‘We weren’t going to abandon people:’ B.C. couple continues humanitarian work in Ukraine 4 years after Russian invasion

A former Fraser Valley couple moved to Ukraine in 2022 to provide humanitarian help to those devastated by loss.

They have seen falling missiles and burning buildings. They have heard the daily sirens and known it was time to run for shelter.

As the Russia-Ukraine war enters its fifth year, a couple from B.C.’s Fraser Valley is seeing first-hand the suffering of Ukrainians devastated by the conflict.

“With the drones at least you hear them, they sound like a moped and when they start to dive, it’s time to get in a basement. But with the ballistic missiles, there’s no time,” said Chad Martz.

He and his wife, Mary Martz, moved to Ukraine from Chilliwack four years ago and coordinate humanitarian aid to vulnerable communities.

“It’s in our face every single day. We’re checking where rockets are being launched, where civilians have been hit, where’s a train that’s been destroyed,” Chad Martz told CTV News in an interview from Zakarpattia province in Ukraine

“Even in the large cities, people are going without heat, without electricity, without access to water,” he explained.

The couple’s work with Hungry for Life, a Christian-based charity, includes providing emergency supplies and food assistance.

“We are still distributing about 17 tonnes per month for internally displaced people and some specific areas that are not being reached near the front lines,” said Chad Martz.

He also volunteers as a chaplain, travelling to medical centres for soldiers injured on the front lines.

“The horrors that they go through…The things that they see and experience, a lot of times they just want to get it out. So, we provide an opportunity just for them to share with us,” he explained.

The couple lives in what’s considered a “safer” part of Ukraine where their organization has built a retreat home for grieving families.

“That includes families of fallen solders, families of missing soldiers, families who have soldiers in captivity,” explained Chad Martz.

Since February of 2022, an 1.8 million soldiers—a total representing both sides of the conflict—have been killed, wounded, or gone missing.

“The same thing (that was) happening in the first part of the war, where everybody was so in shock and horror of it, those exact same things are happening today,” Chad Martz said.

Despite tremendous suffering, he said Ukrainians are adapting as best they can, even the children.

“The air alarms are going on every single day. Children who are in school are always having to go to bomb shelters…or they go to school in actual bomb shelters, the ones that are even closer to the front lines,” he explained.

He said that in high-conflict cities, children go to school underground, with classrooms built in subway stations.

Chad Martz said the work in Ukraine is exhausting, but he and his wife keep going because they know what’s at stake.

“We weren’t going to abandon people who are fighting against immeasurable odds,” he said.

“When people don’t do enough or don’t do anything to stop it, I don’t want to live in that world,” he explained.