(bright music) (bright music continues) - Since Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022, the United States has provided billions of dollars in military and humanitarian aid to the former Soviet Union republic.

Mark Rein from Peoria recently completed his second humanitarian mission to Ukraine and joins us to talk about his work and, I'm sure, very memorable experiences.

Thanks for coming in.

- Thank you, Mark, appreciate it.

- So tell us how you got involved in this.

This is your second trip.

- Right.

- [Mark W.] How did this all come about?

- Yeah, I wish I could sit here and tell you, like I had this moment where somebody reached out and grabbed me and said, "Hey, you know, you need to go on this trip."

But it was always kind of an ambition of mine to be able to participate in a humanitarian mission trip.

And could never quite find the right mix or combination of, you know, elements that I was looking for.

And so finally I just decided, "Well, heck, "I'm just gonna go create the wheel on my own."

Which, kind of naive, but that's how it kind of started.

And, through a network of friends, basically came across this organization, based out of Omaha, Nebraska, of all places, that had already done several mission trips to Ukraine.

And they said, "Yes, we're putting together one more.

"Would you like to participate?"

And so, as a willing participant, I said, "I'm willing to bring people "and funding and resources.

"How do we get this thing started?"

- Any special skills you have that you thought would be good for a trip like this, a mission like this?

- Yeah, no.

(Mark R. and Mark W. laugh) No, I've got very good organizational skills.

In fact, when I had mentioned to a friend of mine, I said, "I wanna put together this medical mission."

And they just laughed.

'Cause they said, you know, "You have no background in medicine.

"That's not your skillset."

And I'm like, "Well, wait a minute, "let's pause for a moment "because I know a lot of people in the medical field."

And so I reached out to over 130 medical professionals that I knew, started from that, and eventually kind of narrowed down to the point that I found four who were willing to go.

But then of course, you know, they knew friends who knew friends who knew friends.

And on that first trip from last year, we had 18 people who went.

- Okay.

Now, as far as where to go, there's obviously a lot of troubled spots around the world.

Was Ukraine kind of, you know, it's top of mind right now for people, so did that kind of factor into why you decided to go that route?

- Yeah, that's a good question.

You know, I don't know why.

It just jumped out as an area of need.

Obviously, I think if everybody, you know, if the only thing you know about Ukraine is what you see on the TV on a nightly basis, you know, you see missiles and tanks and bombs, you're thinking like, "You've got to be insane.

"Why would you go to Ukraine?"

But I think people have to understand that, you know, that is occurring in the south, in the eastern portion of the country, and there's a lot of the country that is not directly impacted by the war but indirectly impacted by the war.

And that's where the opportunity was.

- And we'll put up a map so people can kind of get some perspective, but how far away were you?

What city were you in, and how far away were you from the actual fighting?

- Sure.

We were in the city of Ternopil.

Not Chernobyl but Ternopil.

Ironically, it's a city about the size of Peoria.

It's about 200,000 or so.

Although it's been filled by approximately 30, almost 40,000 refugees that have come into the city.

But that's over in the western, northwestern part of the country.

And by comparison to where Ternopil is versus the fighting, that's literally the distance between Chicago and Atlanta.

So it's a long distance.

That's not to say that they haven't experienced, you know, bombs and missiles and things like that, but, you know, it's not a primary or hardly even a secondary target.

So, for the most part, it's a very safe, relatively safe area of the country.

- So how much prep work goes into organizing something like this?

Because you were over for two weeks, is that right?

- Right, 17 days.

- 17 days.

So how long are you preparing for that 17-day journey?

- I think the good answer would be a lifetime, but it's probably about eight, 10 months or so of planning to figure out like who's gonna go, how do we put the logistics together, making sure that our contacts there, you know, can handle a team and that we've got appropriate projects waiting for us when we get there.

So probably six to eight months or so.

- Did you work specifically with the heads of the country to do this?

Or did you work with other humanitarian groups?

How did that work?

- Yeah, that's kind of a difficult question to answer.

We weren't working with like the head of the country, so to speak, like key politicians or anything like that.

What we worked with is people who were close to that region.

So, you know, mayors, humanitarian directors, people who had a good understanding of the area, had a good understanding of what the needs were in that particular area, and then linked them back to some key people here that we had.

Now, with that being said, you know, we made sure that the U.S. government knew that we were there, that if, for some reason, worst case scenario, if something should happen, you know, we had key contacts back here that we could lean on through the State Department that could help us out if there was gonna be a problem.

- Good.

And did you encounter any problems?

- No.

- Good.

- Very uneventful.

- Glad to hear it.

- I say that, however, because literally one week after we got back, the city of Ternopil was actually bombed.

There were three missiles that hit that city.

I think the closest was within about three miles of where we were staying.

So it's a little unnerving knowing that, you know, yes, we had a good, safe trip, uneventful in terms of, you know, nothing serious, but at the same time, you know, you have to remind yourself: this is a country at war and you are in a war zone.

- And what is it like being in a war zone, even though you're not, you know, on a daily basis facing missiles and bombs?

But, like you said, they're too close.

What's it like being on the ground there?

- Yeah, you know, again, it's perspective, right?

Ternopil is an Eastern European city.

So it's a beautiful city, you know, it's got beautiful churches and restaurants and cafes and people go to work just like you and I do.

You know, children are going to school and things like that.

And so if you didn't know the background, you'd be a little bit like, "Really?

"I mean, are they really at war?"

But it doesn't take too long to kind of go past that first layer to see that, oh, yeah, you can see the impacts of what's happening to the local people and the citizens and things like that.

One of them, for example, is anytime we would go to an event or if we'd go to a restaurant or something like that, you look around at the demographics, and you start realizing that it's a very, very high percentage of women, children.

The number of men, especially men of military age, you know, very low percentage.

And it's just like, "Okay, I think "I'm getting some clues here as far as what's going on."

But, you know, for us being there as volunteers, you know, as far as what's it like to be there, I mean, you have to at least be aware of the fact that this is going on.

And, you know, there are air raid sirens that are going off, you know, sometimes two, three times a day.

And it's like, "Okay, do we go, are we going to a shelter?

"Are we staying?

What's going on?"

And the best advice that they gave us, believe it or not, was, "Follow what the Ukrainians do."

If they run, we're running.

If they're not doing anything, then we're not doing anything.

And there's a alert system that kind of tells them exactly, you know, where are the drones, where are they coming from, where are the missiles, where are they coming from?

Is it in the eastern part of the country or is it somewhere close to us?

If it's somewhere close to us, then, yeah, we need to go.

- Tell us what some of the goals were for this trip.

I know there was some medical things, some building events.

Tell us what your goals were.

- Yeah, so having some experience, having been there before, we kind of had a better understanding as far as what the needs were.

So we broke ourself up into three teams.

We had a construction team, we had a dental team, and we had a mental health team.

Each of them, I mean, huge objectives, huge goals.

The dental team obviously was there to take care of injured soldiers, women and widows and their children.

Which was a huge hit because the dental field is not a huge area in terms of medical care that they have.

In fact, as one of the locals told us, they said, "If you go to the dentist, "you must be in dire, dire shape."

Because the job of the dentist was really just to pull your tooth.

So for American dentists to be there was quite the luxury for them, and they really appreciated that.

- I bet.

So Dental Hope, was that the name of the group that was working there?

- Yeah, there's another ministry there.

It's called Dental Hope.

Normally, they work at or near the front line.

They work within about five miles to the front line.

They've got two vans that's loaded with, you know, all the equipment necessary to set up a clinic, like the chairs and the lighting and the sinks and medical equipment and things like that.

And they will go up to the front line within about five miles and be there stationed for a week, and they'll find an empty building or a church and set themselves up.

And then soldiers can come off the line, get the appropriate dental care they need, and then go back.

And within about a week, they've kind of gotten to the point where it's like, "Okay, we don't need to be exposed "anymore than this."

And then they'll pull back.

And then three weeks later they'll go back once again.

And so what was unique for them this time is this is the first time they had worked with foreign dentists, American dentists.

And so they literally came all the way across to the other side of the country where we were at to partner with us to be able to set up a clinic in a regional hospital there.

And so they were excited to kind of learn, you know, from what American dentists do.

And, likewise, the American dentists were very interested in learning, "Okay, what do you do, "and how does the technology compare?

"And how can we still be effective in the care that we give "based upon the technology that they had?"

- And did they have a good infrastructure in terms of technology and offices and things like that?

- Yeah, as a dentist explained to me, they said, "Kind of go back about 20 years, "maybe 25 years ago, "and that's the type of equipment, "or that's the type of things that they have "or technology that they're dealing with."

And plus a lot of things are, you know, they have to reuse a lot of stuff, so they have to use, you know, equipment that maybe we might use once or twice.

And it's like, well, they don't have that luxury, so you have to make do with what you have and make the most of it.

- Yeah, so the folks over there probably aren't getting their twice yearly checkups.

They're just no going in for the bad stuff.

- Yeah, in general, in general.

- Tell us a little bit about some of the other humanitarian work you did in terms of building, fixing things.

- Yeah, so the second of the three teams was the construction team.

There's a great partnership that they have.

Again, it's with another ministry that's established over there.

It's a, well, they call it a hospice center.

It's not a hospice center the way we would think of it from the standpoint of, they're not going to be imminently dying.

It was actually set up by a couple who originally set this home up over in the eastern part of the country, in the Donbas region, which is literally where the war was at.

And because of the war, they had to be moved back, and they moved all the way back to Kiev, the capital city.

But, again, they were being impacted by the war there.

So they moved one more time, and they were about 80 miles outside the city that we were working in.

They had purchased an old pig farm, and, again, not a pig farm the way we would think of, but they took the farm building that became like a chapel and the downstairs areas, the sties, became like a wood shop and a metal working shop and the root cellar.

And then the main residence became that housing for the indigent people who, basically they were looking for housing and food, and they were rescuing people out of, you know, off the streets, literally, where they didn't have any homes, they didn't have any family.

You know, it was just a place to take people and find them a safe environment to put them in.

And so, to answer your question, our job there was to continue to work on that residence to create, you know, adequate living conditions for them, specifically, you know, putting in radiators and doors and flooring and painting and ceilings and the lighting and things like that so that, again, they had a safe place to live.

- Sure.

You talked about your third mission, which was mental health.

And I'm sure in wartime mental health is huge among everybody.

- Yeah, that's the 800-pound gorilla in Ukraine right now.

Because obviously you've got a country that's at war, and there's nobody there that isn't impacted by it.

So, I mean, a lot of people think about, you know, mental health treatment for soldiers.

But, you know, again, you have to think about, well, what about the wives?

What about the widows?

What about the children?

What about the medical professionals who have to deal with this?

And so this was a huge, huge issue.

And, you know, you're kind of challenged as far as how much of an impact you can have.

So our goal there was to teach.

Again, we spent a lot of time counseling with soldiers who were injured and at the hospitals but at the same time tried to train other medical professionals, military chaplains, wives and widows the concept of compassionate care and the concept of resilience and, you know, how are you gonna get through this.

And it's not like in the next week or the next month, but, you know, this is gonna be a generational issue for them and gonna be quite the challenge.

- Yeah, you mentioned kids.

You've got some pictures here.

We'll take a look at one, some kids with some stuffed animals.

What can you tell us about them?

- Yeah, this is, you know, again, we kind of put out the word that like, "Hey, this is what we're gonna do, "and here's, you know, who we're hoping to work with."

There was a woman who we had a contact with.

She said, "Hey, I've got these 300 Beanie Babies, "and I don't know what to do with them.

"Is there any way possible you can get them to Ukraine?"

So we brainstormed and figured out how to get 44 pounds of Beanie Babies vacuum-packed and stuffed into luggage and bring that with us.

And we were able to do two different things.

One, we were able to go to several foster homes and bring those as kind of gifts.

But, ironically, at the time when we were there, there was the opening of a women's center, which was something the city was celebrating because this is something they had wanted for quite some time.

And brought several hundred Beanie Babies there.

And, again, that was just a huge hurrah for them to be able to have that and be able to give them to children who were impacted by the war.

- I'm sure, I mean, you don't need to have a PlayStation 5 or a Nintendo Switch.

Something as easy as a little stuffed animal, I'm sure, would make these kids pretty happy.

- [Mark R.] Exactly.

- Did you run into any resistance from folks over there that said, "Oh, the Americans are here, "we don't want them, or we don't need them"?

Or was everybody pretty excited to see you?

- No, it was almost 180 degrees the other way.

And I'll try to contain myself here emotionally from the standpoint of, you know, we were told before we went, they said, "There's a question you're gonna get asked.

"Many times you're gonna get asked this question."

And I was like, "Okay, what's the question?"

They said, "Oh, you'll find out."

And the question is, "Why are you here?

"I mean, you know, our country's at war, right?"

And we said, "Well, you know, we're here to help you."

And, you know, some of them understood that, but some of them were just baffled.

They're like, "You're literally traveling "halfway across the world, "taking time away from your families "and from your jobs "and spending money obviously to be here.

"Why?"

It's like, "Well, to help you."

And maybe it was a cultural thing.

I mean, that's just maybe not as common there.

But the one thing that they all said is like, you know, "Thank you for not forgetting us."

Because, I mean, they're savvy.

I mean, they see the news and they see the politics and, you know, their fear is that, you know, their country is being abandoned.

And, you know, we had to try to explain to them, I said, "Look, there's the government, "and then there's the people.

"And, you know, you'll hear a lot of things "at a political level, "but, you know, we're just regular folks like you.

"And we've got resources that we wanna bring "and be able to help you out as best we can."

- Yeah, I would think, if I'm on the ground and my country's being attacked, and then I see on the news that President Trump and Zelenskyy meet and it did not go well, I'm probably not feeling pretty good after that meeting.

- That's, yeah, a polite way to put it.

- Can you tell us a little bit about the picture we're gonna throw up now of these signs on the street?

What are these?

- Yeah, you know, I have to compliment the Ukrainians.

They do a phenomenal job of recognizing soldiers who have died in the war, specifically from their city or from their particular village.

So this was kind of a walkway off the main square.

And it was just a little bit daunting because of the fact that you started realizing it's like, you know, these are, you know, again, people who are from this city, that they volunteered to protect this city and gave their lives for this city.

And what was interesting to me was, you know, not just the recognition, but the fact that they take such great care on the placards that are there.

In fact, I asked about that, and they said, "Well, there's kind of a belief "in Ukrainian culture "that their spirits are still here, "and we want to communicate to them "that we're thinking of you and we recognize you."

So, you know, you'll see fresh flowers, you'll see food, you'll see other types of gifts that are brought to that, you know, again, placard where that individual is being recognized.

- Yeah, I think the scary thing is too, as I was doing some research for this interview, we don't even know exactly the exact number of Ukrainians who have been killed.

I mean, estimates say there are 400,000 casualties, which includes injured and killed, and the estimate is 60 to 100,000 dead.

Those are just soldiers.

12,000 plus civilians, including 669 children killed.

It's just, the numbers are mind blowing.

Those may be low numbers too.

- Yeah, and, again, I'll try to contain myself on this one.

There was something that we learned about when we were there as far as how they recognize soldiers.

And it's called a car march.

And I was like, "What is a car march?"

They said, "Well, think of it, for you as Americans, "as a funeral procession but kind of on steroids."

I was like, "Okay?"

And what happens is, if a soldier from that particular city or village passes away, the funeral procession is, you know, not just the hearse, but it's got the flags for both Ukraine and the military as well as a procession of family members that travel behind that.

But what makes it more unique and more interesting is the fact that, you know, they will go through the city on their way to the cemetery, very similar to the U.S.

But, again, the distinction is that the Ukrainians, if you're driving, you immediately pull off to the side of the road and you get out of your car and you kneel and you honor them.

And it's just deadly silent.

And I was just hoping I would never see one of those.

Sadly, that did not happen.

I mean, I saw it several times, and it was just kind of gut wrenching in terms of the impact it has on you.

- I don't know how many older folks you came in contact with, but it seems like Ukraine has had a history of upheaval, you know, since it gained independence from the Soviet Union in 1991.

I believe there were about seven million people killed there in World War II.

It seems like at least over the last hundred years, it's been almost constant turmoil.

Did you get any, from the older folks you may have talked to, any ideas that maybe, "Oh, this is just what it is, "this is what we've lived with our entire lives"?

- Yeah, so there's two snippets there that made it kind of interesting.

There was an older gentleman that we were speaking with, and he said, "You know, what's remarkable in my lifetime, "I've lived in seven different countries."

And we thought, "Wow, this guy's really been around."

He goes, "I've never left my home."

And I was like, "Wait, what?"

And so we had to start backtracking historically, and you started realizing, you know, it wasn't just Russia and Ukraine and the Soviet Union and Poland and Austria-Hungary.

And you start going back, and it's just like, "Oh yeah, you're right.

"It's been rather dynamic."

But the one thing that was really important that was pointed out to us was that, you know, in 1991 when the Soviet Union broke up and Ukraine became an independent state, that was the first time, the first time ever in their history that Ukraine itself, the country of Ukraine, had its independence.

And, you know, everybody thought at the time, they said, you know, that was kind of, you know, an uneventful event.

And the older folks said, "You wait.

"You're gonna have to fight for this."

And they're like, "No, no, "I mean, the treaty's been signed and it's ours."

It's like, "No, Russia will not tolerate this.

"You will have to fight for your independence.

"Not sure if it's gonna be a year, five years, 10 years, "but there will be a war."

Of course, the younger people were a little bit skeptical, but, ironically, the older people, they know, they understand.

- Yeah.

So you've done this twice now.

What have you gotten out of this personally?

- Hmm.

Wow, that's a really good question.

You know, a great perspective, obviously.

When you come back to America and you see what we have and to see how blessed and how fortunate we are and how, you know, we're not living under the imminent threats of missiles and bombs and things like that on a daily basis, which, you know, for the Ukrainians, it's just, it's exhausting.

You know, a couple people asked us, like, you know, "How are they holding up?"

I said, "Well, they're strong and they're resilient, "but they're exhausted."

You know, three and a half years of war.

But, you know, so having perspective is probably the first thing.

The second is the fact that, in appreciation for who the Ukrainians are.

Very proud, very strong-willed, very tenacious.

You know, I was talking with one of our counterparts there, and I said, "You know, I am so sorry, so sorry "that you're having to go through this."

And it was like, I think I really, you know, lit a fuse there.

And he just kind of slammed his hand down on the table.

He said, "Don't feel sorry for us.

"Don't feel sorry for us."

And I was like, "I'm sorry if I offended you."

He goes, "No, you don't understand.

"This is our war.

"We will fight it.

"This is our war.

"This is our country.

"We don't need you to be here to fight our war.

"Now, the problem is "we're going up against the 800-pound gorilla here, "and we do need weapons.

"So as much as we don't like to have to do this, "you know, we need help in the form of weapons "to be able to fight the Russians "and to get them out of our country and out of our land."

- Do you plan on going back?

- Absolutely.

I'd go back tomorrow.

It is so rewarding and so much appreciative, and we've got very good friends there now.

You know, I told somebody the other day, I said, "You know, it's hard to believe "that in two weeks I've had a lifetime of memories."

It's just a remarkable place, beautiful place, wonderful people, and I can't wait to get back and help some more.

- What would you tell somebody who maybe has thought about, you know, being a missionary and helping folks somewhere in a far-away land but maybe is on the fence about it?

- Yeah, you know what?

I'd say, you know, if you don't try, if you don't go and do it, you'll never know.

It's kind of like, you know, you hear people talk about things a lot, but it's like, you know, talk is just that.

It's just talk.

You know, where you really get the value is when you take action.

And I would tell somebody, you know, just like myself, you know, last year I went for the first time.

Rather naive, you know, but open to learning and open to experiencing things.

And it was a little daunting because it was just kind of information overload, you know, new language, new culture, new food, new people.

And so, I mean, I'm not ashamed to say that it was just, like I said, a little bit overwhelming.

And, you know, yes, I cried every day just because of knowing where I was at and what they were having to deal with.

And I thought, "Oh, well, this time, "you know, I've got it.

"You know, I understand a little bit more "about what's going on."

And, yet, I still cried every single day just because, again, it's not only just an educational experience, but an emotional experience in terms of, again, learning more about what other people around the world go through and realizing, you know, how blessed we are here.

- Yeah, I bet it teaches you your worst day here is not that bad.

- Yeah, yeah.

Provides you great perspective.

Like if the internet goes out, it's like, you know, "It's not the heat, it's not the power.

"I've got a home, I've got food.

"We're all good."

- Well, Mark, I wish we had another half hour to talk about this.

This has been very interesting, and we appreciate you coming by and giving us your on-the-ground perspective of what's going on over there.

- Yeah, thank you so much, I really appreciate it.

You know, if people are interested in learning more, I'd love to be able to share more with them.

And if they're interested in either participating, next year, we're already planning on going sometime in late April, or they just feel like, "You know what, "you guys are great on the ground, "and I can just make a financial donation to help you out," we'd be happy to facilitate that as well.

- What's the best way to get in touch with you?

- Probably on Facebook.

Just look for my name, Mark.

Last name is Rein, R-E-I-N. And you can DM me, and we can have a conversation, and we can make those things happen.

- Sounds good.

Mark, thanks very much.

- Thank you, Mark.

- I appreciate it.

- I appreciate it.

All right, thank you for joining us.

Hope you enjoyed the show.

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Have a good night.

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