Frost recently featured Bartosz (Boyan) Bojanczyk – Polish dance champion and coach – who has put his career on hold to ferry evacuees and medical supplies between Ukraine and Poland. So far he has driven over 7000km and helped over a hundred people to safety.
But there are important new developments. He and his volunteer network have been adapting to use your donations most effectively. So what’s been going on?
Well, first they expanded their network throughout Ukraine. Due to high costs, danger and demand, a taxi ride from a Kyiv home to the railway station had escalated from $10 to $200 and people simply couldn’t afford to journey to safety. So Boyan and friends found and reimbursed reliable drivers to take people to Kyiv station. Once the evacuees get the train to Lviv, Boyan and team drive them to Poland.
He’s also linked in with another amazing dancer, Hanna Karttunen and others – who drove from Finland with a cargo of desperately needed pharmacy medicines and dressings which Boyan took on into Ukraine (See Video 3 below).
But all the time Boyan was observing and thinking. The photo above is a group of young Ukrainian men (I would say boys, but maybe that reflects my age). These incredibly brave guys are ready to fight for their country. However, although they each have a gun (and just three days training), they had no protective clothing, making them incredibly vulnerable to being killed. So Boyan has been using donations to source and buy military-grade protective gear such as bulletproof vests, helmets, tactical shoes, proper knee pads and tactical gloves.
Here are some of Boyan’s incredible video diaries below – absolutely riveting: VIDEO 1 VIDEO 2 VIDEO 3 VIDEO 4 plus another link to his JUST GIVING PAGE.
But Boyan isn’t alone. My Ukrainian dance class-mate, Gala Kovalyk is collecting for her Polish friend Anna Jarmosiewicz-North, who is housing refugees in an empty house on the Polish border. (see photo below) They’re also helping friends in Zhytomyr (near Kyiv). Despite regular bombing, their friends are taking refugees from even more dire areas in Eastern Ukraine. They need food and other essentials to survive and Anna’s charity is sending these to them. Read more details here: GO FUND ME
Frost readers are incredibly generous, and all donations to Boyan and Gala/Anna will be used directly to help desperate Ukranian evacuees. Thank you all for your crucial support.
By Dr K Thompson, award-winning author of From Both Ends of the Stethoscope: Getting through breast cancer – by a doctor who knows
http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B01A7DM42Q http://www.amazon.com/dp/B01A7DM42Q
http://faitobooks.co.uk
Note: These articles express personal views. No warranty is made as to the accuracy or completeness of information given and you should always consult a doctor if you need medical advice.