Nurse Gill quits her job to go on mercy mission
AMOTHER travelled to Poland to give humanitarian assistance to Ukrainian refugees torn apart from their families during Ukrainian Easter.
Gill Bolton, 56, went abroad to take humanitarian action for the first time after feeling compelled to help Ukrainians after watching the news about the attack on the country.
The Yorkshire Street Surgery practice nurse and diabetic specialist nurse flew to Poland last month.
The mother-of-one from Newbold said: “It was shocking hearing some of the stories. I saw a one-yearold, Ivan, crying because he hadn’t eaten and the milk in his bottle was stale.
“His father Sergei was there but his mother wasn’t there. The kids’ faces were exhausted and they had a look of confusion and were like ice blocks. Their mothers’ faces had no expression, they were just blank.
“I don’t think I processed it properly until I got back but I knew once I was home I wanted to go back and I was already looking at tickets for the next flight out.”
Gill put up a post on Facebook stating that she wanted to help Ukrainians and two women from Glossop and Bury contacted her.
They met at the airport for the first time and shared accommodation during their travels and organised everything independently.
She escorted Ukrainian refugees to different platforms at Przemysl train station so that they could get on the next train, some of which were travelling to the capital city Warsaw.
Toiletries and toys were handed out to train passengers, many of which had endured journeys longer than 12 hours or a day.
An old shopping centre in Przemysl was converted into a humanitarian centre for mothers and children.
Gill, along with other volunteers, set up a boutique shop inside the building with donated clothes so families could experience shopping, and a charity for animals provided refugees with carriers for any pets they brought.
A medical aid centre was also there and a central kitchen provided free food.
At the humanitarian centre there was a chance for those fleeing the war-torn country to sign up to which destination they wanted to go to. Across the eight-day trip the volunteer worked tirelessly for 10-12 hours a day and attended to more than 100 displaced persons in need of a safe haven.
Waves of refugees arrived each day at the southern Polish city of Medyka where Gill crossed to Shehyni in Ukraine and stayed for three days.
The bombing of Mykolaiv meant that an influx of families turned up at the Polish border. One woman said she saw five rockets shoot down near her home and she left all her belongings behind in fear for her life.
There were signs up at the border for sexual assault victims as well as a mother and child tent for those wanting privacy.
After seeing the dire situation with her own eyes, Gill felt compelled to quit her job at the end of this month and switch to locum work to allow her to dedicate more time to helping refugees.
Gill, who turned 56 in Ukraine, said:” I had to make a choice with my job and my heart lies with the
Ukrainian people.
“People say to me it’s so nice of me to do this but I just felt like I had to do it.
“I don’t feel special and I am surprised when people say I wouldn’t be able to do what you do because it seems natural to me.”
On Sunday, June 5, she will be travelling to Lviv to work with a charity group that will be converting schools into living accommodation for displaced Ukrainians.
To donate visit Gill’s Just Giving page titled ‘We’re raising £300 to Equip schools on the outskirts of Ukraine with air beds and showers, to keep kids safe as possible, as many families cannot leave’.