By: Koen Carlier | Translated from English by Anemone Rüger
Being distracted is something that can happen to any of us. However, in times of war, it can quickly become dangerous. Vigilance is essential. The CSI aid team in Ukraine recently experienced this firsthand.
On the way to eastern Ukraine
We were traveling to eastern Ukraine in our bus and a minibus to pick up Jewish refugees. One of our volunteer drivers was behind the wheel, and I dozed off. We actually knew the way. But then several roadblocks appeared, and we had to take a different route. At one point, the driver asked, "Koen, which way do we need to go?" The route our navigation system was giving us couldn't be right, because the road had been under construction for a long time; we would have had to take a huge detour. I asked the driver to go a little further. The route seemed somewhat familiar. Eventually, we turned right. Then there was one roadblock after another. Some were simply meant to slow traffic, while others were practically fortresses.
Proceedings
A feeling of unease gradually crept over me. The area no longer felt familiar. Could it be that we had taken a wrong turn? After a while, we found someone we could ask for directions. Sure enough, we had been driving in the wrong direction. We had almost ended up in Russian-occupied territory! We found our way back to the right road via a few shortcuts and dirt tracks. We were repeatedly stopped by Ukrainian soldiers: "You can't drive this way." I explained to them that I had dozed off and that we had gotten lost. The soldiers then let us go, advising us: "Be careful! You'll find the right road again after a while."
Now we were definitely awake. Since the beginning of the war, we'd been aware of how important it was to be vigilant. Sometimes we have to make crucial decisions in a split second. You need a clear head for that. That one moment when I wasn't paying attention could have had far-reaching consequences. Just imagine if we'd strayed into Russian territory and our bus had been confiscated. Luckily, everything turned out alright.
When we arrived at our destination, the streets were empty. It was 6:45 p.m. – a quarter of an hour before curfew. So we arrived at our accommodation just in time. The next morning, we picked up Jewish refugees at various stops and set off with them on the long journey back to western Ukraine. Many passengers on our bus had endured incredible ordeals. One of them was Ira from the besieged and heavily damaged city of Mariupol. When her building was bombed, she only managed to grab her handbag. Her suitcase was packed, but she didn't have time to take it with her. She only made it from the fourth to the third floor. Then she had to jump from a balcony. A doctor who examined her later said, "You must have had a guardian angel. It's a miracle you didn't break anything!"
Then there was a man in his early sixties on the bus with his wife. He had been volunteering with Ukrainian soldiers. The soldiers warned him that his hometown was on the verge of being captured by Russian troops and advised him to leave. He went to the synagogue. There, he was told that a bus would leave the next morning at 8:00 a.m. The man said they wouldn't make it. But who was there, ready to leave, at 7:00 a.m. the next morning? The same man, along with his wife—incredibly grateful that they had been given the opportunity to be brought to safety so quickly.
Another family of seven didn't know where to go. They wanted to leave Ukraine and go to Israel – but what next? Where should they go in Israel? We referred them to the "First Home in the Homeland" program, supported by Christians Standing with Israel (CSI) . If all goes well, they will spend their first five months in Israel on a kibbutz, where the children will be enrolled in school immediately and the parents can learn Hebrew in an intensive course and receive comprehensive support.
It's not just young people who leave Ukraine to make Aliyah, as immigration to Israel is called. We also regularly have elderly people and even Holocaust survivors among our passengers. This time, we had a 92-year-old bedridden woman and her daughter on board. We picked them up from a small town in eastern Ukraine and took them to the airport in Chișinău, Moldova.
Our oldest passenger
The biggest surprise for us, however, was Ludmila, almost 99 years old, whom we were able to accompany, along with her 70-year-old daughter, until their departure for Israel. Ludmila lived on the fourth floor of an apartment building and hadn't left her apartment in years. It took us over an hour to get her to the bus. But she made it, with the heartfelt attitude: "If the Lord wants me to go to Israel, then He will surely take me there."
Everyone came with their own story, and everyone was deeply grateful for our team's help. All 58 passengers have now arrived safely in the Promised Land.
What's next? We're already on our way to eastern Ukraine to pick up the next group. We'll continue as long as we can – until the last Jew sets foot on Israeli soil.
On the website of our international umbrella organization Christians For Israel, at the end of the article, there is a video about Ludmila and her daughter Larissa on their journey to the Promised Land: www.c4israel.org/sos-ukraine/in-the-diaspora-or-being-brought-home/
Will you help us bring the Jews from Ukraine to Israel? Every donation, every prayer helps. Thank you for your support! You can find out more about our "SOS Ukraine" relief effort here.
