Editor’s note: The following are dispatches from Ben Stott, who has been volunteering to support communities in Ukraine amidst the Russian invasion of the country. Scroll to the bottom of Ben’s posts to find Six Ways You Can Help Ukraine.

Nov. 22 Odessa

On the backside of my trip now and focusing on finding groups and people doing good work who need support so I can help advise friends where they can effectively allocate any money they feel to donate. I’m also attempting to learn how best to ship accumulated donations of things like winter clothes, generators, small stoves, metal detectors and specific types of medical gear in short supply here and make sure they get where they are needed. One thing I’ve heard mentioned is the hardware to patch crushed bones. There are specialized titanium screws and metal braces that I don’t know the exact name of.

The last few days I’ve been establishing a connection with an NGO here in Odessa, helping them with their website and brainstorming how to start a training program for civilians to use mine detectors. The military doesn’t have time to clear out all the liberated villages infested with mines, so people can’t go home safely or work their fields come spring. They need hundreds of trained volunteers and machines. This seems a worthwhile project to concentrate on. Yesterday, I went with another group to distribute food near Kherson in some villages which hadn’t been destroyed but were occupied for 8 months and lacked power, heat and water. It was an exhaustingly long ride on torn up roads but personally gratifying in a basic human way to hand out food to people in such need. A drop in the bucket but that kind of thinking leads to apathy and distraction. Tomorrow I may go again to teach some guys how to use the chain saws we bought. If they already know, I’ll skip it- the whole day yesterday all there was to eat was a gas station hotdog. Poor me. It wasn’t bad actually.

It’s snowing now in most of the country. There’s actually not so much firewood here because most of the country is open fields and people have relied on electric heaters for cooking and warmth. Now 40% of people are without power at least partially and they are suffering. Bombing civilian power infrastructure is genocide without a doubt. Many many people will freeze to death this winter unless they get evacuated or the bombing is stopped. The pressure on Europe to absorb more refugees is Putin’s strategy to weaken western support for Ukraines independence. And it’s working….. The pressure on Europe to absorb more refugees is Purim’s strategy to weaken western support for Ukraine’s independence. And it’s working…

Two observations which may mean something. Everywhere in Ukraine is spotlessly clean, except of course the devastated areas. There is no litter. In cities dead leaves are swept up. People are trying hard to maintain a sense of order and normalcy. Bathrooms in even gritty gas stations are also always spotless, even in places with only generators for light. The second amazing thing is observing drivers here. There are often no traffic lights! And Odessa has lots of traffic. At traffic circles there can be 8 lanes of traffic converging. Utter chaos yet I never heard a car horn and people somehow make room for others instead of competing to be first. To my mind this is nonverbal basic evidence of their unity as a nation. Cooperation. Russians beware.

The 22nd, later

I’m going now to a surprise party for a Ukrainian aid worker at a karaoke bar way out in the suburbs of Odessa. It’s raining hard and I’m feeling a little trapped in the situation without an escape route. I may be the only English speaking person there. God help me if I’m forced to sing. I’d rather be in the trenches getting bombed.

Nov 23 Odessa

Yes, it was like that (the birthday party). No karaoke but absolutely no power either, only candles, everybody drinking and toasting, another cultural world, strange too to be celebrating and feasting in the midst of a war. I wonder how they make the accommodation and be aid workers supposedly at the same time. Two rockets took out all the power this afternoon. In the past it was temporary but this time it didn’t come back and when I tried to go home there was no phone or internet to call a taxi. A test of trust, miles and miles out in the suburbs, no language, and everyone at the party too drunk to drive.

I was preparing to sleep on the floor of the pitch black night club and somehow relaxing into the helplessness but as it often does, someone got a signal after a few hours and I got a cab home. It gave me another glimpse of what life will be like here as Russia destroys the grid-complete paralysis. Everyone here carries all their IDs, their credit cards etc on their phone and use it to pay for things. I’m afraid Russia will win using this strategy. It makes everyone feel helpless but not yet hopeless.

Nov 23rd, later

From Ben: Six ways you can help if you feel drawn to:

1. Collect things to donate- warm clothes, boots, scarves, heaters, cooking stoves, hand warmers, generators, power banks, solar chargers, etc
2. Join protests and write to politicians “stay the course”
3. Sponsor and/or host a refugee or volunteer at a refugee center
4. Hire Ukrainians
5. Volunteer your professional skills, IT, medical, de-mining, business/financial on-line or in country
6. Donate money. I will post some suggestions where but there are many. If you choose a large charity or foundation check them out using charity Navigator, Guide Star or Charity Watch. Sadly many groups if not crooked are semi crooked and pay themselves big salaries and have inflated expenses. The guys I see working here often stay in hostels, eat lousy, cheap food and pay their own way including the gas it requires to deliver aid over nthe long distances involved here.
   Two large charities I’ve seen doing great work are the World Central Kitchen for Ukraine and Project Hope. Let’s help these guys survive the winter and save their country!