[Volunteer Profile] From California to Ukraine
UNITED SIKHS volunteer Gyan offering relief supplies in war torn Ukraine
Dear Supporter,
Our Ukraine Mission is made possible with your generous support and an amazing group of compassionate volunteers from around the globe. We want you to meet one of these volunteers.
At the beginning of the COVID pandemic Gyan felt disconnected and missed his community. Gyan joined UNITED SIKHS Homeless Sewa Mission in Los Angeles in spring of 2020. This program has been bringing cooked meals for thousands of homeless residents for the past 6 years. He is now a volunteer coordinator for this project.
Gyan serving meals & water to homeless residents in downtown Los Angeles
Gyan has served in the US army from 2008-2010 during the Iraq war. After being discharged honorably he trained as a pathology assistant at the Veterans Administration. For him leadership skills has been one of the biggest lessons learnt while serving in the army.
This skill is what Gyan brings in as a volunteer for the Homeless Sewa Mission project. Gyan also traveled late last year to offer his services after Hurricane Ida devastated Louisiana and other states up the east coast as part of our humanitarian mission.
When UNITED SIKHS responded to the Ukraine war in the early days by setting up a base camp for humanitarian relief assistance Gyan was ready to leave immediately to join the effort. But unfortunately he realized his passport had expired. UNITED SIKHS helped Gyan get his passport renewed on an expedited basis. As soon as Gyan got the passport he was ready to fly to Europe to be at Camp Nalwa in Poland at the Ukraine border.
On March 31st, three days after his 37th birthday Gyan spent 26 hours traveling to the base camp. From Los Angeles he flew to Amsterdam with a stop at Rotterdam to refuel and then to Krakaw. After 3 plane rides followed by a train journey from Krakow, Poland and a final car ride Gyan made it to Camp Nalwa.
In Gyan’s words, “I expected there would be this big heated tent in a border town set up by our team. It will be a difficult situation with cold temperatures, hygiene and the refugee crisis. It will be challenging but survivable. It has certainly been grueling. It is like my military schedule again. First few days I had a lot of sinus issues given our work in frigid conditions. I have a 10am to 10pm schedule which on most days stretches way past this shift.”
Among a range of services, Gyan has been part of our security protective team to serve the privacy of refugee women and children. The heated tent is their sanctuary. Gyan along with our teams makes sure there is no breach of this sacred space.
Gyan with fellow UNITED SIKHS volunteers building shelves in tents serving refugees
Gyan has also been offering any assistance our teams need in delivering cooked meals, clothing supplies, medicines to refugees both at the border and inside Ukraine. Gyan has been joined by volunteers from the USA, UK, Egypt, Denmark and Korea.
Gyan plans to be at the base camp for 6 weeks. If needed he is ready to be back again.
Gyan shared his inspiration with us, “In the army it’s the battle that matters. Right now with the ongoing assault in Ukraine we are here to serve women, children and elderly refugees to keep them alive & healthy. The base camp is large with many critical services being offered for this mission. The tent sewa is a critical part of this mission. I am blessed and motivated to be part of this amazing team of volunteers who have left their lives behind at home to serve humanity in this moment of tragedy and crisis.”
We are deeply grateful for the services and skills offered by our volunteers from around the globe. They inspire us to keep serving humanity as an extension of our global family.
Your donations help make the work done by Gyan and our courageous team of volunteers possible.
Our GoFundMe Ukraine Mission Page
Gurvinder Singh
International Humanitarian Aid Director
Recognize the Human Race as One
