Dear Supporter,
As part of our continuing humanitarian mission in Ukraine, we were able to rescue three students of Indian origin this past weekend who were stuck in Kherson, Ukraine not knowing if and when they would make their way to safety.
Headed by our brave volunteers from around the globe including Gurpal Singh from the United Kingdom the team undertook a daring mission into Ukraine and completed the mission safely and successfully.
We share with you the details of this journey in the words of one of the rescued students, 19 year old Simran Kaur.
“I want to share my experience from the war zone! I was stuck in the southern part of Ukraine, known as Kherson, for the last 20 days! Kherson is occupied by Russian troops and in recent times it has become the most dangerous place in Ukraine. Me and my friend Tannu were both stuck there including one more Indian boy named Brian. It was the most horrible experience of our lives. We saw and heard daily bombardments taking place, sounds of missiles landing nearby. Staying in Kherson was living hell. We tried our best to get out of there but without any success. We faced a lot of problems on a daily basis. I want to inform you that it was UNITED SIKHS that finally found a way to help evacuate us. I truly appreciate their service. They motivated us to remain in the spirit of Chardhi Kala and guided us through the extraction process on various routes and channels that were changing on a daily basis. They had connections from a humanitarian perspective on both the Ukrainian and Russian side.
For the last 2 weeks, we were trying to get a taxi but couldn’t locate a taxi to get to the extraction point. Gurpal Singh from UNITED SIKHS came over in person to help us with the final steps of the extraction process. His team had already made the arrangements from the extraction point in Odessa, Ukraine. All our expenses were paid forth by UNITED SIKHS who even booked hotels for us to stay in Odessa as a part of the extraction process for our safety and security. The rooms were booked by them even for the Ukrainian refugees who were traveling with us, a true humanitarian Sikh gesture.
On the way we faced many challenges. It was a journey that took a couple of days before we left behind the constant background of guns, missiles and running into bunkers/shelter homes. Surviving on scarce food and water. Overall we may have crossed 25 or more checkpoints in the bitter cold. The local security forces checked out luggage, passports and even pointed guns at our faces. This was very scary for me. Throughout the process I kept the UNITED SIKHS Security Operations team informed. I really want to thank their team that helped us in this process. Today, March 27th, finally we came out from Ukraine into Moldova and on to the next steps in our journey back home.
“Me and my friend want to truly thank UNITED SIKHS for all the support and by the grace of Vaheguru we are safe now.” – Simran Kaur, 19 year old student rescued from southern city of Kherson, Ukraine
Volunteer teams who took part in the student rescue mission.
“Danger of reality hits home when you and your team put on body armor getting ready for the mission. You realize death is near. You say a prayer. Visualize the Nishaan Sahib to gain strength. In the middle of the night, off you go into the war zone on your humanitarian mission to save lives.“ – Gurpal Singh, Head of Security Operations.
Our GoFundMe Ukraine Mission Page
In response to the success of this daring mission our International Humanitarian Aid Director, Gurvinder Singh had these words, “This is the work of nation states – it is beyond courage and humbling. It is literally death defying. To get this done, it is beyond words. Our teams and sewadaars are the embodiment of Sikh philosophy – to act in the service of humanity in need & danger.”
This mission is made possible with your support. Please keep your generous donations coming so we can keep serving refugees devastated by the ongoing tragedy of war – [Our GoFundMe Ukraine Mission Page]
Gurpreet Singh
Executive Director
Recognize the Human Race as One
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UNITED SIKHS is registered as a non-profit, tax-exempt organization pursuant to Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code in the USA. For information on other chapters click here for More Information
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