The cost of war.
The cost of war isn’t cheap.
That was part of a conversation I had last week with a group of Americans in Warsaw.
Theoretically and cognitively, we all know this. Take a scan of today’s headlines and you’ll find articles highlighting the billions of dollars in aid being sent to Ukraine, or the trillions of dollars it will take to rebuild Ukraine . . .
These figures represent real costs, but when dealing with amounts this large it’s impossible to scale down the price of the war into a digestible bite. This lack of reader relatability makes it easy to disconnect from the war at large and the daily, individual needs of the people it is affecting.
That’s one of the reasons why I love being here, because I can give you a first-hand, practical perspective of the cost of this brutal war. Take for example these tangible costs related to this second mission:
$6,500 – the 3-month cost of utilities (gas, electricity, water, waste) for 5 refugee shelters in Lublin, Poland operated by my friend, Igor Buben
$5,000 – cost to purchase a well-used (but good engine) VW passenger van for the Ukrainian Military / TDF
$4,000 – the cost of 2 tons of shelf-stable food; feeds 800 people for 2-3 days
$3,000 – cost of a wall-mounted air conditioner into the church operating a daycare for refugee children
$1,500 – almost double the average monthly salary of Ukrainian school teacher
$215 – tactical bullet proof vest
$150 – groceries for a family of 4 for 2 weeks
$ 68 – tactical, protective eye wear
$ 51 – CELOX gauze, a quick clotting hemostatic agent – desperate demand
$ 20 – set of tactical gloves
$ 8 – camouflage tactical cap
But the cost of this war is greater than any tangible item we can put a price tag on. It’s the intangible cost of war that takes the greatest toll on the economy of the heart.
With yesterday being Father’s Day, a holiday celebrated here in Poland and Ukraine, I thought about all of the men separated from their children. Again, when we start to think in ambiguous terms like, “all of the men”, it’s hard to relate. So, as with the tangible items, here are a few examples of the real, intangible costs I have witnessed:
My dear Ukrainian friend, Dima, (who is coordinating the massive supply effort for the TDF and military) has only seen his wife and 5-year old daughter one time since February.
Juliya, a widowed, mother of 3, Ukrainian school teacher who just wrapped up the school year on Friday. Now living in Poland, unable to return to her home outside of Kyiv, Juliya doesn’t know if she will have a job when school starts back in the Fall.
And then there’s Svitlana, whose husband, Viktor, is in Ukraine volunteering with evacuation efforts and humanitarian aid. These are the same selfless acts that separated him from his family during Russia’s invasion of Crimea in 2014. The same selfless acts he was falsely arrested, imprisoned, and tortured for by the Russians in 2014, before Svitlana and her stoic faith secured his release. The same selfless acts that keep him away from his family now.
There are more stories like these. Millions, in fact. Each one with names of people like you and me. Each one with their own cost, but each one, priceless.
