five days in Medyka with our Ukraine response team

Two months ago, I had the opportunity to travel to Poland to join our teams of responders in Medyka, at the Ukrainian-Polish border.

Since the start of the war, IFAW has been working in Ukraine and Poland to help as many animals as possible. From March to May 2022, our team supported refugees and their animals at the ‘blue tent,’ providing them with comfort, food and supplies to continue their journey.

I joined a group of amazing people, comprised of IFAW’s Disaster Response team, responders from around the world and volunteers—all working together to make a difference.

The blue tent was located at the heavily-trafficked footpath right outside the border control post, on the Polish side. Global organizations set up dozens of tents along the path to provide a wide range of services 24/7: drinks and water to exhausted families, legal and administrative support for their formalities, new bags, carriers, strollers and other necessary supplies, as well as phone-charging stations and translation services.

While cats and dogs were the most common pets that refugees brought into the tent, I also saw white rats, bunnies and hamsters.

It was humbling and moving to see everyone working together and witness the relief, even if temporary, on the faces of the refugee families. For a short time, they were able to pause and forget the ordeal they had just endured.

It reminded me of 2011 when I was a journalist covering Yemen’s revolution: protesters had set up a sit-in in front of Sanaa’s university, which slowly transformed into a ‘tent city’ as people knew they would stay for the long run. I felt in Medyka the same energy I had felt in Sanaa, where people were all sacrificing some of their personal comfort to help however they could.

I deployed to Medyka for five days to support our communications work around our field response. This meant documenting stories of refugees and their animals in photos and video, recording interviews with our team, and addressing journalists and media requests to highlight our work and staff.

However, the success of this kind of response depends on real teamwork, which means it’s all hands of deck, no matter what your ‘official’ role is. In addition to communications work, I also helped colleagues fill up bags of dry food for cats and dogs, assemble dozens of animal carriers, solve electrical problems inside the tent, clean and fill up our generator, and sort through the equipment we had and were receiving from donors. I also helped build a whole new tent to store the food and supplies; it took us four hours and five people, only to see it destroyed in a matter of seconds the next morning by the gusty winds of a thunderstorm.

Yet, despite the difficulties, the team’s morale was always great; it was a pleasure working with them during this response. Their high spirits also impacted the families coming into the tent, who often left with a nice smile and a warm heart.

The ‘blue tent’ has now closed, but IFAW’s work in Poland and Ukraine continues. This is only possible thanks to the donations, both financial and in-kind, that supporters have provided us.

So, on behalf of the 42,000 animals we’ve helped since the start of our Ukraine response, thank you.

Benjamin Wiacek
Communications Manager