Opinion: Delivering hope in Ukraine's darkest hours

NZ Herald

23-05-2025

It was a humanitarian crisis on an overwhelming scale. And it remains so today.
Given my military and business background, I felt compelled to act - and act decisively.
Kiwi K.A.R.E (Kiwi Aid & Refugee Evacuation) was founded with one clear goal: To reach those most vulnerable and in need, and provide meaningful and practical assistance. Kiwi K.A.R.E senior team leader Richie Andrew operating in the Donetsk region in Ukraine.
While our core work still focuses on the delivery of humanitarian and medical aid, and conducting evacuations, we also recognised specific needs early in the war.
Due to the constancy of attacks on power, water and medical infrastructure, we evolved into a stove and water-boiler fabricator, and we run a burgeoning ambulance service.
The former were constructed from recycled electrical water cylinders collected from all over Ukraine; the latter was enabled by shipping 35 ambulances from New Zealand, Australia and Estonia.
Three years later, I also realise that Kiwi K.A.R.E has been doing something else.
We have been delivering hope.
It took a number of Ukrainians to say this to me before it sunk in and, once it did, our focus became even clearer.
Hope is a powerful force that can profoundly impact individuals and communities.
Its significance lies in its ability to inspire resilience, motivate action, and foster a sense of purpose even under the most arduous of conditions. And conditions in Ukraine's beleaguered south and east are most certainly arduous.
Armed conflict invariably leads to a breakdown of essential services, leaving civilians without access to food, clean water, healthcare, and shelter.
Kiwi K.A.R.E, while small compared to the big aid agencies, has met those needs in a very specific geographic: behind the frontlines.
To do this effectively, we needed to move away from relying solely on multinational volunteers. Two of the 35 Kiwi K.A.R.E ambulances, Aroha and Maia, operating in red zone areas in Ukraine.
I have had the privilege of working with some extraordinary volunteers from all over the world, many have become close friends.
However, war takes its toll - it is exhausting and demoralising. Added to this, volunteers, together with our ambulances and humanitarian vehicles, are in my view increasingly being targeted by Russian drones.
I am returning to Ukraine in July for my fourth six-month tour of duty and this threat is already playing on my mind.
Kiwi K.A.R.E operates in dangerous conditions, with team members often risking their own safety to reach those in dire need. And we are by no means the only ones that do - there are many and I admire them all hugely.
By late 2022, I recognised we needed staffing consistency, and the transient nature of international volunteers wasn't adequate to meet our growing operational tempo. Out of this need came our Success-Through-Partnership model.
This thinking led us to establishing legally binding partnerships with two Ukrainian NGOs: Day-by-Day Foundation and iHELP. These two organisations were founded by some amazing humans, and it is a great honour to partner with them.
Success-Through-Partnership has been working well since 2023 and it ensures mission-effect, in that we are able to move at pace and provide exactly what is required in a specific geography to those who need it most.
It has been our objective to progressively hand over responsibility of humanitarian operations to our Ukrainian partners to foster local ownership, build capacity and ensure sustainability.
This strategy is working well, and our local teams have become increasingly empowered and capable, which, in turn, promotes long-term recovery and resilience.
Together with our Ukrainian partners, and thanks to the incredible generosity of many thousands of New Zealanders, we have made a positive difference in the lives of many.
To date, Kiwi K.A.R.E has achieved: The evacuation of over 3000 civilians,
Fabrication of over 4500 stoves and water boilers (and we have requests for 5000 more),
Distribution of over 300 generators,
Supply of 35 ambulances from NZ and AU, plus seven support vehicles including a truck,
Delivery of many hundreds of tonnes of humanitarian and medical aid, and the next 10 ambulances are en route now and due to arrive in Bremerhaven, Germany, in early July.
Ukraine's sovereign future remains very much undecided. Despite a lot of talk from many world leaders, there is little to hang hope on at this juncture.
Russian attacks still rain down on an almost daily basis with many targeting hospitals, schools, water and power infrastructure. Increasingly, civilians are being targeted and killed.
And so as Kiwi K.A.R.E marks our third anniversary, it is not so much a celebration, rather it reinforces our continued commitment to providing humanitarian support, saving lives, protecting human rights, and fostering recovery. Tenby Powell.
And it specifically reminds me of our raison d'être: to reach those most vulnerable and in need, and provide meaningful and practical assistance.
And to continuing delivering hope.
Thank you, New Zealand, for your generous support.
Tenby Powell is a humanitarian, veteran, business and social entrepreneur, and founder of Kiwi Aid & Refugee Evacuation (Kiwi K.A.R.E)