Tyrone humanitarian worker talks time in Ukraine

When, in the early morning, the sirens scream across Ukraine’s second largest city, people do not react like they used to.

In fact, according to a humanitarian aid worker from Tyrone, they barely react at all.

Life in Kharkiv has demonstrated to William McCulla that people can get used to just about anything.

The world that surrounds him is a weird one; almost paradoxical.

Bombs still fall and civilians still die, but the howl of horns, which used to send people into a blind panic, now scarcely cause a greater stir than a gust of wind.

Earlier this week, the Tyrone Herald spoke with the 30-year-old about the work he is doing in Ukraine, his plans to continue helping those in need, and how it feels to be living in a besieged city that refuses to relinquish its right to live a normal life.

Originally from Tullyhogue – a small, publess village just outside Cookstown – William spent years teaching in Wolverhampton before deciding that it was time for a career break.

However, where some might spend their sabbatical basking in the peace and tranquility of the tropics, a chance encounter with a stranger in Poland caused William to use his time off to travel to the centre of Europe’s biggest conflict since the end of the Second World War.

“I have been here since January,” said William, speaking with the Tyrone Herald at the end of last week.

“I came to do what I could for the people and animals that needed help, you know.”

Since arriving in the war beset nation, William has had his eyes opened to the realities of conflict; both ordinary and extraordinary.

He has driven in a car riddled with bullet holes.

He has tread treacherously through a mine-laden graveyard searching for lost dogs.

And, while working in a relief kitchen, William and his colleagues were almost flattened by a missile strike.

Bewilderingly, however, the Tyrone man says that in other ways life in Kharkiv can almost seem normal.

Formerly home to over 1.5 million citizens, at its lowest the population of Kharkiv dropped to 800,000.

Today, William is one of approximately 1.2 million people living in the city built on the banks of the Dnieper River.

However, while many of its inhabitants are still displaced, those who have stayed or returned begun to slip back into the old rhythms of their pre-war existence.

“We have water and electric, and a lot of the bars and restaurants have reopened,” said William.

“The buses are still running, people are out walking their dogs, and, in many ways, life has sort of went back to normal.”

But the city has not known quiet since William arrived.

“There is no silence here; but people are still going about their normal lives.”

But William explained that it is the towns and villages – not the bigger cities – that are feeling the impact of the war most profoundly.

“When you get outside the big cities, that is where things get a bit more dire, because a lot of the electricity and water supplies have been wiped out,” he said.

“When winter arrives, the lack of electricity will cause real problems for people.”

“I remember once doing water deliveries to Nikopol through a church, when we were in this restaurant and we heard a massive bang.

“We all stopped and looked at each other but then just carried on the conversation.

“You just get used to it,” he said. “I would be lying if I said I didn’t get scared sometimes, but you do get used to it.

“I would imagine it’s a lot more intense than the Troubles ever were. I was born after the Troubles, but in Kharkiv, we get bombed sometimes once a week. It can happen twice a week, or you can get two or three days of bombing in a row.”

After first arriving in Ukraine, William worked in Kyiv before moving to Kharkiv.

“We took cats and dogs and prepared them to be sent to back across Europe by having them sterilised, vaccinated and getting their documents ready to send them across the border.

“At one point, we even drove a dog and a cat to Vienna from Kyiv to a foster family, and that took three days.

“We had to borrow random people’s cars to do all this because we didn’t have our own.

“One of the cars we got the lend of was riddled with bullet holes.

“The person who owned it lived in Kyiv city, and they were going to Bucha picking people up and bringing them back.

“They were actually fired at by the Russians.”

As part of an effort to reunite displaced owners and pets, William and his fellow volunteers have taken some big risks.

He detailed one of the most dicey rescue missions he was part of during his early days.

“At one point, we were looking for dogs in a graveyard that was mined, and we were just walking around whistling for these dogs,” he explained.

“The dog could have set off a mine or anything.”

After spending his initial months tracking down animals and finding them safe homes, William began working in a humanitarian aid kitchen in Kharkiv.

On his first day day there, a warehouse next door to the relief kitchen was flattened by a Russian air strike.

“It was only after arriving in the kitchen when the postal building beside us got hit by two rockets,” William said. “It was completely destroyed, and that was my introduction to Kharkiv.

“Every two-or-three days, you have a bombing. The air raid siren goes off constantly. I think it’s gone off four times today, but if it goes off, it doesn’t always mean you’re being attacked. It could just be planes taking off, or because they’re moving missiles around. Most of the time I don’t even hear the siren.

“It’s just background noise.”

However, despite still having to spend occasional nights in bomb shelters to escape the air raids, William said he is thankful that life in Kharkiv is beginning to regain some semblance of normality, and many of those who fled are starting to return.

“There’s traffic congestion again, and people are out in the parks with their children because of the great weather.

“You wouldn’t have seen any kids for a while, but there are kids everywhere now. It’s really nice to hear kids playing again, but the army is still everywhere.”

To donate to William’s fundraiser and support his humanitarian project in Ukraine, visit crowdfunder.co.uk and type in ‘Supporting Independent Projects in Ukraine’.