Ukraine volunteer tourism comes with problems

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The war in Ukraine has attracted an influx of volunteers in Ukraine’s favor. While most of these volunteers have been great, some have been more interested in chasing clout and role-playing as war heroes.

In early March, Milosz Przepiorkowski from Lambda Warszawa (a Warsaw-based LGBT organization that sheltered Ukrainian refugees) told me, “The worst thing people can do is come here with no skills. I know people want to help, but they should think first before they act. Don’t come to Poland. We have enough people here.” He beseeched would-be unskilled volunteers to donate the money they would otherwise spend on airfare. His stance mirrored critiques often levied against “voluntourists,” who pay exorbitant sums to visit distressed regions so they can feel good about providing labor of marginal value.

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Antonia Cundy, a war correspondent I met in Kharkiv, told me in late May that she’d observed a problem with “voluntourism” at the Polish-Ukrainian border. “The border at Medyka, where there’s a shocking lack of control, has at times felt like a complete circus.” She said that in the spring, some people “seem[ed] more concerned about filming themselves handing out cups of soup” than assessing actual needs and that such people can be unhelpful at best or counterproductive or dangerous at worst. Charles McBryde, an American volunteer who helped raise funds for medical support in the Kharkiv region, said that some of the international volunteers he’d met seemed to be “lost souls” or “adrenaline junkies” who were interested in “chasing glory.” McBryde noted that many influencers who traveled to Ukraine lacked specific volunteering plans. He added that no one could be free of selfish motives and what matters is whether people are ultimately helping rather than getting in the way. That sentiment was mirrored by other volunteers, who also had mixed feelings on the subject.

One volunteer in Kyiv who raised funds to purchase drones from Europe said that the issue isn’t limited to foreigners — Ukrainian selfie-chasing “volunteers” have allegedly been an issue since 2014, when Russian President Vladimir Putin first invaded Donbas. The problem was significant enough that when District One, a grassroots volunteer organization that repairs damaged schools and infrastructure in the Kyiv region, first asked local government officials for aid this April, it was met with skepticism — the founders first had to show that they were not just attention-seekers. Similarly, the Ukrainian military now institutes screening processes to weed out foreign fighters arriving for questionable motives, including glory-chasers.

I often think of Ivanka Siolkowsky, a Canadian influencer I briefly traveled with who appeared to be exploiting the war for media coverage and other benefits (i.e., a first-class plane ticket to Warsaw when the war began). Siolkowsky had a knack for ostentatious stunts of dubious helpfulness — i.e., parading through a Ukrainian village in a pink unicorn costume and painting flowers over bullet holes in Bucha. This secured her fawning coverage in Toronto’s local media, as well as withering online criticism for perceived clout-chasing. When I mentioned her work to District One, in which volunteers shoveled rubble without spectacle, they rolled their eyes. “Volunteering is hard work. It’s a routine. It’s not about dressing up for photos,” said Andrii Titarenko, one of the organization’s founders.

In April, Siolkowsky posted a video of herself weaving camouflage nets at a library in Lviv and insinuated that adjacent women were fearfully singing songs to distract themselves from what was outside the library’s doors. But Lviv is one of the safest parts of Ukraine, with bustling cafes and lively public squares. I knew that the library was tranquil, having spent two weeks documenting the community there. When library volunteers saw Siolkowsky’s post, they called it “dishonest,” “irresponsible and dumb,” and “sh*tty behavior.” When I privately confronted her about this, arguing that peaceful regions shouldn’t be misrepresented for war cosplay, Siolkowsky posted a photo of destroyed rubble and said, “This is Lviv.” Local Ukrainians found the characterization absurd. Siolkowsky eventually deleted her original post.

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Adam Zivo is a Canadian columnist and policy analyst who relocated to Ukraine earlier this year to report on the Russia-Ukraine war. He is writing a book on how the war is experienced by average Ukrainians.

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