Not Just a Number: GW Students Amplify Voices of Ukrainian Refugees and NGOs

October 17, 2024

Authored by:

Nick Erickson

The emotions compounded with every story they heard-each delivered in gripping and emotional detail from a person whose livelihood war ripped away.

And in the heart of Eastern Europe, there was no screen to turn off and distance themselves from the harsh realities of the devastation and human toll paid in the two-plus years since Russia invaded Ukraine.

But hearing those stories and amplifying them are exactly why four George Washington University undergraduate students-second years Nataliya Layer, Liana Moldovanu, Anja Ree and senior Lydia Miller-traveled to the region for six weeks this summer.

"Our generation has grown up seeing different conflicts happen on world television every day, and we've essentially grown numb to it because it's exhausting to have an emotional reaction to everything," said Ree, a political science and government double major. "But just because we feel detached from it doesn't mean we should react that way."

Funded through Projects for Peace, of which GW is eligible as an institution since the university is a partner in the United World Colleges scholarship program, the quartet traveled to Poland, Moldova, Estonia and Romania from June 2 to July 14 to conduct interviews with over 40 non-governmental organizations (NGOs) supporting Ukrainian refugees, and with it documented more than 40 refugee stories.

The Honey W. Nashman Center for Civic Engagement and Public Service administers Projects for Peace, which provides $10,000 for undergraduate summer projects that promote conflict resolution (applications for 2025 are due Nov 3).

The project, called Not Just a Number, chronicles refugee experiences and raises awareness about the critical work of organizations supporting these refugees on the ground.

The four GW students, all of whom have some sort of personal connection to Ukraine or the region, noted that some of the conversation and coverage surrounding the war has shifted to discussing how much aid, or if any at all, should be given to those affected. As the title of their project suggests, they believe it's imperative to remember the human side of this conflict.

"It's crucial that we don't succumb to empathy fatigue," said Miller, a double major in international affairs and political science. "The ongoing struggle deserves our continued attention and support."

Personal stories, as tough as they may be to hear, form a connectivity between two strangers and creates compassion for someone living on the other side of the world.

Moldovanu specifically remembers speaking to a displaced 6-year-old Ukrainian at an NGO in Estonia, where the young boy expressed a desire to go home. But it was still too dangerous, especially since some of his friends there had been killed. This story made Moldovanu particularly emotional because she herself has a younger brother about the boy's age.

"In the moment, it definitely impacts you to learn what it's like to live in that reality," said Moldovanu, a double major in international affairs and math.

Refocusing public attention to the conflict through personal stories and human connection is only part of the project. The other is teaching people to turn that emotion they feel into appropriate action as they hope the project will inspire shifts in global philanthropy.

While initially focused on interviewing refugees and documenting their stories, they soon began collaborating extensively with local NGOs because they found it easier to meet refugees through NGOs and that these organizations that received significant attention and funding at the beginning of the war needed increased support.

"We realized that NGOs, especially grassroot ones, are critical in providing refugee support and that community aspect," said Layer, also an international affairs major. "We really wanted to showcase that NGOs are so important for a lot of refugees in the way they support them."

They noticed that many of the people running these NGOs supporting Ukrainian refugees were Ukrainian refugees themselves who felt a need to provide for others. But because some of these NGOs started from the bottom up, they are not as connected to networking communities where they can get access to grants and funding. The GW students hope that they can bridge some of that gap by highlighting their work in a website they are creating to feature the different grassroots organizations they met. They encourage those looking to help financially to find local NGOs as targeted donations can have more impact.

For the project's next steps, the quartet is using the interviews to write an academic paper exploring how the decline in funding affects grassroots organizations' ability to adapt. They also plan to create a podcast where each episode will focus on a different organization and translated refugee story, as well as a website directing users to local NGOs and first-person narratives.

The resilience shown by those they met affected by the war is what most motivates the quartet to continue the task ahead. They hope their project inspires others to carefully listen to refugee stories and consider the needs of local NGOs. As they suggest in the title, these refugees are not just numbers to be feel numbed by. They possess ambitions, hobbies, cultures, traditions and loved ones who not only have stories of loss during war, but also ones of strength and hope. The quartet's project is showing that they need to be heard to be helped.

GW students Mariam Muradyan, Andrew Raynus, Lindsey Spain, Anna Vasyukevich and Aydan Ibidova did not travel but are also involved in the project and helping with interview notes and other tasks.