Deaf volunteers drive Deaf refugees out of Ukraine
Callie: When the war happened in Ukraine, I was wondering about the deaf community there. I contacted my friends who invited me into some groups on Telegram. I noticed two deaf men who were creating vlogs about their volunteer work driving around in Ukraine. I reached out to them asking if they would do an interview to which they agreed. The men are Emils, who was born and raised in Latvia and then moved to Lithuania, and the other is Artis, who was raised and is living in Latvia.
Emils: Why did I decide to volunteer in Ukraine? At first, I thought helping deaf Ukrainian people during the war would be too hard, because all of my life, I focused on my job and I always thought Ukraine was too dangerous. Until I had an illness that affected my back and it was impossible to keep working, so they decided I would help drive in Ukraine instead. (Unsure of accuracy) So by doing that I was able to meet with others, and from there on I’ve been involved with Ukraine.
Artis: So, how did I get to volunteer in Ukraine in the first place and why? Well, if I decided not to get involved, then who would be helping in my place? I thought I could, so I did.
E: I’m very grateful to Off-The-Grid Missions. They supported me with money, gas, and food so I could eat. So I’m happy I have them, and that we’ve been working together smoothly.
C: Do you mind talking more about what you do for your volunteer work in Ukraine?
A: I transport refugees, following Off-The-Grid’s guidance. Emils was giving out food before, but now we don’t do that. Now we only help with refugee transport.
E: Before, I was giving out food. It was really expensive and too much of the budget was going to that. Off-The-Grid and I felt it was better to like– while the food is expensive, the people have to wait for it too. That wasn’t good, because over the border we had resources, bedding, clothes, food, everything. Free. It was better for the people to come across now while the war is ongoing. After the war, the people can return home.
C: How do you look for and find deaf refugees?
A: How do we find them? Some made requests through Off-The-Grid, and some came from other groups that would give us information. We would then be in contact with them and transport the people. There were also some deaf members of the army, friends and connections, and we can find more people through them.
E: We don’t only have Off-The-Grid, we also have DeafBridge. They are another group of deaf people who are helping drive Ukrainian people outside. I first started working with both of them at the same time. Then, after a while, DeafBridge expanded.
C: When Russia first invaded Ukraine on February 24th, did you immediately go to help in Ukraine?
E: I saw the war on the Internet, and I was scared and stayed away. But with my work, and my house, I was only two blocks away from the border. So I tried to help. I thought I should stay in Poland near the border so I could get food and money donations to support the Ukrainian people. I searched and contacted people on Facebook, Telegram, and started to collaborate with other deaf people. And then I met with Off-The-Grid Missions, and things sailed from there. I continued to help, and I think I was at the border for a month, sometimes going up to Lithuania. After that, I decided it was best to cross into Ukraine. My friend was happy to join me.
A: When the war started, I felt that Latvia was so close to Russia and Ukraine. There was a connection. We felt the war, too. I knew Emils and the others were working, and I wanted to as well, but at the time I thought it was impossible. They reached out, but I put it on hold. Later, I saw some spaces in my schedule, so I reached out and then we finally met. I thank Off-The-Grid a lot for me being able to participate thus far.
C: Were you not worried about the possibility of getting injured or killed?
A: My first thought was that Ukraine was too big. War doesn’t happen everywhere at once, only in specific areas. Plus, one important thing is I follow the news all the time, and I have a live map of where the war is. As long as I monitor that, I can resume work. If I see something, I hold back. And I stop at safe areas in between retrieving refugees.
E: We don’t go close to the war. We stop before, and we have to look for places we can rest safely, places that check our lists, that have food and gas. Only then will I rest there. If there is nothing that we need I won’t stay. I’ll have to find another place closer to the border. Sometimes I get lucky. But I always know never to go closer-- well, never less than 1,000 km away. I can sleep in an area halfway between. There are still bombs in some places, but it’s okay, there’s not as much compared to the warzones, which have more.
A: To add to that, there are attacks regardless of where you are in Ukraine. These attacks usually target water reservoirs, food, machinery, army camps, all the “important” areas. If we stay close to these places, we can get hit too. So we find other places that are safer.
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C: Can you share some of your observations of what you’ve seen while volunteering in Ukraine?
A: I’ve seen how they live, I know what war is like. I’m doing okay. We’ve taken refugees from an area called Sumy, which was really close to Russia, only 5 km away. We noticed people acted differently there, cautious. We couldn’t say hello or feel safe. That was our first time being so close to the war. Wow.
E: There was so much damage in the center of Ukraine. Bridges collapsed, tanks were overturned, among many more things. We also saw sad people wandering around, with police and dogs. We were sad too. The sky was black too, due to the devastation. Not like America at all.
C: Do you have any stories you would like to share with us?
E: After two months, when I first started going inside Ukraine, there were two people. A mother and daughter. I had to find them at a post-war area, where Russia had taken their troops away from. They were staying at a house for a month without going outside, even during the bombings. They hadn’t seen anything yet. As I drove away with them, they saw everything and got angry at the ruins, the tanks. I saw that, and wow. They were isolated for a month, suffering. I knew I had to take them away so they could live in Lithuania with the resources they needed. So these two people, wow. I also remember some others who saw none of the bombings, devastation, and also stayed home for a month. Wow.
A: Ukraine has a curfew of 9:00pm, where nobody is allowed outside or driving. That was a rule from the war. There were army camps here and there. We were driving out of our safe area to get more people, but we couldn’t return in time. Where could we find a place to sleep? Sometimes we got lucky and returned back on time. But one time, with a van full of deaf people, we were driving overtime. Army screening areas let us through when we said we needed to transport these people, and then at last we made it. So that was a problem. If we had more safe places in Ukraine, we could travel easier and sleep wherever.
C: In the Ukrainian war zones, there are armies defending the grounds and monitoring 24/7. How do you communicate and interact with them?
A: As a deaf person, I can’t speak. I only gesture or write. As I entered Ukraine, there were many army camps on my routes that I had to communicate with. After the first few days I realized there was no issue. They knew to guide or tell us where the deaf people were, and offered help. As I traveled closer to the Russian border, I saw armies with heavy faces, ones that were finished battling. They still helped me find deaf people. So that was good, perfect even. I was surprised that there weren’t any problems.
E: Yes, so Ukraine knows the Baltics, which is Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania. My van has a Lithuanian sticker, and they know there are many Lithuanian volunteers in Ukraine, even today. Hearing people have helped a lot too with food and everything. So they see the sticker and it’s fine, I can pass through.
C: Thank you for letting me interview you both, and for sharing about your volunteer work in Ukraine. I know the war is ongoing, and yet you drive around. Wow, that is very courageous, indeed.