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Teacher helps ferry Ukrainians to safety By Vickie Aldous Updated: Mar 29, 2022 03:29 PM A A 4 View all photos A woman and child flee Ukraine with one suitcase of their belongings. Photo courtesy of Peter Stanley Former Rogue Valley resident helping with aid efforts A teacher and former Rogue Valley resident jumped into action to help Ukrainians fleeing the Russian invasion of their country. Peter Stanley has done everything from driving refugees to safety in Romania, where he lives, to keeping refugee kids entertained with a paper plane-making challenge and photography workshop. All around him, Stanley said, he’s seeing people rushing to help Ukrainians. “It was just something people do for each other. These people fleeing Ukraine are our neighbors, and they are being forced to leave absolutely everything behind. I’d hope my neighbors would do the same for me, my wife and my son,” Stanley said in an email interview with the Mail Tribune. International school teacher and former Rogue Valley resident Peter Stanley with his son. Photo courtesy of Peter Stanley Born in Tanzania, Stanley moved to the Rogue Valley as a fourth-grader with his groundwater geologist dad and his mom, who worked with women on development projects. He spent most of his school years in Ashland, graduating in 1992. Stanley is a high school teacher who has worked at international schools around the globe for 20 years. He and his Dutch wife are raising their son and living in Romania, where he works at the American International School of Bucharest. The following is a question-and-answer interview with Stanley from earlier this week. What were you and others thinking as tensions mounted between Russia and Ukraine? Did you think Russia would actually invade? I think most of us around the world thought Russian President Vladimir Putin was just trying to flex his muscles so he would be able to negotiate for more control of the Donbas region and international acceptance of his control in Crimea. Like so many, I really didn’t think he would attack. What were your thoughts at the beginning of the invasion that started in February? I was shocked to witness that in this day and age we would have a nuclear power invade a free and independent country. I was in Kyiv, Ukraine, in October. I spent a few days in the city visiting friends. The purpose of that trip was actually to get to Chernobyl with my camera. Turns out my few random street shots from Kyiv might have more significance than the hundreds of pictures I came back with from the Chernobyl power plant and abandoned towns in that area. What are some of the things you have been doing to help Ukrainians? What are you seeing other people doing to help? At the start, it was pretty chaotic and we were hearing about thousands of people crossing the border. So a few of us teachers decided to drive our cars out to the border to offer rides. At that moment, I asked our school if they could find out the cost of renting a large bus. We had friends offering to donate. Our director wrote back and said, “Where do you need the bus? It’s paid for.” A group of American International School of Budapest teachers, including Peter Stanley (second from left), used a bus and their own cars to pick up Ukrainian refugees from near the border and drive them to safety inside Romania. So we drove four cars and a 50-seater to the small southwest border town called Isaccea in Romania. It was quite spontaneous, but one of the teachers had a contact at the border who helped us register our cars and the bus so we were officially approved to help. Sadly, there is a very real threat of human trafficking, and we wanted to be as transparent as possible. We were teachers there to offer free rides to anywhere people needed to get to. I drove a mother and her 6-year-old who were urgently trying to get to the airport. They missed their flight, so we put them up at our house. My son and Zhanna’s son had a blast using Google translate as they played into the night. Zhanna was clearly traumatized as she had just left her older son and husband behind. Men aged 18 to 60 are required to stay and support the war effort. Lately it seems needs have shifted as more systems are put in place and larger aid agencies are coordinating more closely at the border and in the city. Recently, I’ve helped with small things like sorting and folding donated clothes at a refugee housing area. I’ve also helped set up a basic website to coordinate volunteers and donations for a community center my friend is helping get started. Volunteers load donated supplies onto trucks headed into the war zone to distribute aid to Ukrainians. Photo courtesy of Peter Stanley Some of our Ukrainian and Russian-speaking students will be leading activities for kids ages 5 to 15-plus. I’m going later today to lead a photography activity for the older kids. Tomorrow I’ll be doing a paper airplane-building challenge for the 7-year-old group. My son will join and is psyched to show of his skills. If Odessa (a city in Ukraine) is hit by the Russian army, or worse, if Moldova (a country between Ukraine and Romania) is threatened, then there will likely be a need for more transport support, and that’s when I’ll see about renting vans for more border runs. It should be noted that I have friends here who are from Azerbaijan, Uzbekistan (two nations that were part of the Soviet Union) and Russia who do so much to help out. With their language skills, they are pure gold for the aid agencies. They are teaching from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m., then helping at the train station and community center from 4 to 9 p.m. — every day! By helping, they have been cut off by many family and friends in Russia who are being fed propaganda. So it’s important to note that there are so many Russians and people from former USSR nations with links to Russia that are opposed to this war and fighting it by volunteering and speaking out, but they are suffering as well as a result. What condition are the Ukrainians in that you have been seeing? Traumatized yet increasingly powerful. The two women we have hosted spoke openly about their experiences and were clearly hurting. Understandably, as soon as we got them connected to Wi-Fi, they spent most of their time on the phone with family still in Ukraine. Lots of gasps and shock and some tears. I can only imagine what those conversations are about. What are the biggest needs of the Ukrainians? From my perspective, having a safe, clean and warm place to stay would be at the top of the list. Having escaped the violence, people now need a place to regroup and figure out what to do next. Agencies like Jesuit Refugee Services have a long history of helping refugees at the ground level. They are doing very good work here, and donations to them go a long way to helping with these basic needs. How have the refugees been able to escape and what have they gone through? This is only my observation, but it seems that the initial wave was from the wealthy population, so we saw nice cars with trailers filled transiting through Romania on their way west. Then as the war continued, you have people who could afford train and bus tickets or get rides from family members to the border. Then they walked across with one bag and the kids. Now, the concern is that if the war intensifies, the refugees coming will have the most needs. As for what they have gone through, it really depends on where they are coming from. I was speaking with a woman from Irpin whose town was directly attacked. She left with absolutely nothing yet was spending her time in Bucharest, Romania, volunteering to help other refugees get situated. She said she needed to keep busy and help. What is important for the global community to know about the situation there? Putin has been deluded by his grip on power and he has used propaganda to convince his followers that this is all justified. This isn’t just a Russian problem. Many countries, including the United States, have become dangerously divided. Hopefully this brings us all a bit closer as we try and support Ukrainians — and Russians who oppose this war. Hug your kids and support your neighbors on the street and across the border. Reach Mail Tribune reporter Vickie Aldous at 541-776-4486 or [email protected]. Follow her on Twitter @VickieAldous.