March 4, 2017 – leaving early to pick up Oleg and Lena, we headed to Block post 1 to drop off food. The men are glad to see us and thankful for not only the visit but the food. War transforms people into an image of their former person. There is a new normal for the person, because no one can see what they see, do what they do, and feel what they feel and not be changed. Men who were once computer programmers, once college students, bank executives, teachers, miners, fathers, mothers, brothers, husbands, uncles and the list goes on, but they places their country, the freedoms in their country more important then their comfort and safety. Courageous men and woman, fighting the ultimate David and Goliath story, that they are out gunned and out ‘manned’..but they perservre. After our visit, our next job was to find tires for the men at the Blockade for Coal trains. Seems that the UA gov. is hauling coal to the occupied areas to help those still there, but the fact is that it is being resold to Ukraine. The whole situation is crazy, 5 km. are russian troops that shell the area, and then we have Ukrainian volunteers blocking Ukrainian trains, against the UA government. There is a ‘crack’ in the unity of this country and it isn’t fixed, the crack will become a wedge and then a total split. To survive this war, UA must reunite and work together, otherwise, it will implode and russia will just take over. So the railroad tracks are being blocked by volunteer soldiers, veterans, and just civilians, so that the trains can’t get through to the occupied areas. Blocking the coal filled trains is the objective, they don’t want violence, and actually, they are quite peaceful men and women. Barbed wire surrounded the area, and their only weapons were chainsaws, sticks, and a few brass knuckles. But again, they aren’t about violence, but a peaceful resolution to stopping the coal from entering occupied areas, to the military responsible for the deaths of so many UA citizens and soldiers. They were in need of more barricades so we decided to get tires. My first thought was my friend who owns the local tire shop, and he gladly gave 12 old tires. Then to my next automotive friend, where he had a huge pile, giving us 15 more. Collecting those, the van was full, and we headed to the rail blockade. Arriving, the men immediately unloaded the van and started to make barricades at the tracks. They thanked us profusely with shaking hands, and hugs. The men were not drinking, or anything like this, they were serious volunteers, protesting the situation with coal being trained to occupied areas to be sold at a very high prices, or even sold BACK TO UA…the whole thing is crazy. We were offered replenishments, but refused, seeing that they had many mouths to feed, and 5 more wasn’t something they needed…We decided to go and get more tires, with the assistance of our friend, Alexander and his trailer. Meeting him back in town at the same repair shop we had been to previously, it seems that the manager isn’t ‘for’ the blockade, and seemed to think that we were providing tires for the protestors, and at first refused giving us this old, useless tires. After some talking, and convincing, we were able to get 10 more from him, then going to a few other places I knew of, we were able to retrieve 10 more. Returning to the blockade, the men were very surprised, and insisted that we part take of some borscht with them. It was a pleasant day, and a time to meet and make new friends.
Uliana is helping me at this time. She is a lovely girl from a very large family in Kyiv. Her heart is for children, and love of Ukraine. She is very glad to be in Dzerzhinsk, and enjoys being literally at the front line of the action. She constantly says how she had, ‘no idea things like this were happening in her country, because in Kyiv you don’t know about these things. ‘ I’m not sure if I should attribute this to the country not wanting others to know what is happening, ignorance, apathy, youth, or just exactly is the reason for this lack of knowledge…