Sven Klimaschewski, 35, spent the weekend tinkering at a car with a friend. The radio news about the war in Ukraine made him want to provide support himself. He contacted various organizations. He didn’t want to just drive to the Polish-Ukrainian border. That made no sense, says Sven Klimaschewski. “Nothing is worse than blocking the way for rescue workers.”
Born on the island Rügen, Klimaschewski is a trained nurse and was a paramedic in the German armed forces. During the pandemic, he helped out at the Bundeswehr Hospital in Hamburg as a reservist. In the meantime, after studying mechanical engineering at the University of Applied Sciences in Stralsund, he is working as a research assistant. Contact with Caritas in the Archdiocese of Lublin was established through a church congregation. He packed a trailer with relief supplies, passed around a donation box at the university and convinced two other colleagues from the university to come along. Then they hit the road. Caritas deploys the volunteers at the logistics warehouse in Lublin and near the Dorohusk border crossing. They unload aid transports, sort relief supplies and actively support arriving refugees.
Philipp Spalek for Caritas