Report
In Paris, the solidarity of students facing the shadows of the war in Ukraine
Students and volunteers help load a truck heading to Ukraine, Tuesday, March 1, 2022, in central Paris.
© Leopold Picot
Text by: Léopold Picot Follow
8 mins
In the heart of Paris, students organize a collection of donations to try to supply and support Ukraine.
Sleepless nights of stress and hard work to try to act on his scale, to the rhythm of the incessant ballet of trucks and sometimes heartbreaking scenes.
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Hundreds of trash bags filled with clothes rise to the ceiling of a classroom in central Paris on Monday, February 28.
Mattresses, medicines, blankets complete the mountain.
This accumulation of donations is the result of the collection of the two previous days in the Ukrainian chaplaincy of the Holy Spirit of Saint-Germain-en-Laye.
“
We recovered the stocks of the church.
They delivered this yesterday, because they had no more space.
We are waiting for volunteers to help us sort everything by category, to know what to send
,” explains Olha Gulei, a Ukrainian student, in French tinged with an Eastern accent.
Twenty-four hours later, the truck will leave, heading for Poland, then Ukraine.
On board, hundreds of kilos of various products, a driver and a Ukrainian grandfather under the eyes of his daughter who is going to try to shelter her grandchildren and fight at the front.
Answer the call
When the national scout organization Plast of Ukraine launched an appeal to participate in a collection of donations for his country, Olha, 24 and a student at the
Learning Planet Institute
(formerly the Center for Interdisciplinary Research), did not hesitated, she said on Monday: "
I want to help as much as possible, otherwise I'm afraid of being useless.
Ukrainians abroad, people outside Ukraine have the opportunity to donate, to help people who are there, it should be done.
Very quickly, she wore the traditional Ukrainian clothing inherited from her family, to feel connected to her country of origin.
Since the beginning of the war, in the vast common room of the Learning Planet Institute, the young woman has been organizing, on a corner of the table and surrounded by friends and volunteers, the collection of more than hundreds of kilos of donations which flow in from several places. of Ile-de-France.
Besides her hours, she alternates between interviews with journalists to spread the initiative, calls for volunteers, stock management, and keeps in touch with her friends in Lviv who, for some, spread the medicines she helps. to send to Ukraine.
Olha interviewed by a journalist from the French media Brut.
She wears the traditional clothing of her family.
© Leopold Picot
“
My personal life ends here, it continues for my country.
The people in Ukraine who are very strong, I am proud to be part of this country and I want to do my part
,” she said.
Liz Ruvalcaba, 29, a Mexican-American student, interrupts the discussion by placing fruit firmly in front of Olha, playfully.
“
Madame Olha works a lot, but she doesn't eat, she doesn't sleep… She is so devoted that she forgets to take care of her health.
She's a strong woman, very intelligent, she can do anything, but we don't want to let her do everything on her own
,” sighs the young woman.
Strong solidarity between students
Very quickly, around Olha and his Ukrainian comrades, a solidarity formed to try to support them and accompany them in their initiative.
Mostly in their twenties, the volunteers face harsh scenes.
Many people of Ukrainian origin are on the verge of tears and the war suddenly seems more concrete for everyone.
Sometimes, Olha cracks up, like when she talks about her family: "
We deliver medicine, blankets, because there's nothing there, and it's very sad, I have my family there , my friends… Their lives are destroyed, people are dying.
I have many people that I know who joined the army to defend cities.
In these moments, very quickly, his friends or volunteers surround him.
Not far from there, a discreet young woman taps on her computer.
Zahra – she did not want to give her name – is Sri Lankan and signed up for the fundraising schedule earlier this week.
She is also a student at the Learning Planet Institute.
She knows the war, she lived it from her country.
"
It's unfortunately not something new for me.… I don't speak French, sometimes I don't understand everything that's going on, but I try to do my best, because I know that the war is unfair
.
»
Olha (left) and her friend Liz, after closing the truck they have just helped fill.
© Leopold Picot
Liz also quickly got involved with Olha, to support her.
She is well aware that she is far from understanding all the implications of the conflict for her friend, she who has never felt patriotic for the United States, but she tries as much as possible to be there.
"
I realized that I couldn't just sit back and watch this poor girl get destroyed at work.
I try to relieve her of little things, like the organization of volunteers, it's one of the few things I was able to extract from her, and I insist on the term "extract".
She is so obsessed with the humanitarian organization that she forgets her basic needs
”
,
she denounces, her piercing and direct gaze directed towards her friend.
activism
”, the principle according to which one can be an activist on social networks.
“
My first instinct was to send a message to Olha, to send her my prayers.
But that was stupid, I had to be there.
Faced with such distress, people must act: to denounce on social networks, it is only wind.
»
The incessant rotations of trucks
The next day, Tuesday, March 1, the blankets, medicines are sorted, for some labeled and translated into Ukrainian.
A human chain forms to load the truck that has just arrived.
Already three others have left for Poland or Ukraine, depending on the needs, depending on the possibilities.
But the truck, although loaded, does not leave the small courtyard directly.
Olha warns: “
A man of Ukrainian origin is going to fight the Russian army.
The truck is waiting for him.
In the meantime, Olha speaks with journalists.
"
Humanitarian aid is a very small part of all the things we can do for Ukraine.
We need to ask for changes on a global scale, governments need to help Ukraine.
They have the power to change things and I don't understand why they are afraid.
Suddenly, a respectful silence ensues.
Volunteers come out into the yard, curious.
A young woman says goodbye to her father, who is going to fight in Ukraine, March 1, 2022. © Léopold Picot
A man not far from retirement, bald head and eagle gaze, straight in his down jacket, arrives alongside a young blonde woman in a purple coat.
Olha welcome them, exchange a few words with them, in Ukrainian.
Despite the tears, the daughter translates her father's words: “
My dad has been living in France for three years.
He is stranger.
He worked here to earn money, and he leaves to take care of my children, who are in danger there.
I hope that President Macron will help us, like all Ukrainians
[...]
We must not listen to Putin.
If he takes Ukraine, he risks taking everyone.
His father, impassive, waits for the end of the translation.
Then, he chants in a loud voice: “
Putin khuylo!
Damn khuylo!
Damn khuylo!
“, an anti-Putin insult taken up by several individuals in the assembly, between laughter and tears.
The speech of the Ukrainian grandfather and his daughter, before his departure for Ukraine
The speech of the Ukrainian grandfather and his daughter, before his departure for Ukraine
Leopold Picot
Without wasting time, the grandfather said goodbye to his daughter, got into the truck, which started immediately.
Gazing into space, the young woman follows the vehicle to the exit of the yard, then watches it until it disappears around the corner.
After the emotion, the volunteers pull themselves together.
There will still be trucks to load the next day.
Olha and her comrades insist: they won't stop.
As long as there is war, as long as humanitarian aid is needed and will flow, they will continue to organize the collection.
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