Page 8 - BusinessWest June 27, 2022
P. 8

Proof Positive
As noted earlier, Kozub has many indelible memories from his March visit, one that brought the war in Ukraine and its profound impact on its people, home in ways that can’t be appreciated by simply tuning into CNN.
He used the word ‘surreal’ more than a few times to describe what he saw, especially during those visits to the border.
“Poland was normal for the most part — there were a lot of Ukrainain flags,” he recalled, “But as
“What I saw and what I experienced was mind-blowing, especially in 2022.”
we were driving toward the border, and as we got to within 10 miles of the border, there was nobody ... no cars going in our direction; instead, we saw all the buses going in the other direction.
“That was the first time we got a little anx- ious,” he went on. “Once we got to the border, we befriended a few Polish police men and women who started telling us the stories they were hearing.”
One memory stands out for him. It involves giving a ride to a young girl and her parents to the city in Poland where he was staying.
“We didn’t notice until they got out that they had nothing,” he recalled. “No bags, no nothing, just the clothes on their backs. The way the man was dressed — he had a nice watch, nice clothes
on, nice shoes — you could see that they just left so quickly they didn’t have time to pack a bag. Seeing stuff that like really hit home.
Kozub said he left for Poland with the expectation that he would bring a few thousand dollars to the border, maybe visit once and try to help people as they were coming into Poland during the first days
of the war. But those expectations were altered by what he encoun- tered, and also by contributions sent to him in advance of his trip, including $4,000 from his com- mercial lender, PeoplesBank — the most that can be sent via VENMO.
“That contribution really helped — while I was there, I was able to buy so much more,” he recalled, noting that he was able to buy a washer and dryer for an apartment building now housing 80 women and children, and also bring more needed food and water to the border.
He recalled one instance where he tried to help a woman with four young children.
“All these people didn’t want to accept money from me at first,” he recalled. “But I said ‘you have to — that’s why I traveled all this way.’
“That was back when there were tens of thou- sands of people coming over every day — that’s when most of the need was going on,” he recalled,
Paul Kozub, seen here with police officers at the border, will be returning to Poland next month.
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         8 JUNE 27, 2022
FEATURE
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