The Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine plans to train high school students and teachers to provide first aid according to international standards. As grotesque as this sounds at the beginning of the fourth year of the war, it is better late than never. According to the Law of Ukraine “On Emergency Medical Care,” only certain professions can provide first aid, in addition to doctors: rescuers, firefighters, police officers, pharmacists, train conductors, airline and cruise ship cabin crew. Whereas, for example, in the United States, graduates cannot receive a high school diploma unless they pass the so-called Basic Life Support (BLS) test. BLS is a unified international protocol for providing first aid. There is an estimate that if at least 10% of the population mastered the standards of first aid, the number of wounded and injured people dying and becoming severely disabled would be many times lower. Someone might say: didn't they teach the basics of life safety at school? Unfortunately, the course covers everything from the dangers of smoking to the dramatic consequences of premarital sex, but it does not cover wound tamponade or the correct application of tourniquets. At first glance, the modern school course “Defense of Ukraine” looks more adequate. Except for the fact that only girls are taught first aid. Is it because boys don't seem to need this knowledge? However, the main problem is that in reality there is no one to teach this knowledge at school. And now, it seems, the ice has broken. The bell rang in the office of the NGO Volunteer-68. It was the head of the Education Department of the Administration of the Kyiv district of Kharkiv. Mr. Chairman voiced the problem. Schools in the Kyiv district lack sufficiently qualified teachers who could teach first aid in detail. The volunteers' response was immediate The first twenty-two teachers took an introductory course in Basic Life Support (BLS) at the training center of the NGO "Volunteer - 68". We are looking forward to welcoming new cadets in the near future.

As part of the Volunteer 68 - 1325 Call Center project, we successfully conducted six trainings for our employees on the topic of “Safety in the Digital World: How to Counteract Gender-Based Violence and Effectively Process Information.” The trainings were aimed at developing the participants' digital literacy. During the training, our colleagues gained practical knowledge: safety precautions when working on a PC (personal computer) basic settings use of peripheral devices: printer, scanner, USB flash drive; familiarized with the structure of the desktop; learned how to manage windows; execute commands from the Main Menu and work with built-in Windows editors.   Operations with folders and files have also been worked out in detail for better organization of information. In addition, considerable attention was paid to digital security and privacy issues. Employees mastered modern data protection tools and learned how to recognize and respond to threats in the digital environment, including gender-based violence online. ​ These trainings have become an important step in improving the digital competence of our employees, which will allow them to work with information more confidently and perform their professional duties more effectively in the face of modern digital challenges.

A fire safety training for employees was held at the training center of the NGO "Volunteer - 68". It is obvious that measures to prevent fire hazards and general awareness of this topic are a necessary component of a person's experience of survival in a highly technologized world. Like traffic rules, like taking into account data on the side effects of medications, like familiarizing yourself with the peculiarities of information security, practicing actions in case of fire risk is a requirement of today. “It's dangerous to live in general.” - Cynics scoff. However, humanity faces different dangers in different times and circumstances. For a primitive man, the probability of being run over by a tram is close to zero, just as it is unlikely for a resident of an urbanized jungle to become prey to a pack of predators. However, there was no time when people did not encounter the element of fire, often causing it to rage. After all, fires caused by lightning strikes, meteorites, volcanic eruptions, or peat bogs smoldering are statistically rare - compared to risky human activities - factors in the occurrence of fires. As for the various manifestations of human negligence and disregard for basic safety rules, they are hardly countable, and even more so to predict. The team of the NGO “Volunteer - 68” Today, villagers continue to burn dry grass in the fields, children play with matches, and drunks fall asleep in beds with lit cigarettes... Utilities and responsible persons do not carefully monitor the condition of energy networks and facilities... And Russians, sociopaths and pyromaniacs are making efforts to increase the overall fire danger in Ukraine. So, if you can't foresee it, you need to prepare to minimize the consequences. As part of the training, an invited representative of the SES introduced our volunteers to the basic concepts of fire hazard. Among them: conditions of occurrence; ways to stop burning; causes of fires. He also explained such concepts as “fire safety of the facility”, “organizational measures”, “technical measures”, “fire regime” and “fire protection”. The lecturer did not ignore fire safety measures at home and also touched upon related legal issues, namely the rights, duties and responsibilities of citizens under the legislation of Ukraine. With regard to practical steps in case of signs of immediate danger, the SES representative focused on such algorithms as the procedure for detecting signs of burning and the procedure for evacuation in case of fire according to the evacuation plan. In particular, he emphasized fire extinguishing agents, firefighting equipment and the rules for its use. The training participants learned how to use powder fire extinguishers correctly. The last, but certainly not least, cluster of the fire training was the procedure for providing medical care to victims. The volunteers learned about the specific aspects of providing first aid for various injuries sustained in a fire. Fire safety is an extremely important topic and, unfortunately, one whose relevance is only growing. Therefore, the second training is planned to be held soon at the training center of the NGO “Volunteer - 68”. This training should be devoted to more specific fire safety tasks, which will take into account the peculiarities of organizing the work of the NGO “Center for Human Rights Protection "Volunteer - 68" in the premises where this work is carried out.

A year ago, the Vostok SOS Charitable Foundation, in partnership with the Volunteer-68 Humanitarian Aid Center, opened the first transit shelter in Kharkiv, Bez Berez, for people with limited mobility and people with disabilities.

The Volunteer-68 Humanitarian Aid Center has announced the completion of the Inclusion Drive project and the opening of a new inclusive learning space, Volunteer-68. The project was implemented within the framework of the “Capable and Strong” program, implemented by the Eastern Europe Foundation with the support of Switzerland. The project lasted two years, starting with the signing of the lease agreement and the search for funding. In January 2024, the Inclusion Drive project began repair and finishing work on the first floor. Financial support for the restoration of electricity, water supply, and sewage networks was provided by the Post Code Foundation. ​ The organization is grateful to all donors, partners and friends who supported the project with their contributions. Special thanks to the participants of the Ambassadors of Inclusion training program who presented their projects to make public spaces more inclusive at the opening. This is just the beginning of a long journey, and together we can make the world a better place. The opening of the new Volunteer 68 space is an important step in the development of inclusion and community support. ​ Additional information: The new inclusive educational space Volunteer-68 will become a venue for educational events, trainings and workshops aimed at promoting inclusion and supporting people with special needs. The space is equipped with modern technologies and adapted to the needs of all visitors.

The Russian offensive in the north of the Kharkiv region in May 2024 began on the night of May 10. Although it had been known that the enemy was aiming to attack in this area since January. So, it was not a surprise. Our military was preparing, as were our state and local authorities. Volunteers were also on standby in anticipation of mass evacuation. Since the first days of May, the Russians have intensified shelling and bombardment of the Lipetsk and Vovchansk communities with artillery, MLRS and CABs. So, the mass evacuation campaign started... Side by side with other rescuers, the evacuation crews of the NGO "Volunteer - 68" began evacuating victims from the Volchansk direction on May 1. Most of them were elderly people with physical limitations, disabled people and families with children. This is due to the fact that our ambulances have special equipment for transportation of bedridden patients. However, if there were free places, we took everyone. The peculiarity of this evacuation was that due to heavy shelling and the enemy's rather rapid advance - within a week the Russians captured 10 settlements - the victims could only be taken out from a hub relatively remote from the battlefield. The village of Buhayivka, in the Vovchansk city community, became such a hub. The military and police brought residents of the threatened area here in armored vehicles. The Russians, in their typical manner, are particularly eager to hunt for medical transport and, in general, anything defenseless. In Buhaivka, everyone was given first aid, their data was checked and they were assigned to crews. The next point on the way to safety was the Kharkiv transit evacuation center, where the victims were first taken, and from there, depending on their needs and capabilities, they were taken to relatives, dormitories or hospitals. From May 1 to May 17, the crews of the NGO "Volunteer - 68" carried out 35 evacuations of bedridden and mobility impaired residents of the threatened areas of the north of Kharkiv Oblast. Social support and assistance in transportation to the cities of compact residence was provided to 50 people. Fuel costs amounted to about UAH 100,000. During this time, we distributed: 390 food parcels worth UAH 198,000; 390 hygiene kits worth approximately UAH 192,000; 120 packages of adult diapers worth UAH 80,000. This assistance was provided in partnership with the EastSos charitable foundation. The total expenses amounted to UAH 570 thousand. This report does not include the cost of accommodating people with limited mobility in our temporary shelter for people with disabilities and its staff. All the victims of the Russian aggression, whose lives and health were first taken care of by the military and police, and at the second stage by the staff of the NGO “Center for Humanitarian Aid "Volunteer - 68", eventually fell into the caring hands of the same good people.

The purpose of the event was to familiarize the railway personnel with the peculiarities of transporting people with physical disabilities, with the correct and safe movement of patients using special medical transportation equipment. Such as hard or soft stretchers, wheelchairs, chairs, etc. The training focused on algorithms for transporting people with physical disabilities: age, height, weight; address, floor, phone number; accompaniment, if there is a person who will accompany the patient - his/her phone number; state of physical and mental health of the person: medications they take; peculiarities of movement: whether the person walks or not, whether he/she has crutches or a wheelchair; peculiarities of movement and transportation: whether the person can stand or sit; destination; selection of technical and auxiliary means for transportation; preparation of a package of documents for transportation.   The training focused on training and safety of volunteers and their wards. First of all, it was about such aspects as: checking the safety of the route; checking vehicles, equipment, and protective equipment; optimization of the number of porters needed to transfer the patient; preliminary briefing on the transportation of the ward; appointment of a person in charge of the crew; obtaining the beneficiary's consent to the processing of personal data, photo and video recording; instructing the beneficiary on the rules of behavior during transportation to prevent potential injuries. As for the specifics of transporting people with physical disabilities by rail, the training focused on the location of entrances, the numbering of cars, the design of the platform - the so-called height in relation to the car - and the presence of a lift in the car or on the platform. Equally important is the equipment specially selected to meet the needs of the wards. The next, but not the least, step is to instruct the patient on the specifics of transportation, taking into account the route and the current state of health of the patient. It is also important to check the tickets to see if they are inclusive and comply with the class of carriage in which the patient will be transported. While talking to the railway workers, the Volunteer-68 instructors shared their own experience of difficult transportation and how critical it is to comply with the rules for transporting patients with different diagnoses and needs. For example, it is absolutely unacceptable to transport patients with spinal injuries or femoral neck fractures with anything other than a rigid stretcher. Or if you have a long route for a bedridden patient, and you have not stocked up on appropriate hygiene products, you will have serious problems. In addition, our volunteers demonstrated to Ukrzaliznytsia employees safe ways to manually move patients with various injuries, which can be done by two or even one person. The training was made possible thanks to the support of the “Capable and Strong” program implemented by the Eastern Europe Foundation with the assistance of Switzerland. During the training, 42 certificates were issued in Kharkiv, 24 certificates in Zaporizhzhia, and 14 certificates in Dnipro.

Among the relatively new terms that have come into our lives as a result of the deeper integration of Ukrainian society into the system of Western values and social technologies is the concept of “retreat”. Today, this borrowing appears in a very specific context and means a relatively long stay of a working team in a certain location in order to strengthen relationships among colleagues, gain communication experience and jointly generate new ideas. In this way, the retreat differs from the already widely known neologism “team building”, which does not imply training or creative work. For the " Volunteer - 68" Humanitarian Aid Center, the experience of the retreats was, without exaggeration, fruitful. Along with museum visits, hiking in picturesque towns, and spa treatments, we gained important experience in guided collective meditation. Perhaps this model is best suited to voluntary organizations. The retreat in Zhovkva, Lviv region, made it clear to my colleagues their strengths, as well as some personal aspects in their work that they need to pay more attention to. The trainers Olena Reshetnyak, who led the topic “Teamwork,” and Natalia Konovych, whose topic was “Dealing with Risks,” were very helpful. For which we are sincerely grateful to both specialists. In a playful way, the volunteers learned to work out the elements of teamwork, try on roles with different functionalities, and rationalize the distance from plans to their implementation. Performing tasks in crisis conditions and group interaction with limited time proved to be real fun and at the same time an example of professional skills development. As for giving constructive criticism, some were surprised at their own unconstructiveness, which was also a good lesson for everyone. Realizing the ultimate goals of their work and thus their own self-identification was an unexpected discovery for many colleagues. Common goals and shared values, which were clearly highlighted during this event, not only strengthened the team spirit, but also shifted the focus from secondary things - the routine of daily work - to issues of worldview and essence. For example, such a seemingly simple technique as metaphorically interpreting the activities of your organization through the images of an animal, a person, a house or a tree, surprisingly clearly revealed the structure, functionality and philosophy of the volunteer association and the place of everyone in it. We have seen from our own experience that some of the technologies used to build the capacity of organizations of foreign origin work well. Despite the fact that their name is still a little bit jarring in its lack of authenticity. The team of the NGO “Volunteer - 68” All of this was made possible by the support of our Drive for Inclusion project within the framework of the Capable and Strong program, implemented by the Eastern Europe Foundation with the assistance of Switzerland.

Evacuations go differently. Sometimes everything goes smoothly, according to plan. Sometimes it is difficult, with unexpected and unpleasant problems. It happened more than once that only the REB saved the crew and the people we were evacuating from the inevitable. However, sometimes volunteers face situations that are both funny and sinful. On the evening of January 07, 2024, Russians attacked the center of the village of Velykyi Burluk with S-300 missile systems. As a result, among other things, the building of the district psychiatric hospital was damaged. So the next morning, three evacuation crews of the Volunteer-68 NGO together with two crews of the Proliska Humanitarian Mission went almost two hundred kilometers away to rescue the hospital's patients. Burluk means “swamp” or “mud” in Tatar, and the Velykyi Burluk community includes Malyi, Nyzhnyi, Novyi, Serednyi (formerly Bolshyi) Burluks in addition to Velykyi Burluk. However, it was not the mud or mud that initially made this difficult task difficult, but the twenty-degree frost and broken roads, or rather the lack of them. In addition, several vehicles had broken down heaters, so staying in them was more like a not entirely voluntary test of survival. The second complication, and one might say a bit phantasmagorical, was that after the Russians attacked the village, the patients somehow miraculously got so much alcohol that they had to carry not only the lying down in the evacuation vehicles. Another challenge for the crews was to deal with the various and extremely demanding manifestations of delirium in the patients already on the way to Kharkiv. This was compounded by the difficult problem of sailing into the wind (in particular, in the sense that the wind was really gale force). This need reminded us of itself about every fifteen to twenty minutes and generated another challenge for the volunteers, namely the difficult task of escorting our hyperactive passengers back to their cars. The latter were trying to combine the delivery of their needs with various activities not necessarily inherent in this act, among which jogging in complete darkness and unpredictable directions was the most troublesome. Our flight will certainly remain in the memory of its participants. It was as wintery as possible, dangerously slow due to the possibility of air attacks, and quite nerve-wracking given the characteristics and condition of the evacuees. The evacuation lasted thirteen hours, of which we spent three hours getting to Velykyi Burluk, two hours placing the evacuees in the crews, and the rest of the time slowly, with stops, moving to our destination. However, we managed to evacuate all twenty patients of the psychiatric hospital, including two bedridden patients, who had suffered from the Russian strike. Despite its dramatic nature, this adventure highlighted one of the most valuable traits of volunteerism: the more insurmountable the obstacles to accomplishing a task, the further the horizons of what is possible for a volunteer are pushed back.

The Dignity and Security project was aimed at meeting the basic needs of women with disabilities aged 25+ (elderly women, women with a family member with a disability, disability or an elderly person) who found themselves in a difficult life situation, especially in the context of war. The project was implemented for 5 months with the financial support of UN Women Ukraine and the Women’s Peace and Humanitarian Fund . Implementation period: July - November 2023 Main results of the project During the five months of the project, our team met the basic needs of women in difficult living conditions by providing humanitarian aid: 5000 grocery sets (each set included 14 different products with a total value of UAH 900) 1000 sets of household chemicals; 1000 hygiene kits (including diapers, diapers, urological pads, wet wipes). Our team has targeted thousands of women and women who care for people with disabilities with food packages and individual hygiene kits (diapers, diapers, urological pads and wet wipes). Responding promptly to the needs, our team members always completed and delivered the kits on time. Humanitarian impact The project's activities complied with Sphere's international humanitarian standards and were aimed at helping vulnerable populations most affected by the war. The main focus was on supporting: women with disabilities elderly and women with limited mobility; women caring for people with disabilities. The implementation of these projects can be considered an optimal example of financial instrumentation by international funds to support local initiatives in crisis situations.

From December 1, changes to the rules for the import and accounting of humanitarian aid come into force in Ukraine. The state is digitizing this process and wants to prevent abuse. Some public organizations opposed it. Volunteers listed a number of threats in a petition on the website of the Cabinet of Ministers. We talk about current challenges for volunteers — new rules for the import of "humanitarian aid", the consequences of strikes on the Ukrainian-Polish border, urgent and constant needs in wartime — in the podcast "Heroes of Kharkiv" with Halyna Kharlamova, head of the Kharkiv NGO "Center for Humanitarian Aid "Volunteer-68".

A year ago, thanks to a lightning-fast operation, Ukrainian troops liberated most of the Kharkiv region from the Moscow invaders. In some places, they pushed the enemy across the state border, and in others, they chased them as long as they had the strength. On September 10, they cleared Izyum and Kupiansk, and on September 12, they cleared Vovchansk. However, the Russians still managed to hold on to the northeast of the region, and from there they have been nightmarizing the liberated territories with constant shelling for almost a year. They still hope to regain what they have lost. Finally, the Kharkiv region is also being shelled from the Russian border areas. The border line here has long since turned into a front line.