Yesterday, on February 22, in Kyiv the presentation of the publication “Maidan. Testimony. Assistance to victims. International solidarity” was held. This is the second book from the “Library of Resistance, Library of Hope” series, which was launched by the “Spirit and Letter” publishing house and the Kyiv-Mohyla Business School” and supported by the International Renaissance Foundation. Editors of the publication are Leonid Finberg, Iryna Berlyand, and Olena Andreeva.
Yesterday, on February 22, in Kyiv the presentation of the publication “Maidan. Testimony. Assistance to victims. International solidarity” was held. This is the second book from the “Library of Resistance, Library of Hope” series, which was launched by the “Spirit and Letter” publishing house and the Kyiv-Mohyla Business School” and supported by the International Renaissance Foundation. Editors of the publication are Leonid Finberg, Iryna Berlyand, and Olena Andreeva.
This book became already the second one to show the testimonies of the Revolution of Dignity participants. This time the testimonies were gathered to reflect on the topic of assistance to the victims (The first book was published in 2015). The book presented recently is divided into two parts. The first is the collection of memories on medical, social, psychological, as well as legal assistance to the Maidan Revolution participants and their family members in Kyiv and Ukraine. An unprecedented experience of self-organization of people was recorded, which should be conceptualized as so important for the national memory of contemporaries and future generations.
The second part of the book presents the international solidarity stories relating to organization of assistance to victims. Public from all over the world collected money, clothes and medicines, organized free medical treatment and rehabilitation, provided daily support to the Maidan Revolution participants and their family members coming to Kyiv from different cities. Such synergy in interaction with people from different countries has no analogy in our history and is worth to be recorded, in order to show to our foreign friends that we are grateful for their assistance and that we keep this memory.
For the International Renaissance Foundation the support of this publication was very important, as it highlights the memories of how in early 2014 the Foundation supported the Initiative of Oksana Zabuzhko, Andriy Kurkov, Sergiy Zhadan and Vasyl Knyazevych, who announced the creation of the Humanitarian solidarity charitable program to target the assistance in medical treatment and rehabilitation to the victims of the Maidan events during the times of the mass protest.
The work of the Program was made possible due to donations of Ukrainian citizens and organizations, as well as the embassies of Estonia, Canada, Great Britain, the funds provided by the “Ukraine Charity” Foundation (Great Britain) and the NGO “New Ukrainian Wave” (Baltimore, USA), as well as the contribution of the International Renaissance Foundation. In total the Humanitarian Solidarity Program received UAH 3,129,057.63.
The Program’s Supervisory Board includes its initiators: Oksana Zabuzhko, Andriy Kurkov, Sergiy Zhadan, and Vasyl Knyazevych. The decision to support patients was made by the Expert Council, which included medical doctors of various backgrounds.
The targeted assistance program became a unique experience for the International Renaissance Foundation, since from the day of its foundation, the IRF always focused on programs seeking to ensure systemic changes, and not to address the needs of individual people. We in the Foundation quickly realized that each person, who asked for assistance, would need an individual support. Such micro management approach to each case was used in the view of the need to ensure the patient safety (people were still reluctant to report their personal data) as well as owing to uniqueness of each case. We quickly established the work with volunteers at clinics and public hospitals, as well as created our own volunteer network.
During the time of implementation of the Humanitariansolidarity Program, we received applications from 300 victims coming from different regions of Ukraine. The youngest of those, who turned for assistance, were 15 years old, whereas the oldest were more than 70 years old. People who turned for assistance in most cases were the ones with craniocerebral injuries, gunshot wounds and soft tissues injuries, or consequences of hypothermia. 127 people suffered from respiratory tract injuries and grenade explosions. More than 40 addresses were relating to dental prosthetics. 32 people needed ophthalmological assistance. Eight persons received timpanoplasty (tympanic membrane plastic surgery). 25 patients received free rehabilitation courses and free sanatorium treatment.
The procedures developed by the Foundation to ensure the work of the Humanitarian solidarity Program were transferred to other organizations and initiatives that committed themselves to providing such assistance, namely the Center: Maidan Family.
“Maidan. Testimony. Assistance to victims. International solidarity” is not only the book that records evidences of witnesses, but also an opportunity to offer reflections on the Maidan Revoution as a milestone event in the Ukrainian history, so important for future generations.
