#FundReise Day 1 – Packing

Energy: 24 hours
Temperature: Emotional rollercoaster
Donations: 280 of 18.000 Euro
Special occurrences: Biscuits
See all blogs: Sibylles #FundReise to Kyiv in the midst of war

If you put them on your tongue, they’ll melt right away,” they assure me in my backyard. “Look, I packed them in boxes and labelled the top. You shouldn’t shake them or transport them upside down.”

…

…

“Ah yes, sure, thanks”, I reply.

“Are you nuts?”, I think for myself. Ahead of me, I have more than 2,000 kilometres of a train journey, partly through a war zone. And I’m supposed to care for Christmas cookies?

4240 grams of Christmas biscuits

What sounds like a drug deal is actually a deeply human gesture. To ensure that I don’t end up in Kyiv with only powerbanks and battery lamps in my bags, Taike and Oksana from Munich Kyiv Queer have started a baking campaign. You could say: the biggest in the now ten years longing history of our group. They produced exactly 4,240 grams of biscuits.

I, on the other hand, am about to embark on my biggest packing campaign. And it has its own challenges. What to take to a region with massive heating and electricity problems? Logically, there are only two questions: Does it warm? Does it provide light? Then bring it in.

Does it look chic?

At the same time, I come across some very odd connections. Did you know that everything that gives light is heavy and fragile at the same time, while everything that warms takes a lot of space, but at least cannot break? The question if it does it look chic really does not matter.

I took with me twelve types of “Fashy”, the hot-water bottle whose naming makes you wonder whether inattention or alcohol was involved.

Nine hours before the departure, new questions arise: Do the trains in Ukraine also have heating problems? To me it is important to know, as I’ll be on the train for almost 12 hours on Sunday. If things go according to my plan.

How warm are Ukrainian trains? Very warm!

How wonderful to have a conversation about such issues with Sergey Sumlenny. Sergey was the head of the Heinrich Böll Foundation in Kyiv from 2015 to 2021. Whenever we, Munich Kyiv Queer, were in Kyiv, we paid a visit to them. These meetings were always very informative and stimulating, though, of course, we talked more politics and less about travel clothes. Since Sergey visited Kyiv in November, he was able to give me valuable tips for my trip. Thank you, Sergey!

This morning, I finally set off. Not only do I have 4,240 grams of biscuits in my luggage, I am completely confused. It’s just not a regular journey. First I’m almost 40 minutes early at the station, then I order a latte from the conductor, on the way to the toilet I trip over my shoelaces, and finally I accidentally start playing Italian pop music in the train. But apart from that: I have arrived safely in Berlin. Even the biscuits. All of them.

In the afternoon, I am invited to Ange’s place. This has become a tradition when I come to Berlin. Ange co-organised the art exhibition at the Lesbian Spring Meeting LFT in Munich in 2013. At that time, the Ukrainian exhibition “No right to be herself” by Natalia Roj was shown for the first time. We invited a total of six Lesbian activists from Ukraine. I like to remember those times.

It’s not about the right to kiss any more, it is about the right to survive

Since 24th of February, the situation has changed radically. It is no longer about who gets to kiss whom. It is no longer about what is seen as a human right. It is now about the right to live.

Can 4,240 grams of biscuits make a difference? When I watch the tweet of Zelensky and Resnikov after 85 hours of war (see Day O), I think to myself: Yes. 4,240 grams of biscuits, baked and packaged with so much love will certainly help.

But so do your donations!

#FundReise #MunichKyivLove #18.000 Euro

Sibylle collects money for

Individual help

Munich Kyiv Queer has its own fundraising campaign via www.paypal.me/ConradBreyer to support people in Ukraine with whom we have worked closely over the past ten years. They are our friends and partners. We know them personally and we miss them. We can help fast, directly and unbureaucratically.

Help for War Victims

The association “Bridge to Kiev” supports people in need, especially children and large families.

Recipient: Brücke nach Kiew e.V.
Bank: Raiffeisenbank München Süd eG
IBAN: DE74 7016 9466 0000 0199 50
BIC: GENODEF1M03
Keyword: #FundTravel

A donation receipt can be issued for donations of 200 euros and more.

Help for LGBTIQ* organisations

To support LGBTIQ* in Ukraine we have helped set up the Alliance Queer Emergency Aid Ukraine, in which around 40 German LGBTIQ* Human Rights organisations are involved. All these groups have access to very different Human Rights organisations in Ukraine and use funds for urgently needed care or evacuation of queer people. Every donation helps and is used 100 percent to benefit queer people in Ukraine. Donate here

Questions? www.MunichKyivQueer.org/donations