"Solidarity gives strength to fight." What did activists who help LGBT+ people are engaged during the war - interview with a human rights activist

Video of the day as a public organization after February 24 managed to create an effective system of volunteer activity, in an interview with Radio NV told Elena Shevchenko - public activist, human rights activist, chairman of the NGO LGBTQ NGO.

- What did the insight do for a full -scale invasion? And how did your activity change after February 24? What challenges did Russia come across after Russia has solved a full -scale war against Ukraine? - Before a full -scale war, we were mainly protected by LGBT rights and their communities. We made different seminars, trainings, taught people how to be tolerant. We have promoted changes to the legislation, provided psychological services to LGBT family members as well as their families.

We did a lot in the regions. We had 11 regions, including Kramatorsk, for example, where we had community centers so that people can gather and receive services there, go for consultations and also just be in a circle of their like-minded people. The NGO Insights were and are the initiative of the women's march.

To be honest about what has changed after a full-scale invasion, it is, of course, almost complete our reorientation to so-called humanitarian assistance, that is, practical assistance for members of the LGBT community. And a separate direction now is women with children who have remained in a very difficult situation because of the war that are currently in Ukraine, in cities where there is no help.

Therefore, from February 24, we began to provide targeted humanitarian aid, sending the necessary, including hygienic kits, food, medicines. - Did you have a plan with the team in case where and if the Great War begins, how do you rebuild your activity, your work? Were there any algorithms, how to act? Did you all have to do on the go? - No, there were no such plans.

And this, by the way, is the question that I often hear and have heard from the beginning of a full -scale war from international organizations: do you have a security plan, what will you do? I will tell you so. The problem is that all these large organizations (international human rights) have a lot of resources to have such plans - plan B, plan C and so on. And small organizations . . . - But they are not able to act promptly at the same time! - In general.

And small organizations just do not have time to sit and develop some plans for six months that we will not be able to use. So I would tell you that our experience is unique. From scratch, we have created a humanitarian aid system that is based on the needs of people who have now suffered from war. These are not the approaches that are used by large humanitarian organizations that I consider to be inappropriate. We do not bring humanitarian aid to the area, which we think we need to give people.

We collect requests and form parcels based on the requests that we send us. And this, it seems to me, is a unique approach. - How did you manage to build logistics for all help to find your addressee? What was the most difficult? And maybe you have some lifehacks like overcoming these difficulties. We all remember what problems were, such as fuel. There was a time when most of the usual services simply paralyzed, because everyone somehow recovered from that first shock.

There are now such settlements in the territory of Ukraine where it is difficult or impossible to reach for various reasons, as it is either an area of ​​active fighting or territories that are in temporary occupation. Is there any way to help people there? How to deliver what they need is in the most difficult directions? -First, we did not recover. We are the organization that started working on the first day. On February 24, we already started thinking how to help.

The next day, we had a hotline of psychological care, which still operates 24/7. Through it, thousands of women, children, families have passed. Already in the first week we started organizing a shelter, where people can get a temporary shelter-both women with children and a LGBT community. And in the second week we began to send humanitarian aid. Seriously, all these international tools do not work at all.

And your "warm" contacts work-contacts with people from abroad, from the nearby countries that have already been with us in some partnership. These are small groups of people who brought what was needed to the border where we took away. We found any options. For example, I spent all my money in the first months to pay for some drivers [work] to take it from the border and then send it.

Even then, of course, we made a newsletter with a new mail, Ukrposhta, but also ask the volunteers and volunteers to carry them where, for example, it is impossible to get. We transferred several times to the occupation zone. And now we pass. We pass medicine, for example, to the front, to women to the military. That is, we have a wide enough profile.

The only problem is that we still do not receive free humanitarian aid from big missions, because they simply are not interested in working with local organizations. They just want to give someone - big [organizations], and they already have to distribute. I think we all know that then it is very difficult to find where it all went. - I want to ask about the days.

How do you work now? How are the funds collected? Many volunteers say that it is more difficult to raise money now, after five months of war, because people are depleted in people. Do you have any understanding of what to do with it? - Of course, we also notice that the opportunities (especially in the middle of the country, but also outside) donations are falling. And this, of course, is easy to explain. Everyone has already understood, and we also know that the crisis will be deep and long.

Therefore, we must prepare for the fact that there will be more people who will ask us for help. And we see it on applications. Because now we have already processed and helped more than 20,000 families. These are only women with children, without LGBT, only humanitarian aid, without shelters, without the vouchers we issued for free housing abroad. And every day in 15 minutes we get 400-500 requests. And it will be more, it is clear. But people are still driving, to be honest.