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Le Sallay Times interviews Anna Furman who volunteered at the Ukrainian-Romanian Border
Sometimes, our students are way ahead of us in finding the most important stories of the day. When Anna Furman, the mother of one of our students, volunteered with the Cash for Refugees and traveled from Boston to Romania to assist the refugees crossing the Ukrainian border, the student-run Le Sallay Times team was the first ones to ask her the important questions:
23 April 2022
What was the scariest part of it?
Understanding that my strength is disproportionate to the number of people that need help, that whatever I did, it wasn’t going to be enough.
What were the people like, the refugees?
There were different people, there were people that knew where they were going, it was really easy to deal with, they had traveled before and had some experience traveling. There were people that did not know where they were going, that just knew that there were people in places that would help them. There were people that had no idea about anything, that had no idea what the world was like outside of their communities,
they did not even know what to ask the people working in the camps, they were scared and they had no idea where to go.
There were pretty much only women and children, the men stayed behind, there were many old people, they had no idea where to go, it was really tough for them.
What kind of people should go volunteer?
People that can speak Russian, Ukrainian, English, common languages in the area, like maybe Hebrew, and other languages. They were really helpful. The more languages, the better.
People who can concentrate on helping others and not focus on the horrible things happening. It’s not about you, and the horrible things happening. You can’t be weak with the people you are helping, the people need to find
strength in you, this is really important.
What made you go?
I went because of many reasons: I went because I knew that I would be useful, that my life experience would be extremely helpful, and I was correct about that. I went because I had a moral obligation, because some of my ancestors and family members were from Ukraine. I went there as a small child a lot, and have a strong connection to Ukraine. I went because I felt that the people in Romania needed help, most of them couldn’t speak Russian and needed translators.
What is some advice for people going?
Very helpful to go with people, to go as a team, to go with people that you’re comfortable with, nice people. People that you’re ready to spend time with. You need to know your mission for sure; you need to really be certain why you’re going, you need to understand why exactly why you’re ready.
A friend asked me where the most help is needed. There are places that need administrators, there are people that are going because they are psychologists, people going for law enforcement, there are people that go to cook because they can’t do anything else, people that interact with the children, that get them to laugh and talk again."
Le Sallay Academy has a number of projects aimed at supporting children from Ukrainian families. You can learn more about them at https://lesallay.academy/our_efforts
Understanding that my strength is disproportionate to the number of people that need help, that whatever I did, it wasn’t going to be enough.
What were the people like, the refugees?
There were different people, there were people that knew where they were going, it was really easy to deal with, they had traveled before and had some experience traveling. There were people that did not know where they were going, that just knew that there were people in places that would help them. There were people that had no idea about anything, that had no idea what the world was like outside of their communities,
they did not even know what to ask the people working in the camps, they were scared and they had no idea where to go.
There were pretty much only women and children, the men stayed behind, there were many old people, they had no idea where to go, it was really tough for them.
What kind of people should go volunteer?
People that can speak Russian, Ukrainian, English, common languages in the area, like maybe Hebrew, and other languages. They were really helpful. The more languages, the better.
People who can concentrate on helping others and not focus on the horrible things happening. It’s not about you, and the horrible things happening. You can’t be weak with the people you are helping, the people need to find
strength in you, this is really important.
What made you go?
I went because of many reasons: I went because I knew that I would be useful, that my life experience would be extremely helpful, and I was correct about that. I went because I had a moral obligation, because some of my ancestors and family members were from Ukraine. I went there as a small child a lot, and have a strong connection to Ukraine. I went because I felt that the people in Romania needed help, most of them couldn’t speak Russian and needed translators.
What is some advice for people going?
Very helpful to go with people, to go as a team, to go with people that you’re comfortable with, nice people. People that you’re ready to spend time with. You need to know your mission for sure; you need to really be certain why you’re going, you need to understand why exactly why you’re ready.
A friend asked me where the most help is needed. There are places that need administrators, there are people that are going because they are psychologists, people going for law enforcement, there are people that go to cook because they can’t do anything else, people that interact with the children, that get them to laugh and talk again."
Le Sallay Academy has a number of projects aimed at supporting children from Ukrainian families. You can learn more about them at https://lesallay.academy/our_efforts