Ukrainian Honey Cake in Oregon

A month ago, I wrote about being a metaphorical squirrel in helping Ukraine defeat the Russian Ravana, like the squirrel that helped Rama vanquish Ravana in the Hindu mythological epic Ramayana.  While it is easy to imagine that we are insignificant in a geopolitical situation far away from where we live, we can and should find ways in this fight against evil.  If a squirrel could, what prevents us humans, right?

From here in Oregon, I contributed to Doctors Without Borders (MSF,) who have a dedicated unit for their Ukraine operations.  For years, I have been contributing to MSF to assist in the work that they do, and it was MSF that immediately came to mind when I thought about helping Ukraine.

In December 1999, after Doctors Without Borders was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, its then president, James Orbinski, started his Nobel lecture with a reference to Chechnya:

The people of Chechnya—and the people of Grozny—today, and for more than three months, are enduring indiscriminate bombing by the Russian army. For them, humanitarian assistance is virtually unknown. It is the sick, the old and the infirm who cannot escape Grozny. While the dignity of people in crisis is so central to the honor you give today, what you acknowledge in us is our particular response to it. I appeal here today to his excellency the Ambassador of Russia and through him, to President Yeltsin, to stop the bombing of defenseless civilians in Chechnya. If conflicts and wars are an affair of the state, violations of humanitarian law, war crimes and crimes against humanity apply to us all—as civil society, as citizens, and as human beings.

Note the reference to "indiscriminate bombing by the Russian army."  

Putin became Russia's Prime Minister on Aug. 9, 1999, "and by the end of that month, Russia was waging a renewed bombing campaign against Chechen rebels in an attempt to reverse the earlier humiliation." 

Now, in 2022, more than decades after orchestrating a human tragedy in Grozny, an unchecked Putin is indiscriminately bombing civilian areas in Ukraine.

Organizations like Doctors Without Borders help ease civilians' sufferings.  As noted in that 1999 Nobel lecture:

Bringing medical aid to people in distress is an attempt to defend them against what is aggressive to them as human beings. Humanitarian action is more than simple generosity, simple charity. It aims to build spaces of normalcy in the midst of what is abnormal. More than offering material assistance, we aim to enable individuals to regain their rights and dignity as human beings. As an independent volunteer association, we are committed to bringing direct medical aid to people in need. But we act not in a vacuum, and we speak not into the wind, but with a clear intent to assist, to provoke change, or to reveal injustice. Our action and our voice is an act of indignation, a refusal to accept an active or passive assault on the other.

It is not charity, but with an "aim to enable individuals to regain their rights and dignity as human beings."  Fiercely proud people like Ukrainians detest the very idea that they need charity.  But, the reality is that civilian lives are affected in many ways that are beyond the imaginations of those of us who live in peaceful areas, watching our favorite streaming programs, and eating our favorite foods and snacks.

Food itself becomes an issue for civilians trapped in war zones.  Recognizing the urgent need of food, an Oregon bakery has been selling "Ukrainian Honey Cake" with the proceeds going to World Central Kitchen.  Friends who came over to have meals with us brought us this cake that they picked up at the bakery in Waldport:

There are many ways to contribute to defeat Putin, and to help Ukraine.  Be a squirrel.