20/7
Today was a heavier day as I interviewed two people for hours, both with intense experiences.
David was a young neurosurgeon who works in Dnipro hospital, one of the receiving hospitals for a lot of the frontline. He is doing a nightshift every second night and the work has been relentless. This was the first break he’d had. He told us he is doing at least 3 major brain or spine surgeries on soldiers per shift. They are major surgeries with pieces of shrapnel and bullets penetrating skulls and brains. One surgery took him 8 hours. Another man had to be operated on 4 times in one shift. He showed me some pictures and videos with chunks of metal inside young men’s heads… There are other neurosurgeons there too and he said they get around 12-15 young men with major head trauma per day and that there has been around 16000 since the war began. He said that he doesn’t know how much longer this can go on – that they were losing a generation of young men to this war, not just lives, but potential – men who wanted to go on to have families, build the economy, contribute to their country – and many who through their injuries would not be able to do any of this. He has been injured too – he is not sure how long he can keep this up – it has been emotionally brutal to see this day after day. Not to mention the physical toll of operating day and night endlessly. But to anyone who might suggest that they end this war through negotiation he has strong words. That evil must be stopped. That the world needs to understand that if it is not stopped it will not end here, and it won’t only be Ukraine’s sons and daughters who are sacrificed.

Footnote: since this time John has talked to a head neurosurgeon in the Australian military who may come and help him and do some upskilling with David- that would be great.

I then got to speak with Mark who is an army chaplain. I wasn’t sure if I would get to speak to him. I had noticed him initially as a quite, withdrawn guy in army fatigues who went everywhere with his gorgeous puppy. He looked like someone carrying a very heavy burden and I felt a really strong urge to speak to him, a real sense that he had something important to say. I was then introduced to him yesterday and told he was an army chaplain on the front lines. He didn’t speak English but through the interpreter I said I’d like to speak to him during the camp. He said he would see how he went as he might not have time – he had five funerals to go to in the next few days… He asked me a couple of questions including the meaning of my Ukrainian symbol earrings. It was like he was testing me out – I think I was passing so far…
Last night and today it kept bugging me that I needed to speak to him. I sent Rudi a message about it and I asked my interpreter to help me chase him down. We finally found him and he agreed to speak to me after some further questions he had for me that I must have passed… He brought his dog with him, his dog was named ‘Bakhmut’ – the place of the intense fighting with the Russians where the dog’s mother had been killed. The soldiers had adopted him but then had to move on to a more dangerous position so he took the dog on. He started to speak and tell me his story ( you’ll have to watch the doco for more details). But it was hard to watch. His heart was so heavy. Six of his unit had been recently killed in one hit. That was why he was attending so many funerals. I watched as tears rolled down his face and it occurred to me that at 27 he could have been my son and I just wanted to hug him. At one point I grabbed his hand and he grabbed mine back and didn’t let go – and just kept saying thankyou. He told me some amazing stories and some heart-wrenching stories. He has seen far more death and destruction than anyone should let alone someone so young. I asked him who was giving him comfort and he spoke of his deep love for God and how he seeks refuge in Him. Of how he was not afraid to die and that it was his honor to serve the people fighting for his country. He spoke of the need for the world to step up and fight evil and realise that if we don’t stop evil in it’s tracks now then it will only spread and the price becomes higher the longer we stay indifferent. They need so much more – more weapons, more equipment, more help. It was emotionally gruelling watching his pain. I thanked him so much for sharing this with me, with the world, with those who would listen. We took a photo and I saw the first sign of a smile as his dog licked his face. We exchanged contacts and then I couldn’t but help to give him a hug. He held me tight for what seemed like minutes and thanked me for caring about his country.

21/7
Something life-changing happened today. After another day of camp, sharing, relaxing, writing, exercising, we all gathered in the hall for the evening’s activities for the last night of camp. I had been keeping an eye out for Mark today and hadn’t seen him all day. I had been experiencing a strange feeling of dread – like I expected that sooner or later I would hear news that he had been killed. Not unexpected I guess given that he works on the frontlines. As we sat there waiting for things to start – Rudi came up to me and asked if Mark had told me some stories I could share. I said sure. But wondered why Mark wasn’t sharing them. For a second, I thought maybe he was going to speak tonight but has been held up but then I had a sick feeling. I asked “Is he ok?” Rudi said “Actually, he was killed in a car accident today, driving on the way to a soldier’s funeral.” I couldn’t say anything, I was shellshocked, tears welled up in my eyes, my heart sank into my stomach and over the next few seconds probably but what seemed like hours, I was hit with the realisation that I may have been one of the last people to speak to him and probably the last person he gave his story and message to – and I was so thankful I had had the chance to do this.
The rest of the evening of course was very sombre. There was a lot of gratitude for his life and example. I was able to share through an interpreter some of his last words with the group – and also my reassurance that we would use his words to share his message. A few people thanked me for this message and I am left with a responsibility to ensure the world hears his message that I believe I was meant to record…

Footnote: I was grateful to later learn that my videos had been passed on to his family and that this meant a lot to them. ❤️

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