#FundReise Day 10 – Air alert

Sibylle is back from Odesa. This morning she was startled by explosions in Kyiv. The Russian army fired 40 missiles at the Ukrainian capital. It was the heaviest shelling since February and for the first time Sibylle felt fear.

This is the blog of Sibylle von Tiedemann, co-founder of Munich Kyiv Queer. She no longer wanted to just watch what’s happening in Ukraine and travelled there. She visits our friends and partners, writes this blog and collects donations.

Energy: no power
Temperature: no heating
Donations: 7528,67 out of 18.000 Euro
Special Ocurrences: I get scared
All post blogs: Sibylle’s Charity Trip to Ukraine

I get an incredible amount of appreciative feedback here for my trip to Ukraine. Not only from friends like Lena (see below), but also by regular people on the streets, in the supermarket, in the metro.

There are no tourists in Kyiv at the moment, only journalists and politicians drop by. The fact that someone travels to Kyiv from Munich because I miss the city – for most of Ukrainians it is just incredible.

I woke up early on this Friday, 16th of December. Perhaps also because Conrad, the man who puts my blog on this site, talked about donations coming in, yesterday, but didn’t give me any figures. However, today, he is with his parents and deserves a break.

But I am curious anyway. These donations are certainly a result of the great story about my trip published by Ruth Frömmer in Munich’s paper Abendzeitung. I’m happy about it, it’s well written.

I take a look at the magazine of the Süddeutsche Zeitung that features a photo from Ukraine every week. Today it’s about the Teatralnaya metro station.

Elderly people have danced here regularly for decades. And they still do, not just “before the war”, as the author Lars Reichardt writes. He could have really checked his facts, I think to myself. So I google his email address to answer him, but I don’t find anything.

I was touched and impressed by this, the joy of life, the will to survive. I shot a small VIDEO of the scenery.

Suddenly, the warning app goes off. It doesn’t worry me at first, because air alarms are frequent here and apart from the messages in my app, I haven’t noticed much so far. The danger remains abstract.

Even the sirens only warn for a few minutes at the beginning. “Otherwise you’d go crazy,” I was told. After all, the attacks can last for several hours.

There are no sirens today, but loud explosions and they go on for a long time. You can hear it here in the VIDEO. These are not necessarily hits, as my host Edward explains, these are sounds of a successful air defence. I get scared. I’m filming. And posting on Facebook.

“Are you going to the underground?”, I ask Edward. The stations are used as air raid shelters.

“No, I want to do some more work now that we have internet.”

Kyiv people are really tough, I think.

I am not from Kyiv.

The air alert does not scare my neighbours

So I get dressed. To not get into any difficult situation wearing a pyjama and socks when I finally should head for the metro station. Pictures about smoke and destroyed buildings run through my head.

But in the end, I do not seek shelter outside. It is cold and wet there. There is thunder and storm. The metro station is about one kilometre away, I have to get there. And here – here are Edward and his cat Kaja. The neighbours are also at home. Many people don’t go to the underground.

I prepare myself a cheese sandwich with pickles. I don’t want to get hungry now. And I am sure it’s safer not to stand close to the window.

“And now? Are you going to the underground now?”, I ask Edward as the power is cut and with it the internet. Working is no longer possible.

Edward doesn’t go, he prefers to take a shower.

I make some coffee. Maybe the fourth. Or fifth.

Edward has finished his shower. I’m done with my coffee. The bathroom is free. But I definitely don’t want to take a shower now. In the end, I’ll be naked when a Russian missile hits us.

I am not from Kyiv.

Suddenly, there is no more running water, no matter how much we turn the tap. Edward has breakfast. I make myself another coffee. We have no electricity, no internet and no running water, but we do have a gas cooker.

I can’t deny the fact that this country is at war

Edward reads. I drink coffee. I praise the Ukrainian air defence. Edward demands: “Close the sky over Ukraine”. This demand was very present in the first weeks of the war and rejected after intensive discussions.

When you’re stuck in the middle of a war, World War III doesn’t seem that scary, I think to myself.

3 out of 40 missiles hit the city today. 37 out of 40 missiles were repelled.

We have no water, no electricity and no heating either. And not everyone here regularly takes showers. I won’t stay long enough to be tough. But I’ll stay long enough to stop pushing away the facts that this country is at war.

This morning I got scared.

#FundReise #MunichKyivLove #18000Euro

This is how you can help

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. Keyword: #FundReise. 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