This was a particularly productive trip for Karen and me. We were joined by UCAP regional director Yuliia Kardash, now based in our new office in Lviv, as well as Warsaw-based communications coordinator, Kevin McCabe.

The goals were to check in with programs UCAP is funding, and meet with new potential recipients and a growing number of government officials regarding the status and needs of a country at war. Hard to believe that Ukraine was about to mark a full year since Russia launched its invasion on February 24, 2022.  Two developments we noticed. First, international media are beginning to gather across Ukraine in anticipation of a possible bloody new phase of the campaign of terror. Notably, a number of particularly brave war correspondents will continue covering the regions in the east and south where the Russian regular military and the quasi-mercenaries, the Wagner Group, are already amassing for another major assault.

Second, while Ukrainian officials and citizens are confident that they will ultimately prevail (assuming they continue to get the military support they need), many people we know seem understandably weary – and worried. Parents are especially worried about their kids. Children are having trouble attending school consistently, especially those who have been internally displaced, lives disrupted and fathers/ husbands in the military, almost daily descending to school shelters, many schools without heat when power is out, and so on.    

We are also hearing anecdotal reports of teachers themselves under significant stress. Who can blame them?

That’s precisely why we are focused on providing psychological support for children, training teachers to deal with stress in the classroom, providing hundreds of computer tablets to allow kids to learn online, and other critical non-military support. And since October we have been providing a great deal of humanitarian assistance, like wood-burning stoves, winter boots for children, and back-up generators for schools and community sites.

By the way, this report describes many wonderful programs that we saw in action and loved, hoping to provide funds at some level. That said, to be sure we also saw a number of programs for which we could not justify investing the funds we are spending on behalf of UCAP’s extraordinary donors. That’s why we keep returning to Ukraine and Poland. We need to know and trust our new friends and partners.

Thursday, February 2, 2023

We met with government officials in Warsaw. Lots of problems with Ukrainian refugee kids. Almost 800,000 in Poland alone.  No more than 200,000 in school! I’m not sure how and if the majority of children are actually continuing learning. Some children (exact number unknown)  are trying to learn online. Many are struggling with Polish language instruction and lack access to the Ukrainian curriculum.  This is one of the enormous crises for refugee kids.

Friday, February 3, 2023

Karen, Yuliia, and Kevin met with one of the Polish teachers’ union leaders. Getting ready to introduce the Polish version of the online course to train teachers to work with classrooms filled with psychologically traumatized refugee kids. Course developed by Karen and the highly talented Columbia University team. The Ukrainian version is also to be introduced soon.

Left for Lviv on an 8+ hour ride from Warsaw through Polish and Ukrainian borders. Just a short jaunt for us compared to the long haulers sitting in 18-wheelers stuck in 10 km mile-long lines of trucks waiting to carry freight in both directions across the borders. It often takes those guys three days to pass between the two countries.

Saturday, February 4, 2023

First things first. We got to visit the new UCAP office near Lviv city center. Modest but very exciting.

We then proceeded to one of the “Recovery Camps” we support.  These programs are extraordinary. Today we mingled with about 75 internally displaced (IDP) 7-16 children, many traumatized, from eastern and southern active combat areas brought by their mothers to escape ferocious close-in combat are missile attacks on their neighborhoods.

Here at the Recovery Camp, they are supervised by wonderful, though non-professional, “animators” – our counselors - who truly engage the children. Mothers love the programs, and waiting lists are long. They do have backup psychologists for referrals – and one was on site when we visited. But UCAP intends to support the expansion of their programs, help them develop more formal protocols to screen for serious psychological issues, and help them hire their own full-time psychologists. 

The recovery camp had a new, large backup generator UCAP provided in the early winter to help cope with regular blackouts becoming more prevalent as time went on.

(The 4th also happened to be Karen’s birthday, and we got together with our small crew that evening!)

Sunday, FEBRUARY 5, 2023

Karen, Yuliia, and Kevin visited three IDP residential sites in the Carpathian Mountains, about 2 hours outside Lviv. They brought school supplies, blankets, food, and gifts for over a hundred children, met with organizational leaders, and so on.

We made a final decision today to purchase six used, refurbished school buses in Poland to deliver to a city north of Kyiv where the Russians had destroyed or stolen almost all working vehicles, including school buses. This makes it virtually impossible for many children to attend school—a big deal for educational continuity.  We’ll seek individual donors for these buses, but if we can’t identify new donors at the level, we’ll get them one way or another.

Monday, FEBRUARY 6, 2023

Karen and Yuliia met with Lviv City’s Department of Education to discuss education needs, online learning, and challenges with IDPs and our new state-of-the-art online training programs for teachers dealing with large numbers of traumatized children. I met simultaneously with the leadership of the largest university in Lviv. I spoke with students from around Ukraine about their responsibility to be part of the country’s recovery. They are very engaged young people, inspiring.

Later in the day, Karen and the team met with Marianna Romaniak, CEO of an impressive program dealing with orphans in Lviv. (Karen and I had dinner with Marianna and her husband later in the week, And we’re definitely inclined to fund them.  We are interested in programs to support career pathway strategies for adolescent orphans – and “social orphans” as they age out of the system. We’re planning to name the program “Future Ready.”)

TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 7, 2023

We visited an extraordinary arts and support center for children, translated as “Kids Club.” Very impressive leadership, partially overseen by the Lviv City government. Director showed us a very rundown building they want to renovate and create a new child and youth center for IDP and other youngsters who will receive - and experience - arts, culture, and educational and mental health support. UCAP will strongly consider funding renovation, which could be entitled (under the Kids Club banner) to the “UCAP Youth Enrichment Center” program.

I had a chance to discuss larger child refugee challenges with Igor Novikov, a friend and former advisor to President Zelensky. More to come.

I also discussed the Turkey/ Syria earthquake with Chris Jansing on MSNBC today.

Wednesday, FEBRUARY 8, 2023

Karen, Yuliia, and Kevin joined the American Federation of Teachers (AFT) at a joint event to present 48 backup generators to all early childhood schools in the Lviv region. UCAP provided half the funding. The UCAP team, members of AFT, as well Ukraine Teachers Union, and representatives from the Polish Teachers Union all joined Parliament member Natalia Pipa, at the event.

Later in the afternoon, Krystina Dudashvilli, director of the Recovery Camps, joined the UCAP team in our (new) offices to discuss our vision of how we can help the Recovery Camps reach a new level of professionalism in assessing and managing traumatized children. They were certainly receptive, and we just received their revised proposal for review.

Thursday, FEBRUARY 9, 2023

One of the most emotionally moving days of this trip. Hard to do it justice, but here goes. This core issue was that we had acquired 250 more computer tablets in addition to the original 250 devices we had purchased six weeks ago.

Anyway, we walked into an auditorium inside one of the education buildings, where we were greeted by 57 5th graders displaced from communities under the Russian siege in the east. They showed up with mom or a grandparent. None of them had access to current textbooks or the latest curricula, which is why we were handing out preloaded tablets. We were introduced by Parliament representative Natalia Pipa, who literally shook hands with every kid and parent. Best yet, we had a chance to chat with each beautiful young child one at a time and ask the age-old question that pediatricians and child specialists love to ask: So, what do you want to be when you grow up?

Karen appeared today on Chris Jansing, MSNBC, talking about our work with the AFT in providing generators to schools and families. I also appeared on the Stephanie Miller syndicated radio program from Lviv today.

FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 10, 2023

Dramatic day with three serious air raid alarms, though fortunately, the Ukrainian military shot down almost every Russian drone and missile fired at Lviv. The midday alert started just before our scheduled meeting with Lviv Mayor Andriy Sadovyy, a wonderful leader and committed guy who we had met on previous trips to Ukraine. To be safe, we moved the meeting to the shelter in the deep basement of City Hall. No problem meeting down there, and I came to some tentative conclusions about what UCAP might do working with the city. Among other ideas, I agreed that UCAP would strongly consider funding the pediatric component of a new, innovative program called “Unbroken,” a state-of-the-art rehab hub established in the heart of Lviv.

Our Best,

Irwin & Karen