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AMDA Emergency Relief #26: Crisis in Ukraine (14 June 2022)

Pays
Hongrie
+ 1
Sources
AMDA
Date de publication

The sixth dispatch

On 2 June, a nurse from *AMDA-TICO arrived in Budapest, Hungary, from Japan for the ongoing aid work. This marks its sixth dispatch of relief personnel to support those who fled war-torn Ukraine.

After meeting with the students from local Semmelweis University who had supported this relief effort, the nurse headed to the border area to join her colleague, a Japanese male nurse who had been working at the site for some time.

“Making her way through life”

The next day, at the help center for Ukrainian evacuees in Beregsurany, the two began working together to help those in need.

While asking around if any one needed assistance, they came across a woman who asked for a lift to a local train station. She said she was exhausted and had a headache.

Though seemingly quiet at first, the woman gradually began revealing what she had gone through in recent months. According to her, the war started right after she was offered a new job. It was something that she obtained after completing her undergraduate and graduate studies which took place in parallel with childbirth and childrearing.

When the nurses told her they had never visited Ukraine, she told them that she would love to guide them around if they had a chance to visit. “After this war is over, please visit my country, because it is such a lovely place,” she said.
Before leaving, the woman asked the nurses to get their photos taken together, because she wanted to remember their faces. “You’ve saved me and this is miraculous,” she said. “I was really happy to have met both of you.”

Supporting those who support

Although the average length of time each evacuee spends at the help center is getting shorter, there are still 200 to 500 people arriving daily. As is the case, the nurses sensed that mental stress and physical tiredness had been increasingly taking a toll on aid workers themselves.

On 4 June, a Dutch doctor saw one of the staff members who complained of ill health. As it was stemming from both physical and mental fatigue, the doctor advised the staff to take some rest. However, the staff was adamant that one would continue working, whose will others eventually respected.