UNITED SIKHS’ VOLUNTEERS REACH UKRAINE WITH HUMANITARIAN AID

SUPPORTS WAR REFUGEES IN EVACUATION, PROVIDING FOOD, MEDICINES, HEATED SHELTER, ARTICLES OF DAILY NEEDS

UNITED SIKHS, the United Nations affiliated human rights and advocacy organization, has started relief work and humanitarian aid in Ukraine for more than two weeks serving the emergency needs of refugees escaping the war.

UNITED SIKHS is the only organization of the Sikhs that has reached ground zero in the war torn Ukraine and its neighbouring country Poland serving the Ukrainian refugees, selflessly, ignoring the danger of war when two nations Russia and Ukraine are locked in a severe war, leading to huge loss to men, material and properties.

More than a dozen UNITED SIKHS volunteers from the United States of America, Germany and the United Kingdom have set up a relief base camp in Medyka (Poland) close to the Ukrainian border. Atleast 100,000 refugees have been served by the UNITED SIKHS’ humanitarian mission till date and the relief work is continuing.

Driven by its motto from the Sikh faith, ‘Recognize the Human Race as One’, UNITED SIKHS teams have been serving hot meals, sanitation kits, water, clothing, other goods of daily needs and even toys for the newborn.

A team of volunteers drove for 36 hours with a commercial van full of supplies from the United Kingdom to reach the base camp, last week, delivering Power Generators, Water Pumps, Blankets/Quilts, Sleeping Bags, Sanitary Pads, Tents, Stove and Utensils, Radio Communications, Warm Clothing, Socks, Gloves etc.

During the past week, nearly eight elderly and children died while waiting for 18 hours to cross the border in temperatures as low as 15-Fahrenheit. UNITED SIKHS has set up a commercial heated tent in the Ukrainian DMZ now, to accommodate more than 200 refugees at a time as they are in transit to cross border checkpoints into Poland. “This largest is one of the largest shelters that is currently set up at the border. It will serve as a short-term warming center for refugees fighting the freezing weather conditions,” said Balwinder Singh, a UNITED SIKHS’ volunteer who was first to land in the war torn country with the relief material.

Volunteers are also taking supplies from the base camp across the border into Ukraine to deliver urgently needed supplies for refugees waiting to cross the border.

Volunteers are now serving on both sides of the border, 24 hours a day.

UNITED SIKHS is a UN affiliated non- profit organization that works internationally for disaster relief and humanitarian aid. UNITED SIKHS have served dozens of humanitarian missions around the globe in the last 20 years including the Asian Tsunami in 2004, Haiti Earthquake in 2010, Syrian refugee crisis in 2015, Rohingya refugee crisis in 2017 and the COVID pandemic in 2020-21. UNITED SIKHS is an active partner of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) a USA government agency for disaster relief works.