a gift. Using Google Translate on my phone, I asked the 8-year-old what he was making. He replied, “wrapping supplies for the war.”
We soon learned that this child and his mother were from Mariupol where, during a two-month period, they had slept in the hallway of their apartment building during bombings; sheltered with relatives where a nearby explosion eventually caved in the dwelling’s roof; and spent nights in a crammed school sleeping on a cardboard box. They finally boarded a minibus that was stopped 40 times for checkpoints before making it out of Ukraine.
Their story is like many others. We met another mother who was a hairdresser in Ukraine. After realizing it would take days to leave the country in a vehicle due to miles of traffic also trying to exit, she decided to venture on foot with her young child. That child soon took on the role of caregiver telling his mother to give him the backpack to carry and the suitcase to roll as they walked 18 miles to get to the border checkpoint.
For myself and Knuth, we volunteered because we felt compelled to support these fellow mothers and their children. Every day at the Lincoln Children’s Museum we offer an environment that allows kids to be kids and for caregivers to have both respite as well as make happy memories with their children no matter their personal situations. This is exactly what we wanted to do for the Ukrainian families.
Play is a child’s language; it’s how they interpret the world around them. The children we encountered have an acute sense of the war and what was happening around their homes and to their families and friends.
We brought two suitcases of toys, art supplies and games for the children. Using the hotel conference room, we set-up a kids club of sorts with our supplies where children could come and be who they are — just kids — amidst their current situation.
If you have cared for children in the past, imagine being cooped up in a hotel with them for two to three weeks at a time. Add to that the uncertainty of what is to come while you acclimate to your new surroundings and navigate resources with a language barrier all while your homeland and everything you left behind is being destroyed. Our time in Poland wasn’t only for the children, it was for their caregivers too.
Opening the doors to the conference room for our first play time, we were unsure how many of the 60 children to expect. A few wandered in and cautiously sat down at a table with craft supplies. I had set up bowls of plastic beads with pipe cleaners to make simple bracelets and necklaces. The children were soon sporting five and six each and some gifting them to their new hotel friends and other volunteers.
Over the days of our play times, we also saw the mothers engaged. They sat at the art tables and created their own works. You could feel a sense of relief, even if only for a short time, as they tinkered with the materials we provided.
Among our other roles during the two-week time frame, we supported the hotel residents by providing two meals per day; distributed supplies of toiletries and medication; and offered shoulders to cry on.
We helped in many different capacities before our volunteer term ended the first week of May. Knuth, along with myself and other volunteers, including Don Hutchens (’70), past executive director of the Nebraska Corn Board, assisted in setting up a pseudo-medical clinic in our supply room on more than one occasion when we were visited by U.S. doctors from Agape Blessings Cure. These physicians became my friends. They are helping recruit other U.S. physicians and nurses to be part of the hotel operation. In doing so, the refugees will have easier access to be assessed by a medical professional.
As I reminisce on my time in Poland another Telegram message notification rings through on my phone. The mother who was a hairdresser in Ukraine is offering to give a haircut to anyone needing one. It takes a community and I’m so glad I am part of this global one.