Bread is Life

July 28, 2024

In exactly 12 hours, Alla and I will be boarding the bus to San Francisco International Airport to begin the first leg of our long journey to Ukraine. What are my thoughts and emotions as I begin what will surely be one of the most, if not the most, consequential and exciting trips of my lifetime?

This is not an ordinary humanitarian trip like the one I went to in northern Greece in 2016 to help Syrian refugees, or the one in 2019 to teach English to Yazidi refugees, or even the one to Poland in 2022 to transport Ukrainian women and children who were fleeing the war.

I am traveling to a country in the middle of a brutal and violent war. A war in which a missile or a bomb from a drone can strike anywhere in the country at any time. A war in which the electrical grid has been heavily damaged, and power is out for hours at a time in every city and village. A war in which air raid sirens go off for hours at a time, day or night, and people look for the nearest shelter.

So why am I leaving the comforts and safety of home to travel to a war-torn country to help bake and distribute bread to villagers in eastern Ukraine who are struggling to survive each day? Why not take the $13,100 I raised recently from over one hundred donors, and just send it to the International Humanitarian Hub to buy wheat to make the bread?

Because I know from my humanitarian work in refugee camps that something powerful and mysterious happens at the moment the giver and the receiver of aid connect with each other. When you are able to provide some degree of comfort to individuals who are at their most desperate time in their lives, you realize in a deep way that this is why we are put on this earth.

The bread that I will distribute in the coming days will not only alleviate some of the hunger but, more importantly, will be a message to the villagers that over one hundred Americans in Sonoma County and other parts of the country care about their survival and well-being. And that an old man, who chose to represent these Americans, traveled over 6,000 miles to tell them that they have not been forgotten by the world. What a powerful message! One that is impossible to convey by just sending money to an organization. That is why I am willing to risk the dangerous conditions that exists in Ukraine today.

So back to the question I asked at the beginning of this post– What are my thoughts and emotions as I begin what will surely be one of the most, if not the most, consequential and exciting trip of my lifetime?

I am nervous, excited, apprehensive, looking forward to meeting wonderful Ukrainians and seeing their beautiful country, and going with an open heart knowing that I will receive more than I can ever give.

Slava Ukraini!

This is how it all started…

In Aprll of 2022, shortly after Russia’s invasion into Ukraine, I went to Poland and Ukraine to help transport Ukrainian women and children from the border into Poland. After returning to the US, I sponsored two Ukrainian families to start new lives in Sonoma County and with the help of many friends, neighbors, and family members, we have helped to resettle and support over 35 Ukrainian refugees.

One of these Ukrainians is a grandmother (Alla) who has decided to return to Ukraine after two years. Because her English is limited and she would have difficulty navigating her way home, I offered to travel with her to Warsaw, Poland, and to get her on the train to her home city of Chernihiv. Since I would be near Ukraine, I decided to spend some time volunteering in some capacity to help Ukrainians in need and learned about a bread distribution program sponsored by Type of Wood Charities, a nonprofit organization that I volunteered with in Poland in 2022.

Type of Wood Charities organizes the baking and distribution of 40,000+ loaves of bread to villagers in eastern Ukraine near the front lines of the war who are struggling to survive during the war. When I learned that $6,000 would buy 22 tons (44,000 pounds) of wheat, I decided to raise that amount before leaving for Ukraine. Thanks to the outpouring of support, I was able to raise $13,000, which will buy 95,000 pounds of wheat!

Alla and I leave for Ukraine on July 29, 2024. She is excited to return to her home country. I leave with a mixture of anticipation, curiosity about life in a war-torn country, concerns for my safety, and looking forward to participating in the baking and distribution of bread. An added benefit of the trip will be an opportunity to meet the families and friends of the Ukrainians I have sponsored in the US and to share first hand how their loved ones are thriving in the US!

John Namkung

Humanitarian