“Very often in crises, we find that students are cut off from their families because communication systems are down,” Emmanuel explained. Inevitably, students have to address their own needs even as they try to help others, added Ivor Emmanuel, director of the campus International Office. It’s really hard to be so far away and feel like you’re not doing enough.”
“And they were dealing with all of this while trying to ensure that they are doing something to help. “Some of our students shared that half their families were able to get out (of Ukraine), but another half that was still there,” Matos said. Visa help for those unable to return home in the summer. In the days after the invasion, campus leaders extended a range of support: Financial aid for students who could no longer get funds from home. Add the faculty and staff with close ties to Ukraine, and the community is substantial. But others are Ukrainian immigrants, or the children of Ukrainian immigrants, or Russians, Poles and others with Ukrainian family. The Berkeley student body includes only a small contingent of Ukrainian nationals. “They’ve dropped everything to help Ukraine and help each other, and they’ve shown incredible commitment.” As war rages, “it’s really hard to be so far away” “I’ve seen a community of students who quickly mobilized, often putting themselves last so that they could care first for family members, friends or others,” said Dania Matos, Berkeley’s vice chancellor for the Division of Equity & Inclusion. Another is near Kyiv, supporting military efforts by day and doing legal work at night.
Two Ukrainian attorneys, both Berkeley Law students, are in the theater of war: One is in Poland with his wife and 2-year-old daughter, studying, working and aiding other refugees. One, seemingly overnight, has become a political activist. Some are doing research or raising funds for relief organizations.
The invasion four weeks ago triggered a nearly overwhelming surge of anxiety and anger, but many have found ways to transform those emotions into action, sometimes working with anti-war Russian students and others from the region. “So the question that I’m trying to answer is: How can we help? How can UC Berkeley students and our local community help in the current crisis? Right now there is a lot of talk - and I want to see some action.”Īmong the small community of Ukrainians and Ukrainian-Americans at UC Berkeley, other students tell similar stories. “Right now, we have a massive humanitarian crisis,” Zubkov said recently. It was from those discussions that Support Ukraine With Us was born, a fledgling international organization of volunteers that would raise funds and distribute food and medicine to elderly people, families with young children and others in Ukraine who could not flee the war, including pets. In the span of a week, he lost 14 pounds.īut as the days passed, he started to sleep a little more, then to get out to meet with other Ukrainian students and faculty. student watched television news reports around the clock, sleeping only a few hours every night. From his office in Evans Hall, the mathematics Ph.D. In the first days after Russia invaded Ukraine, Maksym Zubkov was in a state of psychic shock.
0 kommentar(er)
