My Four Days in Ukraine
John Namkung went to Ukraine to visit the summer camp for children for which he raised funds in Sebastopol
“The best laid plans of mice and men often go awry.”—Robert Burns
A Warsaw hotel
Today is August 10, 2025. Exactly one year and nine days ago I was in Warsaw, Poland, ready to board a train to Lviv, Ukraine. A year ago, Kyiv and the other major cities far from the front lines of the war were relatively safe. There were the occasional missile and drone strikes. However, most Ukrainians went about with their regular lives, ignoring the sirens that warned people of approaching attacks. The situation has changed drastically in the last month as Putin has unleashed daily massive and deadly attacks on all areas of Ukraine.
Whereas I spent two weeks in Ukraine last year helping to deliver bread and food to villagers near the frontlines of the war, this time I am making a quick trip of three days, in and out of Ukraine. I am purposely not spending the night in Kyiv as most of strikes occur in the middle of the night.
So what am I doing in Ukraine during this dangerous phase of the war? My wife, Dianne, and I had planned to take a Yazdi family of seven refugees to Switzerland for a vacation in early August. Seeing that I would already be in Europe, I explored the possibility of raising funds to help some Ukrainians and perhaps deliver the funds to those in need.
I learned that Type of Wood Charities, an organization that I volunteered with in Poland and Ukraine in 2022 and 2024, was co-sponsoring summer camps for Ukrainian children who have been orphaned by the war and others who have been severely traumatized. It costs $50 to send one child to a summer camp. So, I set a goal of raising $1,000 to send 20 children to a future camp. Thanks to Ky Boyd and Roxanne Goodfellow of the Rialto Cinemas for agreeing to sponsor a benefit showing of a documentary film called “Soldiers of Song,” which is about the powerful role that music plays in uniting both civilians and soldiers during the war. One hundred and eighty people attended the film on July 28, and we raised approximately $17,000, enough to send 340 children to the camps this summer! In three days, Leonid Pekker, a Ukrainian American from Rohnert Park, and I will be visiting a camp in Chernihiv to give presents to the children and to reassure them that they have not been forgotten by Americans in Sonoma County.
The following story presages the rest of the trip to Ukraine.
Because I will be traveling in a sleeper car with two other passengers in bunk beds, I realized on Sunday morning that I should pack some earplugs if one or more of my fellow passengers might snore and keep me awake. So, I went to shop for some earplugs but since it’s Sunday, most stores and pharmacies were closed. However, I found one that advertised that they were open 24 hours.
I used Google Maps and arrived at the address listed. However, the pharmacy was nowhere to be found even though the app told me that we were at the destination. I walked around for about half an hour, asking numerous people, and no one could help me. Thinking that the pharmacy was about five minutes away by car, I called for an Uber. The driver arrived and drove exactly one block, stopped the car and told me that we were at the destination—right where I had just been standing.
I found a telephone number for the pharmacy on WhatsApp and sent them a message, only to be told that they were an online pharmacy only, and if I would like, they could deliver the earplugs to my hotel today for $55. That explained why I couldn’t find the pharmacy.
I finally gave up and went back to my hotel. As I was settling my bill, I asked the receptionist on the off chance if she knew where I could buy some earplugs on a Sunday. She pointed to a case behind her, and there were some earplugs on sale for about $2, along with some cell phone paraphernalia. I should have asked her before embarking on the wild goose chase. But it never occurred to me that hotels sold earplugs.
All I can say is that one or both of my compartment travelers better be snorers to make all my efforts worthwhile.
Traveling to Kyiv
Since I was going to be in Ukraine for only three days with numerous planned activities, everything was scheduled down to the minute with no margin for error or unforeseen events. Yet, as luck would have it, a series of events occurred that almost caused me to check myself into the nearest mental health clinic:
First, I almost missed my overnight train from Warsaw to Kyiv because for some unknown reasons, two Uber drivers and numerous taxis refused to pick me up. Thanks to two Polish young men who helped me download a Bolt (a ride share company) app and call for another car, and thanks to a driver who drove down the wrong way on a one-way street to cut precious minutes off our ride, I made it on the train with two minutes to spare.
Had I missed this train, the entire trip would have been ruined, as there were no more trains to Kyiv that evening and due to my carefully constructed schedule, several important activities would need to be canceled. At one point I was sure that there was no way possible that I would make it and almost cried in frustration.
When I stepped on board the train and the doors closed behind me, the feeling of relief was overwhelming. By the way, neither of my train compartment companions snored, so I never got to use the earplugs. This was a huge disappointment given all my efforts to buy them.
Driving from Kyiv to Oleksandriya to meet Sergey
Next, our first activity in Ukraine was to drive five and a half hours from Kyiv to Oleksandriya to have dinner that evening with Sergey, a Ukrainian who drove me to the front lines of the war a year ago to deliver food and has since become a friend. During the drive, we learned that he thought we were meeting the following day. He was on vacation with his family near Rivne, a twelve-hour drive away.
I was devastated as I was looking very forward to reuniting with him and his friends, Anton and Nastya. The fact that I was willing to drive eleven hours round trip just to have dinner with him shows how important this reunion was and how disappointed I was that we would miss each other. He and I shared a special bond as we narrowly escaped attack by Russian artillery a year ago near the front lines.
We ended up having a lovely dinner with his friends, Anton and Nastya, during which time Sergey called to inform us that he was going to drive overnight for 12 hours just to have breakfast with us before we had to leave! I was honored that he would make this kind of effort just to see me. At the same time, I wasn’t surprised because that’s the type of person he is. He’s one of the kindest, selfless, good natured and brave persons I know. He drives for 16 hours at a time, several times a week, to deliver food to stranded villagers near the dangerous front lines of the war, putting his life and limbs at risk. Needless to say, our reunion was wonderful and quite emotional.
I debated whether to include the following information in this blog but decided to do so. Sergey and Anton told Leonid that the Ukrainians have concluded that they will have to give up some territory to the Russians for the war to end. I suspect that it’s a bitter pill for Ukrainians to swallow, but they stated that there just aren’t enough young people willing to enlist and sacrifice their lives for a war that is not winnable. Whether Sergey and Anton’s views reflect that of most Ukrainians is unknown. Regardless, what is important is that they are committed to continue their humanitarian work to support Ukrainians in dire conditions.
This photo was taken in front of the warehouse where we loaded the van for the delivery of food to the front lines a year ago. They had cut down a huge pile of wood that would be chopped up for delivery to villagers this winter.
Camp is postponed
While on our drive to Chernihiv to have dinner with Alla and family members of Iryna and Ira the next day, I received the most devastating news of the trip thus far. The children’s camp that we were scheduled to visit the next day on August 13 had to be postponed until the 14th due to an unexpected problem. I was scheduled to leave Ukraine right after visiting the camp on the 13th. The primary purpose of traveling to Ukraine was to visit one of the camps to observe its operations and to reassure the children that Americans had not forgotten them.
I frantically explored other options to salvage this disappointing news and came up with two alternatives. The first was to drive seven hours round trip to another camp in Sumy on the 13th before heading home the same day. However, Sumy is close to the border with Russia and is under relentless attack. While it would have been an interesting experience, I was hesitant about exposing ourselves to very dangerous conditions. The second was to extend the trip by one day by trying to rebook my train ride and flights back to the US on the 14th. After many phone calls, I was fortunately able to rebook everything with minimal extra charges, and we were able to visit the camp on the 14th, which was the highlight of the trip.
Visiting Chyhyryn
A year ago, I visited Chyhyryn, Sebastopol’s sister city, to view the results of the Sebastopol World Friends’ (SWF) donations toward the renovation of a run-down dormitory used to house displaced Ukrainians from the front lines of the war. The dormitory had a large leak on the roof, and the upper floors had major damage in the ceilings and walls. SWF donated enough funds to repair the roof and start renovating some of the living areas.
Since Chyhyryn was on our way from Oleksandriya to the children’ camp in Chernihiv, we decided to make a quick visit to see the results of SWF’s donations. I was extremely pleased to view the repaired roof and the upper floors of the dorm as well as the very comfortable and attractive living areas.
Much more work needs to be done, and the SWF is holding a fundraiser on August 21 at St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church in Sebastopol to raise $20,000 to renovate the next block of the dormitory. “Soldiers of Song” will be shown at the fundraiser. Go to sebastopolwf.org/ for more information.
A Day in Chernihiv
There was only one air raid alert in Kyiv while we were there, in marked contrast to the relentless drone and missile attacks during the preceding month. My guess was that it was due to the impending summit between Trump and Putin on Friday. As a result of the absence of the alerts, Kyiv looked and felt like any other city in Europe with people going about their normal business. I envisioned that this is how Kyiv would look like when the war ends.
Chernihiv, on the other hand, was a different story. The air raid alerts went off day and night. Alla and the other Ukrainians would ignore the sirens, but I could sense some nervousness on their parts. Each time the sirens would go off, I felt a quickening of my pulse, and my hands would get sweaty.
Here’s an interesting observation about the air raid alerts— Each time the alerts were activated, the GPS on our phones would stop working. This was very challenging as we depended on the GPS to travel. One evening we were lost while driving to our hotel in Chernihiv and we asked some policemen for help with directions. When they learned that we were Americans, they asked for permission to take a selfie with us. Then they proceeded to guide us to the hotel with their lights flashing.
They thanked us for the opportunity to be in a photo with us.
One of the goals of the trip was to have dinner with Alla (grandmother of Kira and Myroslava) and the parents of Iryna, Ira, and Vitalli, all of whom are living in Sonoma County. I went to Ukraine laden with presents for their relatives.
Of course, they prepared a delicious Ukrainian feast and as each one gave a toast, there were lots of tears and emotions (including from yours truly). They expressed their deep gratitude to Dianne and me for taking care of their families in the US and while they missed their children and grandchildren, they were relieved that they were out of danger.
We tend to focus our attention on the refugees and often forget about all their family members and friends they had to leave behind. Those remaining in Ukraine must cope with conflicting emotions of relief that their families are safe in the US while experiencing deep sadness about the separation. When someone like me comes to visit them with news about their family members, all these emotions come spilling out.
You can hear the siren of the air raid alert in the background in this video clip as we enjoy a Ukrainian feast.
The next day, Andriy, the father of Kira and Myroslava, called somewhere from the front lines of the war where he is involved in drone operations, and I had an opportunity to have an extended conversation with him with Leonid as my interpreter. He expressed his deep appreciation for all that my wife, Dianne, and I have done for his children. Through tears, I was able to tell him how proud I was of the girls and recounted some of their many accomplishments. They have been separated for almost three and a half years by this terrible war.
Alla took us on a three-hour walking tour of Chernihiv, proudly showing off her city.
A Summer Camp in Kysylivka
Kysylivka is a very small village just north of Chernihiv and close to the border with Belarus, a Russian ally. The village was occupied by the Russians at the beginning of the war and according to Anatole, the organizer of the children’s camp, the children saw and experienced “bad things” during the occupation.
This was the first time a children’s camp was held in the village since the government required that all children go to a shelter during an air raid alert. There was no shelter available in the village until this summer when a school allowed the camp to use its basement as a shelter.
Needless to say, the children were excited and beside themselves at their first opportunity to enjoy all the activities of the camp. There were lots of smiles, laughter, loud shouts, and active participation by all the children.
I was given the opportunity to address the children, as shown in the video above. When I told them that a friend of mine (Chris Hoover) asked me to bring some presents for them, they erupted in cheers and applause when I showed them the pins with American and Ukrainian flags on them as well as small Ukrainian flags. This moment was worth all my best laid plans that went awry on the trip.
Lubov’s bakery
After visiting the summer camp, I went back to Kyiv where I would catch a bus to Warsaw. I wanted to stop by Lubov’s bakery in Kyiv, and we only had a half hour in Kyiv to visit with her. It was a wonderful reunion with Lubov, her husband, Sergey, and the other bakers I worked with last year.
Last year, I helped raise $13,000 to buy 95,000 pounds of flour to bake bread and deliver them to villagers who are stranded in their homes near the front lines of the war. Since the war started in 2022, Lubov’s bakery in Kyiv has baked over a million loaves of bread and distributed them to the villagers .
As I rushed off to catch my bus, she gave Leonid and me bags of bread, croissants, and cinnamon rolls. Little did we know that this would be my dinner, breakfast and lunch during my 22-hour bus ride from Kyiv to Warsaw.
The inscription on the bread says “Victory” in Ukrainian.
Getting back to Warsaw
In Kyiv, I caught an overnight bus from Warsaw at 5:44 p.m. and settled in for a 15-hour ride. The bus was due to arrive at 8:45 a.m., and I was confident that I would have plenty of time to catch my flight at 2:20 p.m. I should have known better, given all the mishaps that had occurred thus far. Our bus was stopped at the border for twelve (!) hours, and I missed my flight.
By the way, I was on that crowded bus for 22 hours in cramped conditions with people snoring (my earplugs were packed in a suitcase in the luggage compartment so they were of no use), people coughing with no ventilation (ripe conditions for getting Covid), and inability to understand the driver’s announcements in Ukrainian.
While going through customs in Poland, an agent called out, “Are there any Americans in line?” Another man (who had volunteered to fight with Ukrainians, got injured and was returning home) and I were ushered to the front of a long line of passengers. I thought that we were getting special treatment as Americans, but, no, we were told to open all our luggage, and the customs officer went through every item in my bags, especially the many presents that I was carrying for Iryna’s family. Since there was only one X-ray machine, the rest of the passengers had to wait in a long line for our bags to be checked, probably wondering what I was smuggling into Poland. Did Trump have something to do with our being singled out for “special” treatment?
There were numerous other mishaps and problems that occurred, such as having difficulty finding our rental car office in Kyiv (the “office” was in an alley next to the Hyatt Regency hotel), two speeding tickets that Leonid received (the fine was only $8 for speeding), poor cell phone reception that made traveling challenging, and my inability to rebook my train ride from Kyiv to Warsaw because the train station was shut down due to an air raid alert.
After numerous calls on a rapidly depleting cell phone battery, I was again able to rebook my flights for the next day (August 16) and checked into a hotel. Despite the hassles of rebooking my flight and finding a hotel, I was fine with the situation knowing that this was nothing compared to what the children in that village have had to endure for the past three-and-a-half years. With the support of many people in our community, we were able to provide a small moment of happiness and help them experience the joys of being children again.
Slava Ukraini!
John Namkung can be contacted at jknamkung@gmail.com.
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