'My heart and soul are broken’

Clara man reports from Ukraine border

Clara native and charity worker Ronan Scully, who is currently helping on the border between Ukraine and Slovakia, says his “heart and soul are broken” at what he is seeing.

Scully, who works with Self Help Africa and flew to Eastern Slovakia last Saturday, as part of the Irish Emergency Alliance, a consortium of charities that was formed just two years ago.

He is working to arrange the delivery of medical supplies into Ukraine along with providing food, blankets and emotional support to people.

Over two million people abandoned their homes after Russia invaded Ukraine and fled to the borders of Poland, Slovakia, Hungary, Moldova and Romania.

He said: “People often wait up to two days at the border, with outside temperatures dropping well below zero at night sometimes as low as minus -10.

“Everything feels so sad, uncertain, fearful, unknown, harrowing and disheartening especially here now as I work with Ukrainian refugees as they come across the Slovakia border.

“And with each day that passes, sadness creeps in more and more and hope dissipates. My heart and soul are broken seeing the women and children cross over the border in droves on the hour every hour here at the border crossing at Vysne Nemeche.”

Mr Scully says: "As they pass over the border, people are broken hearted. It’s mainly women and their children. Some fear that the men, whom they leave behind, will die in the weeks to come as they attempt to resist the massed army of Vladimir Putin as it rolls across their country."

Self Help Africa linked up with Slovak Aid four years ago and is purchasing supplies for onwards distribution to a hospital in town that has been bombed in Ukraine. The remit is to respond to crisis situations by working together to help people around the globe in emergency situations.

Mr Scully says: "My heart and soul are broken seeing the women and children cross over the border in droves on the hour every hour here at the border crossing at Vysne Nemeche. It’s a David versus Goliath type of war between Ukraine and Russia."

Self Help Africa is ensuring that people who have fled the war can rest in a warm place while waiting for relatives to collect them or to be brought to a reception station that will arrange accommodation for them. Mr Scully coordinates the delivery of medical supplies to Victor Francheska Hospital.

The village of Vysne Nemeche is the main border crossing between Slovakia and Ukraine, three miles from the city of Uzhhorod. The road from Uzhhorod and Vysne Nemeche is clogged with vans, buses, cars and people, many walking on foot with their families to Slovakia. Over 132,000 refugees have crossed over into Vysne Nemeche carrying a change of clothes and some valuables in plastic shopping bags.

"On the positive side, most of the refugees I have met so far seem to know where they are going. They have friends, family or other acquaintances waiting for them. But of course, this can change as the conflict escalates. If a wave of refugees with no contacts arrives and asks for asylum, the whole situation could become seriously complicated."

As she came across the border with her mother and two children, one refugee named Maria said: "Being on the Ukraine side of the border is living and waiting in hell and then coming across to the Slovakian side of the border is like arriving in heaven"

"The horrors being visited on Ukraine must be a wake-up call for all of us that peace is something we all need to work so hard for," Mr Scully states.

"What is happening in Ukraine is truly shocking and devastating, but, sadly, it is not surprising. We, if we are honest, have seen it coming. Ukraine now stands alone, unprotected by the treaties that protect us and allow us to believe that peace is a normal state of affairs. We need the policies of peace and the international resolve that will deliver real peace for our world and especially now for the people and children of Ukraine."

Mr Scully believes Ukraine is suffering on a scale unimaginable until recently. "We must all contact our leaders in power and implore them to strive for peace, and ensure humanitarian aid, charity and assistance for the people of Ukraine as war rages in the Eastern European country."

You can make a donation to help the people of Ukraine by visiting: www.selfhelpafrica.org or at www.irishemergencyalliance.org