Report from Poland ISKCON

Russia now claims they have to bomb the hospitals because:

There are no patients there, 

the hospitals have been converted into army bases.

Really? 

We really hope the devotees can escape, 

this is getting worse and not better.

Let us PLEASE work together to support devotee refugees- 

Report from Polish yatra.

By Rasikendra das, Nama Rasana dd & Jahnavi dd.

On Thursday 25th of February we watched the news with horror and we knew at that very moment our next door neighbours will need our help. On the same day we got a call from Ukrainian temple in Kiev, asking “If we were to send our woman and children would you look after them?” Our reply ” Of course, but what about you? We need to stay back and fight and protect our homeland and our temple and our elderly who don’t want to leave their homes.”

We saw the whole country of Poland opening their doors and their hearts to those traumatised families from Ukraine. Within hours there was a whole database online of homes and holiday resorts that are happy to accept refugees. We followed that example and as a Yatra we connected, sorting out coordinators for various cities, who receive families daily, mainly woman and children who have been travelling for days to somewhere … they are not sure where. 

It gives them so much comfort to be received by other devotees. Sometimes they call us before they leave, making sure they have somewhere to go. We always assure them that we can do it, that we have places, we are here for you. At times, when they are packed and ready to go, they just can’t leave, they cannot leave their husbands or elderly parents behind. 

We had few that called us from the train or station, so we go pick them up and take them either temple or devotees houses. It certainly been a very busy few days that has taken our service to a very new and much higher level.

Rasikendra dasa, our main refugee coordinator for ISCKON Poland says: “ We receive up to 100 devotees a day, they are mainly mothers that come with their elderly parents, uncles, aunties, cousins, small children, confused teenagers… if I calculate correctly we found help and shelter for more than a 1,000 devotees and their families so far. 

Every person has its own personal and extremely traumatic story: one devotee lady was heavily pregnant and in a serious need of medical attention; we had children with severe fever brought on after 4 days of very difficult non-stop journey: we had one devotee in wheel chair trying to find his way around new situation, 2 families with 5 children each, who did not have time to pack so came with only one suitcase. 

Yesterday we received a family of three generations of ladies: grandma, mum and her sister and a granddaughter. Dad stayed behind to fight. Grandma just went through a cancer, she has an operation where tumour was removed and was waiting for a second surgery to finish of the procedure. She could not wait, she had to flee the bombs, but she still has to flee the cancer. 

One of our local Warsaw devotees luckily has a lot of connections in high places, so he arranged a medical care for that lovely elderly devotee and she will be going into surgery soon. As you can see those needs are complex, hot meal is always nice of course, but when you are in situation when your whole life was uprooted and broken and literally blown into pieces, sometimes you just don’t feel like eating… We are lucky that we have a team of devotees that are sensitive to all those needs

WE THANK ALL OF YOU who so far embraced that situation with open hearts and showed so much kindness and good will. Our temples in Warsaw, Wroclaw and Farm in Czarnow have already exceeded their capacities. Our volunteers- coordinators have found devotee homes in Krakow, Poznan, Gdansk, Katowice where they placed the families, but that is also starting to be not enough. 

We found a holiday resort where we could send them all from the border. It was an amazing free offer as a lot of Polish people have been really accommodating in this horrific situation, but in the end we were a day late as the place was taken over by refugee Children’s homes in Ukraine. They needed it more …. But that gave us an idea to keep looking for a place like this where devotees can stay together.

The situation is getting much more intense, more and more devotees are leaving their homes and their lives, not that they want to, they have to. We are trying our best to find a suitable place for them, a resort that can accommodate them all.
Our day starts at 5 pm. We get calls from the border, or from the train, we arrange a transport for the families and take them to their new temporary homes, we provide food. After a week we realised we provide 4 different types of support.
Transport: from Ukraine and to whatever destination, that includes rest of Europe and even USA.

Finances: most refugees come with zero or very little money, so we not only maintain them but also provide whatever finances we can. For some Poland is a transit place, for a good percentage that want to stay we pay for initial deposit for their permanent accommodation.

Transit: the length of transit will depend on the destination. Some devotees stay few days, some we know will be with us for few months, waiting for visas and other documents. They will need food, shelter and in some cases medical support.

For those devotees who want to stay in Poland we help to sort out the documents, like legal refugee status, guide them into finding some work in Poland, arrange schools and register with a doctor. They are all eager to work but also serve. 

They don’t want to take our help for granted, and they are all such a grateful souls.

Nama Rasana , our Wroclaw coordinator told us “ We received many families in our temple, some need a minute to think what can they do next. We give them support and space to figure things out. But a lot of them we can’t host at the temple, as children are too small. We have one initiated lady that hopes to join her family in USA but we still need to sort out passports for children, so while we wait I signed them up for school. 

Polish schools already have accommodated many refugee families and adjust lessons to the children. We have one devotee police lady that wants to stay in Poland with her daughter, another mataji with 2 sons, we just helped her to rent a small flat, she is a qualified psychologist so we hope to find her an appropriate work. Their needs are complex, and those are just regular examples of devotees who don’t have any medical needs. We do what we can but we are limited in our man power and funds.

Jahnavi, our general coordinator and hotline for emotional supports tells us:

“They are so frightened, especially the children. They had to say goodbye to their fathers as no Ukrainian man between ages 16 and 60 is allowed to leave the country. They had to leave them all behind, their big brothers, grandfathers, friends and daddies… their lives have been changed forever and so suddenly, none seen it coming and none ever planned to be anywhere else but their homes, where they had a really nice temple and supportive community.

I can see how important it is, for the devotees who have to leave everything behind (mainly women with children) and travel without knowing what awaits them, that they get our reassurance, that everything will be fine, that they are safe, that we will take care of them. In times of crisis, such words and practical help are essential. Therefore, we do everything in our power to serve them in the best possible way. Srila Prabhupada has built a house where the whole world can live in, and now we have a chance to prove that we understand His message. 

It is a time of trial not only for those we help - but also for us. Until recently, we danced together in kirtans, we did festivals together like the Polish Tour, and devotees from Ukraine were a very significant part of this world famous preaching program. Now is the time to join forces to help our brothers and sisters. Serving the Lord's bhakti is more sublime than serving the Lord Himself. Remember that in Ukraine there were 20,000 devotees of Krishna !!

I am moved by the fact that despite all the fear they remain so Krsna conscious. Their faith in Krsna and in Krsna’s devotees that will look after them is amazing !!
“ We are still on our way ( 72 hours now) we are in the queue to get through the border, its a huge wait, I think we might have stay here another night.

But its ok, because this is much better, at least it’s peaceful. I was so worried, in fact I worry all the time, as you can see so many army vehicles, places where they are stationed. I have been having that feeling that in a minute there will be bombs or rackets flying over our heads, like they did before. 

My children cry quietly, most of the time but then I reminded them and reminded myself about Lord Nrishhadeva, and somehow we could feel his blissful presence. (bh. Victoria , the wife ofBhimupati Prabhu, disciples of Indradyumna Swami, traveling with two children Maya ( age 14) and Nitay age 8. “

They reached our Wroclaw temple safely after 4 days of travel. At the moment they are unsure what they are going to do. If they decide to stay in Poland we will find them a flat, but they are also thinking to join their friends in France. But … the dad and husband has stayed behind in Ukraine… this is still such a terrifying unknown for some many of them.

We were not prepared for such a situation, no one was. But we had to take up the challenge and slowly we started making contacts with other yatras in Europe and beyond. We connected with few wonderful temples and individual devotees in Europe who are willing to help those wonderful devotees from Ukraine, but we still need many more. If you can or know of someone that could help, please get in touch with us… we are literally running out of space!!

Your servants in Polish Yatra