Disaster Response Poland Project #55621

SOS Ukraine - assistance for the disabled

by Fundacja im. Doktora Piotra Janaszka PODAJ DALEJ/ Doctor Piotr Janaszek PAY IT FORWARD Foundation

Project Report | Jul 21, 2023
Overcome evil with good!

By Filip Sobieszek | Project Leader

PAY IT FORWARD - Ukrainian volunteers

Twelve wonderful girls straight from Baraniwka in Ukraine came to Poland to take part in „LITTLE EXPLORERS” summer camps. Despite their very young age, they want to work as volunteers to take care of children with disabilities – charges of Doctor Piotr Janaszek’s PAY IT FORWARD Foundation. This shows the girls want to reciprocate for the support and help given to disabled people from Ukraine who fled the war.

They are cheerful, athletic, communicative, they sing and dance beautifully, and are very friendly. They’re from 8 to 16 years old and came to Poland to relax, swim in the lake, have fun with their peers and go for a real pizza. But they also want to help and take charge of the kids with disabilities. – For our children, such carefree summer holidays are very important. It helps them forget about the trauma of war and you won’t hear bombs falling here.We sometimes spend whole week in a shelter… You’re so lucky you can live here so peacefully – says Inna Menchinska, the group’s guardian.

Eight-year-old, cute blonde – Zlata says openly that she loves Poland and came here for summer break. „But I’d be happy to help as well”, the girl smiles. Tania with bright blue eyes is always smiling. She has never been abroad but she heard about Poland on TV, that Poles help Ukraine a lot and Tania also wants to help.

Ivanka is 15 years old, she dances and plays the guitar. She always wanted to come to volunteer and since she found out how much the Doctor Piotr Janaszek’s PAY IT FORWARD Foundation does for disabled refugees from Ukraine she did not hesitate even for a moment. She wants to help.

13-year-old Zlata loves ballet and is convinced that she can teach anyone to dance. Ania adores painting and she makes beautiful bracelets out of colorful beads. Thanks to our friendly volunteers from Ukraine, a lot of singing, dancing and many other artistic attractions will be present during „LITTLE EXPLORERS '' summer camps held in Janaszkowo Settlement in Wasosze.

- Overcome evil with good! Children do it the best. And those who came from Ukraine to visit us, want to help our disabled charges. Such an attitude is beautiful! This is the realization of an idea so close to us – PAY IT FORWARD! That’s why Alisa, Anastasiia, Zlata, Oksana, Anna, Nataliia, Alina, Tetiana, Ivanna, Zlata, Olena, Lina, together with the guardians: Inna and Leisa, we thank you! – says Zuzanna Janaszek-Maciaszek – the president of PAY IT FORWARD Foundation.

PAY IT FORWARD - Ukrainian volunteers

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Jul 19, 2023
A day unlike any other.

By Filip Sobieszek | Project Leader

PAY IT FORWARD - Nazar

Nazar (22) is from Ternopil near Lviv. When a year ago he was obligatorily enlisted in the army, we didn’t think that he would have learned how to shoot people. This energetic, friendly, sensitive and smart man is an electrician and worked in a car workshop before the war. He wanted to go to the University, travel, pick up girls and earn enough money to buy himself a motorcycle. He wanted to live like every other young person. It happened otherwise…

15th May 2022

Warning! The following fragment is only for people of strong nerves! Nazar will remember the 15th May 2022 for the rest of his life. After only 3 months of mandatory military service, this healthy, strong 21-year-old was sent to the front. Straight to the trenches, 30 km from the Russian border. Without any specialized training – he has only been taught how to handle his rifle – he was sent to the toughest part of the frontline. That day seemed to be a very quiet day, nothing indicated that the Russians would open fire… Around noon Nazar left the trenches with a friend and headed towards their base. Suddenly Russians emerged from the nearby forest…

- I remember everything exactly. We left our trenches and then, BAM!, they sent a burst of rounds straight at us. I was hit in my back, the round smashed my ribs, cut the lungs, bounced off the spine, damaging it and went into the head. There, it turned 180^oand stuck somewhere inside. Russians use a special type of ammo which is filled with a dangerous substance. When it enters the human body, it turns and whirls inside with a great force dealing enormous damage…-Nazar says.

After that, he remembers less and less. He only heard horrific screams of his friend who also got shot, felt warmth going slowly through his whole body, blood everywhere and serene peace… He woke up on a plane being transported to hospital in Kyiv. He didn’t feel the pain. The only worrying thing was that he also didn’t feel his legs…

New life from scratch.

The diagnosis was devastating for Nazar: the round injured his spine and probably Nazar won’t be able to walk again. How come? So many plans, so many dreams, so many things to do…

- At first I didn’t acquiesce to that. It’s not my war, I didn’t want to participate in it. However, I am so stubborn that I decided to start my new life from scratch – Nazar says.

In December, last year, Nazar was released from military service and he started to fight for himself. He did not give up even for a second! He decided that he would leave the hospital on his own…wheels. And he kept his promise. Weeks of backbreaking work and effort, rehabilitation all day long, and the physical and spiritual support of other wounded soldiers brought amazing results. Nazar left the hospital on his own wheels. He is nondependent and he learnt to be even more self-sufficient while staying in training apartments led by Doctor Piotr Janaszek’s PAY IT FORWARD Foundation in Konin.

- I am so happy that I have found PAY IT FORWARD Foundation. I would like to thank my dear mother, who has been working in Poland for several years now and who knows a certain firefighter. And this person, together with other firefighters helped me get out of Ukraine and come to Poland. And because this fireman knows a young boy in a wheelchair who practiced with Mustang Konin wheelchair basketball team, I have met the team’s captain – Marek Bystrzycki. He was the one who helped me get into the training apartments. I thought I knew a lot but that’s nonsense. Here, I learn everyday life, how to overcome different barriers and I even learn how to cook! I can already make delicious stuffed pancakes! Today I know that if I never stand on my own two feet again, I will continue to live! Thank you PAY IT FORWARD. You’re doing a great job! – assures Nazar.

When asked about his plans and dreams, he says that since the accident on the front, he’s not making any plans. He lives day by day, under the motto: tell God your plans and he’ll have a good laugh… Nazar does have dreams: he would like to be completely independent, to live fully like young people his age, namely, to travel, party, find an interesting job and maybe even start a family… Oh, and he dreams of an active wheelchair as light as the one he borrowed from the Mustangs, because Nazar came to Poland on his own set of wheels, but it is a heavy, crude orthopedic wheelchair.

PAY IT FORWARD - Nazar

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Jul 5, 2023
The family is the most important thing.

By Filip Sobieszek | Project Leader

PAY IT FORWARD - Little Sasha

Dear Friends,

today I am presenting to you the story of Viktoria and Vova who escaped from shelled Kiev to save their disabled son. Thanks to your support we are helping them to start a new life in Poland and become independent!

The family is the most important thing.

Victoria loves cooking and the family is the most important thing to her. Her husband, Vova, can do everything at home with his own hands. When they were talking about what happened to them in Kiev, they both suddenly fell silent... Here, in the centre of Konin, together with their 15-year-old son Sashka, they have found peace and work. They are slowly furnishing their small flat and their life...

The place where they are staying is very cosy and tidy. Everything is arranged neatly, the colours of the walls are subdued, no trinkets. It smells of chocolate cake here and it makes you want to stay longer. Victoria, an extremely nice, hospitable and a little shy Kievian proudly tell us about their hometown. She serves coffee and chocolate cake...
“We are from near Kiev. When the war broke out we were not only afraid of the bombings, but we also knew that the only way for our son to function normally is to go to Poland where doctors are always available”, Victoria recalls.

Their son Sasha has just turned 15. He has been in a wheelchair since the age of two. He suffers from SMA (spinal muscular atrophy). He is a bright boy interested in everything related to the Internet. He is studying remotely at a Ukrainian school and will soon enjoy well-deserved summer holidays.

"When the war broke out we didn't think much. We packed our bags quickly and headed for Poland, knowing that good people there would help us to start a new life" says Vova. They fled from Ukraine during the heaviest shelling. The journey to Poland took 4 days. We didn't have a working car so, in order to get to the border, we travelled in our neighbour's small car together with her and her 80+ year-old mother. Vova, Sasha and myself were sitting in the back and Sasha's wheelchair was laying on top of us. We were driving during the heaviest shelling. A white handkerchief hanging outside did not help at all, they just kept shooting. We had to stop, there was no way we could go on like this. But we were lucky because in the town we reached there was an organised trip to the border for the families of policemen. We joined the cordon and miraculously made it to the border. But it was a road through hell...”, Victoria says quietly.

For them, here in Konin, a new life has just begun. All three are under the care of our Foundation. Victoria works in PAY IT FORWARD and Sasha is undergoing intensive rehabilitation. He got a new active wheelchair and underwent numerous tests to qualify him for a medicine program. “Since the very beginning, the Foundation has been very helpful in making sure that we live a normal life. Sasha suffers from SMA. In Ukraine there is no access to specialized treatment. Here, Sasha has had consultations with specialists in Poznan and we know what to do, how to rehabilitate him, what treatment he needs so that this incurable disease does not progress so quickly. I will be thankful for this chance for our son till the end of my life”, Victoria adds. All three of them want to stay in Poland because of Sasha' s treatment. Victoria has a degree in pedagogy and works with us as a carer of disabled children. Her husband Vova still works for a Ukrainian construction company. They are now slowly furnishing the small flat we have rented for them. Here, in Konin, they are making a new home and a new life for themselves. This is the next stage of their "journey" - now they are trying to establish themselves a fully independent life without the Foundation's support.

“For us, there is no place on Earth that we cannot leave in order to make our son' s life easier. We have managed to take a few photos from our home in Ukraine. The rest is in our hearts and minds. The place to live is where the family is. To me, the family is the most important thing, and the fact that we are alive, that we are together", Victoria says, slicing a large chocolate cake.

PAY IT FORWARD - Little Sasha

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