My name is Mihăilă Beatrice-Claudia and I am a shepherdess in Tulcea, the county where Isaccea is located, where the crossing point from Ukraine to Romania is located. Both my husband and I were ADRA volunteers before the start of the war, being involved in various projects to help those in need. Now we continue our mission to serve where it is needed. Our volunteering at the Isaccea border started on February 26th.
What exactly do we do? We are trying to provide first aid to Ukrainians and individuals of any other nationality who have left Ukraine due to the war. It was extremely cold in February-March. As soon as the refugees arrived, many of them were frozen, hungry, and we, the ADRA volunteers, were prepared with tea, hot soup, sandwiches, fruit, warm baby milk, croissants, blankets, hats, gloves, etc. I was also preparing the customs tents where some of those who did not have all the documents would stay (1-2 nights) because they left in a hurry. We focus on, and take special care of, mothers with babies. We offer a smile, warm milk, diapers, hygiene products and everything else they need. We try to figure out who needs a transport in a certain part of the country or even accommodation. But the emphasis is on help as soon as you cross the borders.
ADRA has been and is constantly present at the border, day and night. My husband is one of the local coordinators and I can honestly say that he has been on the phone day and night, trying to organize volunteers every day of the week so that we can be there 24 hours a day. Another role is to take constant care to stock up on everything we need.
At the beginning, there were 6 ferries a day, each with about 600 people, without cars; mostly mothers with children. The youngest child was only 2 weeks old. Many children were hungry, frozen, some were crying, others were sitting next to their mothers and trying to figure out what was going on around them ...
We have challenges in understanding each other, we don't speak either Ukrainian or Russian, they don't speak much English ... but we have a common language, love. One day there was a family with a mother holding a 5-month-old baby, 2 siblings, 2 sisters, a grandmother and a grandfather. The children were starving. I offered them hot tea and a sandwich. They asked me for one more ... and after they ate it, they took two more in their backpacks to be sure for later. They were happy when they received gloves because their hands were frozen. We were always ready with toys for the children to make them forget at least for a few moments the madness in which they were thrown.
Most of them do not stay in Romania, but they go to Bucharest from where they leave. I am a teacher and I would like to be there during the week because then the need for volunteers was even greater, but due to the busy schedule, responsibilities to my own family, having three children, I mostly went for the weekend. My husband and other colleagues and volunteers were present each day, day and night. It was very tiring, the cold "gets into your bones", but it was a joy to be there and help. One night I returned home at 3 o'clock and fell asleep dressed thick and still could not feel the heat ... only in the morning I managed to warm up. It's not easy, but we serve with all our love where it is needed.
The basic principle is love, and, if it were to lead each of us, there would not be so much suffering in this world. As a teacher, I mobilized parents and students to participate with something. So the children brought toys, hats, gloves, even donated money for fruits and other necessary things. Like my mother, I involved my own children in this work and took them with us to customs to help those in need.
