The 24th April marked two months since Russia invaded Ukraine. Many of you may, or may not know that our senior designer, Oksana Drutsul is originally from Ukraine, and although she left at a fairly young age, still has family and relatives there. So we can safely say that everyone in the Manifesto office has been following the updates from a close source.
We have asked Oksy to share her thoughts in this blog to see how we can continue to support Ukraine and Ukrainian people who are fleeing this horrible war.
“Where do I begin, I think the 24th February will be carved in my memory as one of the worst mornings of my life. Waking up to the news of a full-scale war in my home country was a very scary feeling. Shock, fear, panic, the unknown, all these feelings were running through my mind. The everyday morning message to my family “Are you ok” has become a daily routine. The first week was probably the most stressful one, as no one knew what to do in a situation like this. Let’s face it, war is not a day to day thing. Once all the emotions started to calm down, all I wanted to do was help with anything I could. Being overseas and far away from the terror, under a peaceful sky, just felt unfair, and everything that I was doing felt like it was never enough.
Luckily, we saw how this situation brought the whole world together and I have never felt or seen so much support. People from all over the world united to help. In the first weeks, millions of tonnes of humanitarian aid arrived in Ukraine. Millions of people fled the country and found ‘new temporary homes’. Seeing this much support has given all of us (Ukrainians) hope.
But we are now two months in and unfortunately this has now become our ‘new normality’. The war in Ukraine is no longer the ‘BREAKING NEWS’ topic. And although the support we receive is still unbelievable, help has started to slow down. I know from personal sources, friends in voluntary organisations, that the Ukrainian people are still in much need. That’s why Manifesto Design has decided to join up and openly help Ukraine.
How can you help?
First of all, the Manifesto office in Guadalmina is a drop-off point. I, myself, will then transfer all the aid received to the appropriate centres in Marbella and in Nueva Andalucía.
Secondly, I would like to highlight the list of the most needed items. At this point, the Ukrainian people desperately need long-lasting food and medical supplies.
On top of that, below have made a selection of donation websites that are verified and trustworthy, for those who want to help financially:
- Come back alive fund (the largest organisation providing support to the Armed Forces of Ukraine)
- National bank of Ukraine (special account to Raise Funds for Ukraine’s Armed Forces)
- Nova Ukraine (a non-profit organisation dedicated to providing humanitarian aid to the people of Ukraine)
- Savethechildren.org (the Children’s Emergency Fund)
- Unicef.org (support for children and families in Ukraine)
- FOUR PAWS (global animal welfare organisation for animals)
- Happy Paw (a charity foundation, which cares about the fate of homeless cats and dogs)
These are only a few, but the list could go on and on.
If you would like to help locally, you can contact different local charities in the Marbella area to see what programmes they offer:
- CAER (Spanish refugee aid commission)
- ACCEM (a non-profit organisation that works to improve the living conditions of people in vulnerable situations)
If you are willing to host a refugee, or help them with housing, there are some local projects, but you can also do this through Airbnb.com. They are funding short-term housing for up to 100,000 people fleeing Ukraine. You can help by offering temporary stays for free or at a discount through Airbnb.org or donating to fund stays.
The bottom line of all of this is that every little help counts. I personally wanted to say a big thank you to everyone who shown support over the past two months. I can say on behalf of all Ukrainian nationals, we know and we appreciate everything and everyone.
Manifesto Design and the team stand with Ukraine. If you would like to help, feel free to drop us an email or contact us directly on social media.
If you would like to help with some humanitarian aid, like food or medicine, you can drop the things into our office and Oksana will make sure that it gets to those who need it the most. Our office is located in Centro Comercial Guadalmina, Blq. 4, Local 62, San Pedro Alcántara.
Let’s stay united and help those in need.
#WeStandWithUkraine 🇺🇦
