There are thousands and thousands of heroes in the Ukrainian war.
These are my heroes.
Those of you who follow me probably know by now that I love all animals, but dogs have a special place in my heart. This post is about them, but also about two extraordinary people who are making a huge difference in this world. A world that can sometimes be unbelievably cruel because of power hungry criminals.
You might also know that I came to Canada from Prague. The Czech Republic was under Soviet occupation for many decades. The Soviet tanks came to my country when I was only one year old. I won't be talking about me growing up in a communist country in the presence of the USSR army. This blog is not about me. I am saying this to explain why the invasion of independent Ukraine touched me on such a deep level.
Since the beginning of the war I was following the news with anxiety, sorrow and at the same time with huge admiration for the Ukrainian people. There are thousands of old people, kids, women, men, soldiers and also animals who were tortured, murdered or injured. Millions of people had to find refuge in other countries and are still misplaced. Every day people of Ukraine face a possibility that they won't be here tomorrow. My heart goes out to all of them and I pray every day for Ukraine to be a free and independent country again.
Although, there are hundreds of thousands of heroes in this war, sometimes we get lost and numbed by the overwhelming news coverage. I want to tell you about two people in particular who changed and saved the lives of hundreds and thousands of animals.
"Not only you save lives of thousands of animals, you also bring hope to all of us.
The world is a better place because of you. Thank you!"
I was following both of them almost from the very beginning of the war on facebook. I must admit that time to time I had to get away from the social media because it was too difficult for me to handle the news emotionally and mentally. I felt hopeless and angry and sad that there is so much suffering and I can't do anything at all. All I could do was to donate money and share their story.
Marina
© Shelter Friend Ukraine
Marina lives in Dnepropetrovsk city in Ukraine and she has a dog shelter - SHELTER FRIEND UKRAINE that is helping sick and injured stray animals. I heard of Marina the first time after the war started. I came across her facebook post that immediately touched my heart and I started to follow her.
© Shelter Friend Ukraine
It was difficult to helplessly watch what Marina, her people and the animals have to go through. Cold, lack of food, lack of medical materials and never ending threat. To save her grown up kids' lives, Marina managed to send them to Poland to safety. She, however, decided to stay with the animals because she couldn't imagine leaving them behind.
Marina had to deal with an overwhelming amount of animals which were suddenly alone, abandoned or displaced because their people were killed or had to flee the country. Most of these animals were starved and mentally distressed. Many of them injured and in bad condition.
She took into her shelter as many animals as she physically could. Dogs, cats and even goats and donkeys. There was a lack of food, medication and medical supplies, but this incredible woman took care of them tirelessly 24/7.
In the midst of war, Marina found compassion, love and laughter. In these most tragic times, she was the only source of food, water, shelter, and most importantly, hope and love, for all these beautiful souls.
© Shelter Friend Ukraine
Every night I was going to bed thinking about this woman. I sent some money but I felt hopeless, sad and angry, I cried and I prayed for her, her animals and all Ukrainians to live in a free and independent Ukraine.
I have a dream that one day I will visit Marina in her shelter and I will bring her some raised money for building a shelter where she could continue her selfless work, and that I will bring one dog home with me. I keep this vision in my mind and I hope it will come true very soon.
© Shelter Friend Ukraine
You can follow her on the facebook page where you can read more in details what they are going through. You will find out more about their everyday challenges, heartbreaks but also about everyday victories. Victories that will show you that evil never can break a spirit of Ukrainians and that love and goodness always wins.
Marina and people like her are true heroes who are not afraid to pay the highest price for saving others.
Please take a minute, check the shelter's facebook page and if you can, send some money. Every dollar counts and can make a difference for those who suffer so much in this cruel and evil war.
Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/shelterFriendDnepr/
PayPal - shelter.friend.ukraine@gmail.com
Tom
"Any day you wake up, you’re never going to save every dog, it’s impossible. But what you can do in that day is make sure that your work saves more dogs the next day." Tom
My second hero is Tom. He is a former member of the British armed forces who served 18 years in different countries around the world. He is also a professional photographer and videographer. Tom loves animals and has personal experiences when animals helped him to heal traumas and PTSD from his military service. Tom got inspired by these experiences and created called Breaking the Chains International. His goal was to save as many animals as possible around the world.
©Tom S-N Animal Photographer
Tom is from the UK, but he was working on many projects around the world (one of the last ones was a documentary about situation with stray dogs and animal shelters in Texas). Right after the Russians attacked Ukraine, Tom didn't hesitate and with his close friend Steve, travelled to the invaded country to save as many animals as possible.
They had experience and skills from the when they were serving in the military. They also had a big heart, compassion and bravery to immediately start helping where it was needed the most. Their operation started to grow very quickly and in no time they grew into a huge operation involving over 100 members and volunteers.
"Within a few weeks, Breaking the Chains’ became the most well-known and effective animal rescue team working inside of Ukraine due to their capabilities of operating inside the conflict zones." (BTC website)
"Any day you wake up, you’re never going to save every dog, it’s impossible. But what you can do in that day is make sure that your work saves more dogs the next day." Tom
©Tom S-N Animal Photographer
They managed to extract domestic and exotic animals across the country from dangerous areas and get hundreds and hundreds of animals across the border to safety. As you can read on BCT website "They have managed to rescue more than 5,500 animals including dogs, cats, horses, foxes, birds, ferrets, goats, pigs, donkeys, a wolf, Europe’s largest bear, and a pride of nine lions – the largest big cat extraction from an active warzone."
©Tom S-N Animal Photographer
They also use their own funds and donations to deliver medical supplies and food to animal shelters and small villages where they had no access to anything and without their help hundreds of animals would die.
At some point not all animals can be taken across the border and Tom decided to build an animal shelter right in Ukraine. With the help of his team and local Ukrainian workers and volunteers their are working on this huge project which will provide a home to 300 animals. If you donate, you will be helping this amazing project.
©Tom S-N Animal Photographer
What Tom and his team accomplished in Ukraine is astonishing and very inspiring. Please, read about their journey and help by sharing their story and/or donation if you can. Thank you.
©Tom S-N Animal Photographer
Website
Donate now
https://breakingthechainsinternational.org/donations/
The website is very well done and it is easy to find all information about the organizations and also how to help from anywhere in the world and how to become a member of Braking The Chains community.
Marina and Tom are both extraordinary human beings and are a huge inspiration in my every day life. I am grateful for both of them and hundreds others like them who are brave enough to risk their own life to save others. I pray every day for their safety and wish them all the best.
Not only you save lives of thousands of animals, you also bring hope to all of us.
The world is a better place because of you. Thank you!
©Tom S-N Animal Photographer
All photos used in this blog are courtesy of Shelter Friend Ukraine and Tom S-N Photographer.