Fiona McNabb is adamant that this story isn’t about her.
Having recently returned from western Ukraine, where she volunteered for the war effort, Fiona says the story is about remembering the people impacted by the Russian invasion of Ukraine, which began in Crimea in 2014 and intensified after a full-scale invasion in 2022.
“I said to Valentine, co-founder of PTAHA an NGO receiving evacuees from front line towns at the Lviv railway station – ‘We’re so far away (in Aotearoa), what could we do practically from here other than donate money?’ And he just said – ‘Raise awareness. Just make sure that people don’t forget us’.”
It’s one of the reasons why she is holding a photography exhibition at the Raglan Old School Arts Centre (July 15-20).
“I took photos every day and wrote a blog. It was just my daily impressions for family and friends,” she says.
“The purpose of the exhibition is to give people a glimpse of life in Ukraine and to tell a story –about the city, the people and the volunteer organisations supporting the war effort.”
Fiona has also set up a Give-a-little page to raise money for two of the organisations she worked for – the Lviv Volunteer Kitchen, who prepare around 40,000 servings of dehydrated meals a week for front line soldiers, and PTAHA who have supported 800,000 civilians fleeing their over-run, bombarded towns since February 2022. Both organisations are run entirely by volunteers and rely on donations to function.
Fiona spent three and a half weeks in Lviv, working alongside Ukrainian and international volunteers, preparing meals, supporting evacuees, weaving camouflage nets and helping at an animal sanctuary by walking rescued dogs.
Lviv is near the Polish border and is on the other side of the country from Ukrainian regions most affected by the Russian onslaught. Although nowhere in the Ukraine is 100 percent safe, Fiona points out, Lviv was less likely to be caught up in any direct conflict.
“Every Ukrainian I talked to, it seemed, has either personally lost a family member or friends or knew people who had, so no one is untouched. But from a personal safety point of view, I think there are definitely places you can go in Ukraine to volunteer without being on the front line. It’s a conscious, calculated decision, weighing up the risks, and not one to be taken lightly, especially as the situation on the ground changes from day to day.”
Thanks to the latest technology, Fiona downloaded an App that sends a siren-sounding alert to her phone. A map shows the type of activity in the area being targeted, like the launching of drones or missiles.
“If it is a low level alert heading to your region, the Ukrainians don’t even blink. You’re in the street, and the alarm goes off, all the sirens in the street are sounding, and they just carry on,” she says.
It wasn’t that they were nonchalant about the dangers, Fiona says, but more that they were in self-preservation mode.
“They understand that there are levels of risk and anxiety, and they have a coping mechanism that says – at this level, I just carry on as if nothing’s happening, because that’s how I maintain my sanity. At a higher ‘extreme alert’ though, most people would be heading towards a shelter.”
Fiona has a long history of volunteering; locally she is on the Xtreme Zero Waste Trust Board, Community Energy Whāingaroa, and the Waikato Community Lands Trust Board.
“Volunteering is in my DNA. I grew up on Waiheke Island and spent 25 years in Tairua on the Coromandel. They’re little places where, if you wanted stuff to happen, you just had to get in and get involved. Travelling to Ukraine was a way for me to cope with having to watch this war unfold from so far away,” she says.
In Ukraine, Fiona says, the people are so grateful for the volunteers who come from all over the world.
“The women who run the kitchen put on a lunch for us at Easter and they said – ‘Every single one of you who comes here helps us keep going. You give us the energy to keep doing this’.”
‘Snapshots of Ukraine, volunteering in a country at war’ runs from July 15-20, 10am-2pm at the Raglan Old School Arts Centre. Fiona will talk about her experience on July 17, 7pm and July 20, 1.30pm – doors open an hour beforehand.
Visit givealittle.co.nz/cause/support-for-two-ukrainian-volunteer-organisations to make a donation to the Lviv Volunteer Kitchen.
by Janine Jackson
