Ukraine Diary
Planes, Trains, and Eight Stuffed Suitcases
A bumpy journey to Kyiv
Editor’s Note: In February, Working Nurse launched The Zhytomyr Hospital Challenge to purchase medical equipment for a hospital in Ukraine. This fundraising campaign was a huge success. In June, Olena Svetlov and I traveled to Ukraine to complete our mission.
I share excerpts from my journal in this Ukraine Diary online series.
No food available on the train! Olena shot me a deflated look as we contemplated our 14-hour journey from Warsaw to Kyiv in a tiny, unairconditioned train car with no food or water.
But the story took a different turn. Let’s start at the beginning.
The entire country of Ukraine is a no-fly zone. To get to Kyiv, you first book a flight to an airport in a neighboring country and take a train into Ukraine.
Olena and I flew overnight from LAX to Vienna, followed by a layover and a short flight to Warsaw. At the Warsaw airport, we collected our eight pieces of luggage — including our four enormous, heavy suitcases, which were stuffed with medical items we intended to donate.
With great difficulty, we maneuvered this traveling circus from the airport to the train station.
But, we went to the wrong station. Evidently, Warsaw has three separate train stations, east, west, and central, but for some perplexing reason, this information did not appear on our tickets. Rail personnel tried to help us, but they seemed as confused as we were, debating among themselves in Polish about where we should go.
They finally directed us to the right station — but to the wrong platform. Our platform was down three flights of stairs, then up three more flights on the other side of the street. Of course there was no elevator to facilitate moving our eight pieces of luggage.
So it went all day. By the time we reached the right platform, we were sweaty, miserable, and hadn’t eaten all day. “There will be a dining car on the train, or at least a snack bar,” we reassured ourselves.
Our sleeper car, which had three bunk beds mounted on the wall, was the size of a closet. We stacked our suitcases in the narrow walkway next to the beds, one on top of the other. We then got the bad news: there was no food available on the train.
As the carriage started moving, I retreated to my bunk and tried to focus on a book while Olena struck up conversations with the rail staff and other passengers.
Word spread that Olena was a nurse practitioner, and soon we had visits from people seeking medical advice. A man wanted to know about a diabetes medication he could only get in the States. Someone else asked Olena to look at an old wound. A young woman sought advice on her son’s cancer treatments.
Then, something magical happened: Two bowls of steaming borscht appeared in our room. Then, bread, and salami, and cheese. Bottles of water, too. A simple meal has never tasted so good.
It occurred to me: In Ukraine’s culture of hospitality, nobody goes without when we all have something to share.
Other Ukraine Diary entries:
Visiting Zhytomyr Hospital
Resistance at the Kyiv Museum of History
Air Sirens and Bomb Shelters
First Aid Kits for Police Officers
Bucha
The Ballet Studio
Animal Rescue
The story from the Feb. 21 issue that launched The Zhytomyr Hospital Challenge.
