Special Report: Connecting with Ukraine 🇺🇦

Transcribed by Jerome Kazlauskas

Michael DiBenedetto  0:00  
I don't think Putin's going to stop here. If we don't continue giving aid here, I think that we will see him in Poland or someplace else and Ukraine is just a stepping stone.

Brett Barry  0:13  
Late last year and twenty episodes ago, Michael DiBenedetto joined us in the studio and made a convincing case for copper bullets over lead; citing collateral damage to bald eagles poisoned through the scavenging of lead-tainted venison scraps. On today's show, we reconnected with Michael in Ukraine, where he's volunteering as a driver with an organization called "Road to Relief." Michael drives a truck in the Catskills, too, making deliveries for his company, Vly Mountain Spring Water. That's given him some preparation for the mission at hand, but driving on the front lines of Donbas; Michael's front and center in a war that's a year and a half on with no end in sight. That conversation in a moment. Kaatscast is sponsored by Briars & Brambles Books. The go to independent book and gift store in the Catskills, located in Windham, New York, right next to the pharmacy, just steps away from the Windham Path. Open daily. For more information, visit briarsandbramblesbooks.com or call 518-750-8599; and by the Central Catskills Chamber of Commerce. Providing services to businesses, community organizations, and local governments in the Central Catskills region. Follow the Central Catskills Chamber of Commerce on Facebook and sign up for a weekly email of local events at centralcatskills.org.

Hello, Michael!

Michael DiBenedetto  1:55  
Hey!

Brett Barry  1:56  
Hey, it's working. How are you?

Michael DiBenedetto  1:59  
It is working all the way across the side of the earth.

Brett Barry  2:04  
You know, last time, we recorded together. We were discussing the dangers of lead bullets on Catskills wildlife. Now, you're contending with artillery fire. I think there's a theme here.

Michael DiBenedetto  2:15  
That's very interesting and effort. I remember to put those two together, but yes.

Brett Barry  2:20  
As much as you're able to tell me where are you and what are you doing?

Michael DiBenedetto  2:24  
I'm in Sloviansk in Ukraine. It's in the Donbas region in Ukraine and it's one of the areas where there's a lot of activity going on. What we're doing is that organization I'm working with is doing a lot of humanitarian things, evacuations, evacuations of people in the regions, evacuations of soldiers, they have also a mobile clinic that goes out to help people that are out in the villages and they deliver lots and lots of humanitarian aid, food, stuff from the United Nations, whatever. What I'm doing in particular is I'm a driver. That's my ... that's my title.

Brett Barry  3:09  
And you have some experience with that, right? Don't you deliver in the Catskills?

Michael DiBenedetto  3:13  
Yes, yes, and some of that was some of that stuff now when I first got here. They had a box truck that was broke down and I repaired that and it's a little tiny bit bigger than my box truck, but so we've been using that to go out as well where the roads where you can do it on the road. Some of the roads are so bad. You can't take a box truck out on there, but so we've been using that.

Brett Barry  3:37  
What motivated you to travel to Ukraine, Michael, and to volunteer on the ground?

Michael DiBenedetto  3:42  
Well, I, you know, that's an interesting question. What motivates any of us to do good for others and I think it's, you know, quite selfish on my part. Because, as you know, anytime you do good for somebody, it makes you feel really good. So, that's the reason that I do it. It's ... it's for purely selfish reasons.

Brett Barry  4:10  
I wouldn't call it selfish, Michael. That's not the word I would use, but did you have experience with missions like this in the past?

Michael DiBenedetto  4:19  
Oh, yeah. Peg and I have gone out on numerous other things, you know, when we went down for Katrina, we helped with aid in Haiti. We went to Africa. Just, you know, Sandy, just trying to help out and, you know, and all of our kids have also done what they can, you know, to volunteer.

Brett Barry  4:42  
Who makes up the team? You say, you're a driver. How many people are you working with?

Michael DiBenedetto  4:47  
I think there's probably thirty volunteers here right now. The person that organized it: Emma and Henry. Henry just left. They've been here for the duration and they've done relief work all over the world. They were in ... in Greece ... in Lesbos. They were in Syria. They've done lots of stuff and they came here and started just the two of them, and then built this organization.

Brett Barry  5:21  
Now, you say, you've done work in other places. Let's take Haiti. For example, I think that was following ... was that a hurricane or an earthquake ...

Michael DiBenedetto  5:30  
Earthquake.

Brett Barry  5:30  
... disaster?

Michael DiBenedetto  5:31  
Yeah, an earthquake. I think 200,000 people died, you know, initially there and yes.

Brett Barry  5:36  
Now, this is a little different, Michael, because you're in direct harm's way, I would imagine. Is that concerning to you?

Michael DiBenedetto  5:44  
I think it's more concerning to people I know particularly my family because, you know, the news makes it seem like it's worse. But I feel ... I feel pretty safe over here honestly. I mean, we've ... I've never experienced artillery going over me and hitting fairly close, which I have. But it's ... it's sort of like the lottery. Do you know what I mean? We delivered aid today to a village just north of here and missiles had struck somebody's house and it was about three houses down, maybe four houses down, maybe a little more than the place where we delivered the aid to today and this ... this happened yesterday. So, you know, I mean it was still smoldering. There's debris in the road you had to drive around and everything could have happened. Of course, but I don't ... I don't feel that. I just ... I feel pretty safe.

Brett Barry  6:46  
What kind of precautions do you take in your day-to-day to stay safe? Is there intelligence on where, you know, might be hit?

Michael DiBenedetto  6:55  
Yes, there always is and if you're going into a spot that might be a little bit of a hotspot, you dress for that. You're wearing, you know, a vest and sometimes a helmet and, you know, trying to be carefully watching what's going on; watching for drones this and that. They have an idea, you know, where ... where we shouldn't ... shouldn't be and, you know, we've been within. I think it's been probably within a little less than a kilometer: the front lines at times and actually hear what's going on and you can hear the rest of the note that was the ... that was the only time I've experienced that other people have had it many times ... the artillery going over you ... where you'll hear the ... the artillery fire. You hear the whistle, you know, like in the movies. Remember watching, if you ever watch those movies, you hear the whistling boom.

Brett Barry  7:50  
Where are you staying? I hear ... I think I hear a ... so I hear an animal in the background?

Michael DiBenedetto  7:54  
Yes, there's ... there's some dogs that have been rescued a bunch of cats here, so we're staying fairly close. They have. They're called the Salt Lakes. It was a pretty big resort area for health reasons. People would come here. There's like three or four lakes that are very salty. They're saltier than the ocean, and then before the war, there were resorts around them and whatever people would come here, that's where we're staying. It's like a big three story house.

Brett Barry  8:26  
So, explain a little bit about what you're doing. What's the day-to-day? Where do your orders come down from? Is it based on what comes in?

Michael DiBenedetto  8:33  
Yeah, they have a needs assessment team that goes out pretty much every day and they go to the different villages and it's really interesting here that I've just sort of gotten the grasp on and it's part of why Ukraine is what it is. The villages are very ... I don't know how to put this. I don't. I don't want to say patriotic, but they're very close. Almost every village has a ... like a village center and some of them have a theater in there, whatever. It's the heart of the village where people ... people go. At these centers, they have a coordinator. So, the assessment team goes out usually meets with coordinators and they determine what the needs are in this particular village; and based on those needs, we'll take humanitarian aid out, whether it's food or hygiene supplies, doing evacuations, and things like that.

Brett Barry  9:33  
What's been the reception by the local people when you arrive with your packages, your supplies or just, you know, any kind of assistance?

Michael DiBenedetto  9:42  
I have heard that in some of the regions that are closer to the border, whatever, that sometimes they're not well-received. I have not seen that. I love the people here, you know, as is typically the case that people that have the least give the most and we'll go to these places. I was at a place a day before yesterday delivering and they gave us this great big jar of honey and a lot of work goes into her honey ... as you probably know ... and she was so proud of that ... that these were from her bees and whatever ... but we'll go places and people will give us food. You know, all the produce is in season now. It's very similar to New York's climate, except it's been really hot and you had not been really hot. But some grapes and apples and plums and all that are, you know, the gardens that tomatoes are all ripening, people are always giving us stuff. They'll give us bread sometimes and yeah, they're ... they're just the most wonderful people.

Brett Barry  10:53  
Had you been there in peacetime or is this your first experience in Ukraine?

Michael DiBenedetto  10:56  
I know this is ... this is the first time I've really ... Peg and I have been traveling through Europe like staying overnight or something like that. We went to Greece at one point and I ... oh, on the way to Africa, we spent a night in ... in the UK, but otherwise I've never done anything in Europe. So, yes, absolutely the first time. I'm a novice traveler. I was shocked when I got to Poland and I haven't exchanged any money. I still haven't exchanged money and all the toilets are pay toilets and I didn't know what they were saying and this woman's out there and I thought she was asking for a handout. I couldn't give her anything, and then I went in the toilet, and then she sends in this guy to come and get me because I haven't paid. It was like, "Oh my gosh, I had no idea."

Brett Barry  11:06  
Wow!

Michael DiBenedetto  11:17  
Anyway, yes. I am a novice at traveling.

Brett Barry  11:52  
Is the landscape there similar to the Catskills in terms of the mountains and other similarities?

Michael DiBenedetto  11:59  
There are a lot of similarities: the ... the plants. The plants are so similar. I recognize all these plants that we have. The hills ... they have a lot of flat areas. I suspect if you go a little ways out of the Catskills like more toward Western New York, it would look a little bit more like that. Take growth, you know, even a few weeks ago, driving out there, the sunflowers just incredible. As far as you could see, you could see this yellow ... these yellow fields of sunflowers. Well, there ... they were before the war, I don't know about now; the biggest exporter in the world of stuff made from sunflowers: oil, seeds, stuff like that.

Brett Barry  12:44  
So let's talk a little bit about some of the stories that you've sent home. Are you ... are you keeping a journal and sending?

Michael DiBenedetto  12:49  
No.

Brett Barry  12:49  
Okay.

Michael DiBenedetto  12:52  
I'll send stories home or what happened during the day, so that my family knows what's going on and I think Peg's because Peg is right and yes, so I think she's the one that's probably keeping the journal for me.

Brett Barry  13:06  
She shared a few of your emails, something about evacuations of children, can you explain what that's all about?

Michael DiBenedetto  13:14  
So, in these places that are ... that are particularly dangerous, the government says, "You can't have any children here." So, you have a choice. You can leave with your children and we'll help you leave, you know, there's money available. There's places where you can go or whatever or we will forcibly take your children. So, they have a choice. I've been places and I can see both sides that it would be very difficult. There's this young man were delivering aid to and his mom takes care of her mom would be his grandma and some other woman and she doesn't want to leave them and the older women, you know, their pigs just had piglets. They aren't going to leave because whatever and, you know, all these houses around him had been bombed. There's hardly in some of these regions. There's hardly any houses that are not affected by the bombing and sometimes people are living in half of the house where they moved into a neighbor's house that hasn't been hit yet. It's just very sad to go down and see all the damage that's been done. So, you know, as a parent, I can see both sides here. You don't want your kids to be separated from you, but you're taking care of your parents or they have their ... their, you know, things that they don't want to leave because when they leave a lot of stuff will get stolen and they know that. It's nothing's black and white.

Brett Barry  15:04  
There was a video that Peg shared that you sent with this guy fishing by a destroyed bridge and casting his line despite what appears to be some really close artillery fire. Tell me a little bit about that.

Michael DiBenedetto  15:18  
I think that was my first day here that we went out to that location and I got here. I think six o'clock in the morning. I arrived on the train six o'clock in the morning and they wanted to know if I wanted to go out to this location out there. So, I did and it was delivering UN aid out to the coordinator for this one particular village and I had not heard artillery fire before, then that actually shakes you when it goes off. It's so close. In every time, I would jump. Now, it's like, "Oh, that's just outgoing. That's no big deal." Even though it goes off and you'll hear the whistle sometimes if you're really close when it goes off, but it's going someplace else. It's different than the one coming in. So, now it's not a big deal, but that was just shocking to me that it's so loud and it's right by these people's ... their house. So, while they were talking to the coordinator, I walked down. I saw this fisherman down there ... the Ukrainians had blown up that bridge as they did many of the bridges. We drive over a number of pontoon bridges because they wanted to slow the advance of the Russians a year ago. So, a lot of the bridges that Ukrainians destroyed as that train bridge that you saw in the video. But it was just so ... I don't even know. Surreal, I guess, the artilleries going off, whatever and he's there fishing.

Brett Barry  16:37  
You're listening to a clip from that video now. After this next explosion, keep an ear out for the fishing line casting from the rod.

Michael DiBenedetto  17:23  
When we were there, I went down to turn our vehicle around while they were finishing up and I'd heard this tractor coming down and it's just a little single. It's like going down a little cowpath that we're driving out there; and so, I went down to turn around. So, the tractor could get by and it was a military backhoe. When I came back, this grandma was out with her big stick in front of that backhoe and she and this ... the operator were having this argument. I couldn't understand it, but our translators said, "She was very upset because they didn't want. They didn't want the fighting by their house." As you drive around the country, you see trenches dug all over the place. Trenches in preparation for if things happen at that location. So, that's what the backhoe was doing there was ... it was going to be digging trenches and it's only maybe 100 yards from this house and this grandma was like, "We don't want this here," and even when they blew up the ... the train trestle there, some of the fragments hit the house. Again, I could see both sides. Nothing's black and white here. The military can't protect Ukraine, if they don't have access to things like that. The people that live in the country just want to be left alone. They weren't, you know, they weren't pro-Russian separatists, but they're like, "Just leave us alone. We don't want the fighting here."

Brett Barry  18:59  
Can you relate to this at all, Michael, if you are here and some there was an attack where you live, kind of hunkering down and just continuing on rather than trying to find a way out of there?

Michael DiBenedetto  19:13  
Oh, absolutely, especially if you have family there or some of these places have been in your family for generations and you're just going to pick up and move when it is sort of like the lottery that if it's the bad time in a bad place, it could be your house next and one of the things that's happening is the soldiers are staying in a lot of these houses as people are vacating or whatever or even with some of these people and that makes the house a target. It's just the way, though, you know, the way it is, but they have no other place to be staying. So, no, I can ... I can certainly relate to what's going on there. I just couldn't imagine that. You know, again, I can see my family when I was looking at the news or whatever and part of that is that they who look like us and it's, you know, maybe that's a ... I don't know if that's a racist thing to say or whatever, but you can see your family and these people. They ... they look like us and it's just ... I don't know. It's like ... I just felt like I had to do something.

Brett Barry  20:32  
Stay tuned for part two of my conversation with Michael DiBenedetto from Ukraine after this. Ulster Savings Bank is a proud supporter of this podcast. Visit them at 68 Mill Hill Road in Historic Woodstock. Call them at 845-679-8434 or visit them online at ulstersavings.com. Member FDIC Equal Housing Lender. Kaatscast is also sponsored by the Hanford Mills Museum, where you can explore the power of the past as he watched the waterwheel bring a working sawmill to life. Bring a picnic to enjoy by the millpond. For more information about scheduling a tour or about their new exploration days, visit hanfordmills.org or call 607-278-5744. Thanks also to the Mountain Eagle, covering Delaware, Greene, and Schoharie counties, including brands for local regions like the Windham Weekly, Schoharie News, and Catskills Chronicle. For more information, call 518-763-6854 or email: mountaineaglenews@gmail.com. And now, back to my conversation with Michael DiBenedetto. Are there other stories that come to mind of resilience or even moments of joy with the Ukrainian people you've met?

Michael DiBenedetto  22:06  
The other day ... we were delivering aid to a village and we got stopped at a ... so, there's all these checkpoints when you drive ... drive to these places. There's military checkpoints all over. They'll look through the van. Sometimes they'll go through what's in the van, whatever. We were heading north. A place it's fairly close to the front and the soldier at the checkpoint said, "We couldn't go through." He looked at our credentials and whatever and said, "We couldn't go through, so we had to turn around," and we basically went around the checkpoint through some backroads or whatever and it took about an hour longer to get to this location. We got to the location and the person who is navigating ... he was talking to the translator. The translator told him, "We better put on our vest." They just had a ... an artillery round that hit ... not very far from there and Trapnell hit the building where we were delivering the aid. So, I didn't even give it until I'm typing a note up to my family that night about what was going on and I was like, "Wait a minute. If we hadn't been delayed at that checkpoint, which we complained about, all these people, you know, there were probably fifty people that were there waiting for aid." We're the only ones that have vests on and stuff. Those people would have been outside. Would they have been hurt? Who knows? But it was just one of those kind of coincidences that was like, "Oh, here we complained about it, but this is the way it was supposed to be." I think we were pretty fortunate that we were delayed and I should go back and thank this soldier for giving us a hard time. When we were there, there was this very elderly woman that was walking up the steps and I took her hand to help her up and she thanked me or whatever and she's talking whatever and I said ... I asked the translator ... it says, "What's she saying?" and she said, "She wants to know if you already have a wife," and then I didn't go the next day and these ... the translator was there again and she said, "That woman stopped by looking for me that day and she was very disappointed."

Brett Barry  24:32  
You know, this has been going on for a year and a half now. What's the general outlook of the people you've met: optimism or just kind of waiting it out?

Michael DiBenedetto  24:43  
I ... I think it's waiting it out. I don't ... I don't see that they feel like they have a choice. Ukraine is a pretty proud ... they're pretty proud of what's ... what ... their country ... I don't know if you or the people listening ... have any ideas of what has gone on like with Holodomor in the early 30s, when Stalin basically starved the people in Ukraine. A lot of the intellectuals were ... were any, you know, any intellectuals, whatever ... they didn't ... he didn't need those people ... he needed the ... the peasants to be producing the grain. So, a lot of those people were taken away, you know, sent to ... they work camps in the ... in the Soviet Union, and ... and then he was exporting grain and the peasants basically bucked the system. They weren't going to do this and he starved them and depending on, you know, what you read, who you read ... there's documentaries. They talk about seven to eight million people that died of starvation during that time and it's just incredible what happened. They had these special troops that came in, going through people's basements and it was ... as you call it a capital offense, but they executed people if they had tried to save grain in their houses or whatever like that and these troops would come in; actually go through the houses and take whatever grain and these people starved; and so, I don't know they've been through this many times, whether it was with the polls ... Soviet Union ... many times.

Tell me a little bit about the food. Are you having local food, prepared Ukrainian food or is it something that's brought in for your ... for your team?

So, they ... the house ... they go out and they buy groceries every three or four days to feed everybody. I have had some local stuff. I'm a vegetarian. One of the translators is also vegetarian and somebody that else that just came in yesterday. So, I'm not going hungry and yes, I've eaten quite a bit of Ukrainian food here. For the first time, somebody made the borscht. Is it that? Yeah, they made that last night and was actually the translator that made it. The vegetarian one. So, there was no meat in it, but usually there's meat and anything that they make, but we survived.

Brett Barry  27:35  
Had you enjoyed the borscht?

Michael DiBenedetto  27:36  
I loved it.

Brett Barry  27:37  
Yeah.

Michael DiBenedetto  27:38  
Yeah. I loved it. I never had it before.

Brett Barry  27:41  
Are you bumping into other aid groups or do you feel like you're going solo?

Michael DiBenedetto  27:48  
Yesterday, we bumped into in aid group that was out in one of the villages. It was really funny because this guy whose also name was Michael. He's looking at me and he goes, "I know you from someplace we've met before," and I was like, "God, I haven't really done this," and ... and we were talking for a little while and it turns out when Peg and I went on a sort of vacation, but we did some ... some beach cleaning or whatever in ... in Greece and Lesvos. He was there at the same time. He went to the same place where we were staying. It's so ... it's ... it was quite possible. We ... he was just like, "I know you. I've met you before." So, it's ... it's possible that it was there, but there are. There's a lot of other organizations that are here. I haven't run into them. We're out as close to the front as any of the organizations are; like I said, "Within, you know, sometimes within a kilometer."

Brett Barry  28:53  
So, you're ... you're very close to the Russian border.

Michael DiBenedetto  28:56  
Yeah. Oh, yes, yes, yes. Yeah, and when we go out, I mean, there's ... we'll see where the ... the artillery is hit: here and there, whatever. You'll see smoke here and there and it's like, "Maybe this isn't a good place right now. So, yes."

Brett Barry  29:11  
When did you get there and when are you planning to head back?

Michael DiBenedetto  29:14  
So, I was hoping to give them two months and it's going to be a guess of week ... couple weeks short of two months.

Brett Barry  29:25  
I mean that's a long time to put things on hold back here in the Catskills had to die.

Michael DiBenedetto  29:29  
I couldn't do ... I couldn't do it without my family.

Brett Barry  29:32  
Yeah.

Michael DiBenedetto  29:32  
You know, it was a sacrifice on their part more than mine. It wasn't really a sacrifice in my part. I get all the glory and it's like being on vacation year. But, you know, they had to pick up the slack for everything and I'm very thankful that they allowed me to do this and I don't know if I'll come back. I was talking to the ... the person in charge here, Emma, just a little while ago; and in the wintertime, they don't get as many volunteers and particularly people that know how to drive in snow; and so, I said, "You know, if it turns out that you're short and you need the help. I don't particularly like the cold, but it is what it is. Be happy to come back."

Brett Barry  30:23  
You've got some snow driving experience for sure.

Michael DiBenedetto  30:25  
Yes.

Brett Barry  30:26  
What kinds of things can the rest of us be doing, Michael, short of jumping on a plane to Ukraine or should we be jumping on a plane to Ukraine?

Michael DiBenedetto  30:36  
Other people have asked me that. I don't know. I think a lot of it is doing your homework. There's other organizations ... the road to relief you can look at and see what they're doing. The reason I got started here was I had read an article. Well, I've been trying to come here since the beginning of the war and I actually had an interview. It was about a couple of months in with an ex-US military person who was helping them here and his recommendation to me and he said, "All we got to do is a background check." He said, "Tell your family that you'll be coming over and it would have been driving ambulances," and it would have been taking the people from the mass unit to hospitals; not from the front line to the mass unit. So, that was what I was going to do something happened with my application. I couldn't get a hold of that guy again. So, things just changed, and then I was reading about our DEC ... New York State's DEC commissioner was driving an ambulance across Poland to drop the ambulances off here and it was through an organization in the UK. I got a hold of him made the connection here and here I am.

Brett Barry  32:01  
What's on the schedule tomorrow, Michael?

Michael DiBenedetto  32:02  
So, tomorrow, we are going to a fairly big city and we're going to meet with the coordinator there of ... I think there's a couple thousand people on that are very close to the board of the hospital. I was there that first day that I arrived here; and unfortunately, it was too big for us to handle. So, people have ... believe it or not ... I have not been getting the aid. But since I fix that truck, tomorrow, we're going to go back to the city and we're going to see if we can get that box truck in there and bring basically hundreds of boxes of aid to that location. So, that's on the agenda for tomorrow to do. We're going to do the needs assessment there and I'm going to determine. I'm the only one that's now allowed to drive that box truck and we're going to see if we can get the truck in there if the road will take it. The roads are incredible. I mean, the ... the problem is the box truck it's taken out the radiator twice already and it's about a thousand euros to repair that radiator. So, I showed him that we can do it down south and that was the first time they've used that to make these. So, we're taking, you know, basically eight pallets at almost forty. So, that's, you know, 300 boxes of stuff, as opposed to the vans where we're taking 50 boxes. So, if we can do this, it would be a huge deal.

Brett Barry  33:43  
And you are the only one who's allowed because you have to know how to fix that thing?

Michael DiBenedetto  33:49  
And that they trust the drivers.

Brett Barry  33:54  
That's great.

Michael DiBenedetto  33:54  
Right now ... yes.

Brett Barry  33:57  
Well, thank you, Michael, very much. It's great to connect with you. I'm glad we could do this and hopefully we'll ... we'll connect again when you're back in New York.

Michael DiBenedetto  34:07  
Yeah, no, thank you very much. Thank you for the interest in that and, you know, it's falling off the radar here and not only is it falling off the radar, but as it does that, a lot of people are saying, "Oh, we don't want to really send any more aid to Ukraine. We're having enough. You know, we have disasters here. We have to take care of people here. You know, the same thing happened with the wildfires in California, whatever. You know, after awhile, people just got tired of hearing about it. But, you know, it's pretty serious. What's going on here and my personal thought is that I don't think Putin is going to stop here. If we don't continue giving aid here, I think that we will see him in Poland or someplace else. I just can't imagine that. You know, the whole ... the whole idea is to rebuild the Soviet Union. I mean, that's the whole idea behind this and Ukraine is just a stepping stone just like Crimea was when they took over part of that and I ... I just worry about it falling off the radar. There's a lot of soldiers here that are funding themselves. They use their own vehicles. They're provided weapons, but they use their own vehicles. A lot of them are buying their own food, their own clothing, doing whatever and it's not like they're slackers. They're doing the best they can.

Brett Barry  35:35  
History does have a way of repeating itself; and unfortunately, people have a short memory.

Michael DiBenedetto  35:40  
Yeah, we've been here before. Haven't we?

Brett Barry  35:46  
A day after this interview, Michael connected again. This time with his translator, a 27-year-old Ukrainian nurse named Tanya. Next, a brief excerpt from that conversation, and then a special song Michael heard at the Pine Hill Community Center that's resonating with him in Ukraine. Please stay tuned. Kaatscast is a biweekly production of Silver Hollow Audio. For more, visit kaatscast.com. Hello?

Michael DiBenedetto  36:21  
Hello, Brett!

Brett Barry  36:22  
Hey, Michael!

Michael DiBenedetto  36:23  
I have Tanya here with me. I worked with Tanya yesterday and she is a nurse here.

Tanya Zhuravel  36:33  
Yes, I am.

Michael DiBenedetto  36:34  
And she came to volunteer as ... as a nurse and a medic to probably work with the mobile clinic that they have going out into the community.

Brett Barry  36:45  
Tanya, very nice to meet you. Thanks for taking the time.

Tanya Zhuravel  36:48  
Oh, nice to meet you, too.

Brett Barry  36:49  
Tanya, were you born in Ukraine?

Tanya Zhuravel  36:53  
Yes, yes, I am.

Brett Barry  36:54  
In the country or the city?

Tanya Zhuravel  36:56  
I was born in Ivano-Frankivsk in their little town. In the mountain, in the Carpathian Mountain.

Brett Barry  37:06  
And your career there, before the war, you're a nurse?

Tanya Zhuravel  37:12  
Ah, yes, yes, yes.

Brett Barry  37:13  
Yes.

Tanya Zhuravel  37:13  
I was a nurse before there was.

Brett Barry  37:17  
What are you doing now that's ... I guess what I want to say is what job did you leave when the war started?

Michael DiBenedetto  37:23  
When the war began, what changed in your life?

Tanya Zhuravel  37:28  
Oh, my life is not changed. And now, in 2022, it changed in 2015 was a lot of years.

Michael DiBenedetto  37:46  
When Russia first ... Crimea. 

Tanya Zhuravel  37:47  
Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes.

Brett Barry  37:51  
And tell me a little bit about what you're doing now. What else are you doing day-to-day?

Tanya Zhuravel  37:59  
Oh, I do all what I can for my country for my people. I ... my friends and me. We ... we are helping all days with food with medical help. We ... we are working for that. We ... we ... we buy the ambulance cars for my friends who are [military] all the time. All life is for that. My friends and me ... we have three or four works today because we need a lot of money for ... for can help to ... to our friends, our families who live in the dangerous cities now or who ... whose families are militaries and need the help.

Brett Barry  39:24  
Are you working or volunteering or both? Are you still able to make ...

Tanya Zhuravel  39:31  
Both. I'm working in the ambulance 112 emergence. I am voluntary. I am usually in the ... in a hospital with the doctors.

Brett Barry  39:50  
I hear an air raid siren in the background. Is that concerning?

Michael DiBenedetto  39:54  
It's typical.

Tanya Zhuravel  39:57  
I don't know, and all days after work ... the same in emergence or in the office or in the hospital after that. When ... when we finish that office ... official work or principal work job, we ... we are looking for different things in the different hospitals who give that different help.

Brett Barry  40:35  
So, you ... you have very long days.

Tanya Zhuravel  40:37  
Yes, I start at five or six and I finish at two in the night all day.

Brett Barry  40:48  
When's the last time Tanya that you experienced peace?

Tanya Zhuravel  41:10  
Two years ago.

Before ... before when my father was military, he died last February in here in Ukraine in Baku.

Brett Barry  41:35  
I'm very sorry.

Tanya Zhuravel  41:36  
I think.

Brett Barry  41:39  
Do you feel that the world is doing enough to help or the United States?

Tanya Zhuravel  41:46  
I don't know. I don't know because I think these ... these things are very difficult and, of course, I think all countries, all presidents have the different interests in ... in ... in the war in Ukraine all the time; not only in Ukraine in or what. But I only know we need the help. We need the help because Russia is very big.

Brett Barry  42:29  
Are you angry with the Russian government or the Russian people or both?

Tanya Zhuravel  42:33  
Both. Because is ... in my opinion, yeah. It's not only Putin or politic or ... it's ... it's all country. It's all the people because if you are ... if you don't say anything, you are the same that Putin and ...

Brett Barry  43:03  
Part of the problem?

Michael DiBenedetto  43:05  
Yes, you're part of the problem if ...

Tanya Zhuravel  43:06  
Yes.

Michael DiBenedetto  43:07  
... you don't say anything.

Brett Barry  43:08  
You know, this has been going on for 18 months. Is it any better than when it started or is it worse or is it just kind of the same?

Tanya Zhuravel  43:20  
I don't know. It's different because it's not stopped. So, all day is bad. Because a lot of people died: the guys, young guys, womans, mans father and brothers. Every day is bad.

Brett Barry  43:46  
If you could tell if you could say anything to the people who are listening to this in the United States and New York State, what would you like to say?

Tanya Zhuravel  43:59  
We need ... we need your help.

We need their help because I think in ... in 2020 or 2023 now is not good that these things happen. We need the help, only help.

Brett Barry  44:40  
Are the Ukrainian people generally still supportive of Zelenskyy?

Tanya Zhuravel  44:45  
Today? Yes, not Zelenskyy me. The people are with the military. The people are all together is the same ... he name is Zelenskyy or no. Today is Zelenskyy and it's true. He ... he's ... he's doing a very good job.

Brett Barry  45:14  
So, Tanya, is, I guess, this your day continues now. What ... what are you doing after this call?

Michael DiBenedetto  45:21  
We're done. We're done for the night. We're ... we're hoping to have dinner.

Brett Barry  45:26  
Oh, good.

Michael DiBenedetto  45:27  
Then, we have a meeting, and then I hope we're that will be done for the night, I hope.

Brett Barry  45:31  
Yeah.

Michael DiBenedetto  45:32  
But we have another car that broke down and stuff like that. So, yes, that's the way it goes.

Brett Barry  45:40  
Tanya, I want to thank you so much for sharing this with me and I wish you ... I wish you nothing but ... but good things ahead and we're thinking of you.

Tanya Zhuravel  45:54  
Thank you so much.

Brett Barry  45:55  
Thanks, Mike.

Michael DiBenedetto  45:56  
You're very welcome. We'll talk again soon.

Brett Barry  45:58  
All right, sounds good. Have a good night.

Michael DiBenedetto  46:00  
Take care.

Brett Barry  46:00  
Bye-bye.

Michael DiBenedetto  46:01  
Bye.

Brett Barry  46:04  
And finally, we leave you with that song Michael heard in the Catskills. It's a story of our common humanity resonating now in Ukraine. Many thanks to David Rovics for granting us permission to use it here.

Michael DiBenedetto  46:17  
David Rovics is a singer-songwriter that actually stayed at our house. He performed at the Pine Hill Community Center a couple years ago and he had a song about his daughter and I think it was during the Bosnian War when he wrote this song that he could see his daughter in a picture of these ... this girl that was there and it's just an amazing song. But you can see your family in these people and it's just ... I don't know. It's like I just felt like I had to do something.

Unknown Speaker  47:21  
[SONG: "My Daughter" by David Rovics]

Transcribed by https://otter.ai