Interview with Zhanna Galeyeva - Co-Founder/CEO of Bird of Light Ukraine
Zhanna Galeyeva is the co-founder and CEO of Bird of Light Ukraine, an NGO based in Chernivtsi, Ukraine. Ms. Galeyeva and Isaac Yeung founded Bird of Light Ukraine in the early days of the 2022 Russian invasion. Their objective is to increase the efficiency with which aid is delivered across Ukraine.
Galeyeva grew up in Korostyshiv, a small city west of Kyiv. From a young age, she said, she knew one day would come for her to leave her hometown. “My room faced the central bus station. I remember all those years staring at that station, knowing that I would leave for somewhere far away one day.” She left Ukraine in 2005 on an exchange program in New York and became a US citizen in 2012. She returned to Ukraine in 2021 to reunite with her father, and at the onset of the war in February 2022, she took refuge in Chernivtsi and began to address the humanitarian needs of the fleeing population. The focus of Bird of Light Ukraine is to connect the resources of the West with the ingenuity of the Ukrainian people. The interview was conducted on June 13, 2024, and has been edited for clarity.
JT: When I say ‘Ukraine’ what is the first word that comes to mind?
Home. Childhood. Beginning of life.
JT: What’s the story behind Bird of Light? Why was it created? What does it do?
I went to Ukraine in December 2021 to reunite with my biological father, whom I hadn’t seen in 32 years. It was a very emotional reunion, and I extended my stay. I was in Kyiv on February 24, 2022, when the air raid sirens sounded as Russian planes and missiles hit the city. It was an unforgettable sound. My friend Isaac and I joined thousands of other Ukrainians leaving Kyiv. We drove for 60 hours straight-21/2 days- to the Moldovan-Ukraine border, which is usually a six-hour drive of about 300 miles. As we waited at the border, Isaac said, “We don’t have to leave.” He voiced what I was thinking, so we got out of line, turned around, and drove to an IDP center in Chernivtsi, which borders Romania and Moldova. We stayed there for a month as internally displaced persons (IDPs) ourselves, getting to know the hundreds of people taking refuge there, connecting with them and noting their needs.
First delivery of baby food. Photo provided by Bird of Light Ukraine
The most essential items needed were baby food, general food, and first aid medical supplies. I reached out to my American friends for funds and started looking for wholesalers to purchase these items. The supply lines from Poland and Lviv were bogged down at the border and exposed to possible Russian bombardment, so we created a new supply line from Romania to Chernivtsi and then onward. Our first project was to drive to Bucharest, Romania, and bring back a truckload of baby food and other essential items.
Warehouse of items. Photo provided by Bird of Light Ukraine
We continued to respond to needs as they arose, providing drones, night vision goggles, hygiene supplies, food, winter coats, medical supplies, and more. In the early months of the war, we provided one-month food and hygiene supplies for over 90,000 Ukrainians and winter gear and coats for soldiers. Working with Direct Relief, we facilitated the delivery of 20 pallets of medical supplies, which met tremendous needs across the country at that moment. Between March and May 2022, we fundraised for, sourced, and delivered 11 ambulances from Romania, Hungary, and Sicily. These ambulances saved over 1,000 lives within the first three months of service.
Delivery of three ambulances.
In the early months, we focused on addressing urgent needs, staying one step ahead of larger organizations, which naturally take longer to activate due to their policies, insurance requirements, bureaucracy, and distance from the situation. We never try to reinvent the wheel but instead observe and learn from what people in a community are already doing. We work with them to scale their efforts, as they know best what they need and their priorities. We don’t impose our ideas but rather provide funding and encouragement. We prioritize buying locally and focus on items manufactured in Ukraine. This approach supports the local economy through every project.
To address the housing shortage in communities with IDPs, we are converting abandoned and incomplete Soviet-era structures into apartment complexes on public land. Reclaiming and renovating these structures allows housing to be built cheaply on readily zoned and available land. Our first project is in Vikno, providing permanent housing for displaced persons at $12,500 per unit.
We have set up 15 community centers around the country to serve Ukrainians forced to leave their homes in search of safety, currently residing in community settings, public enterprise structures, or rented places. Working with partner organizations and both local and national government entities, we bring in social services ranging from trauma counseling to food distribution, pension access, workshops for IDP children, and more.
JT: How did the NGO get its name?
That’s an interesting story. When we made our first deliveries and were asked who to credit, we simply listed ourselves as “Zhanna and Friends.” We then realized that we should establish a formal entity.
Before I left for Ukraine in 2021, I was preparing to launch my fashion brand, Bird of Light, which would focus on indigenous artists and their crafts. I had the name, the brand, the logo, and the website ready, so I used that to create Bird of Light Ukraine. We are registered in both Ukraine and the United States. Bird of Light Ukraine was officially registered on the International Day of Vyshyvanka (a traditionally embroidered Ukrainian shirt), so we celebrate both our organization and a symbol of Ukrainian culture each year.
JT: Your vision is not just to provide immediate relief but to reshape the future of cross-national aid in Ukraine. How does Bird of Light Ukraine implement that?
The focus of our organization is to connect the resources of the West with the ingenuity of the Ukrainian people. Our philosophy is to identify pressing needs, and when larger NGOs are finally able to enter Ukraine or start a project in the sector where we’ve been working, we pass on our networks and structure to them and move on to address another gap in assistance. There is no need for overlap or redundancy—funding is scarce and valuable, so we are judicious in our engagement and constantly look for partners to work with or to whom we can hand off our initiatives if they are better suited to implement them. We aren’t in Ukraine to become another do-all NGO. But if we can start a project before larger organizations get in place, that helps.
We don’t enter a community with a set project plan. For instance, we were in a community that had dug a well to access water. We said, “Let’s scale that,” and provided the funding and tools necessary to expand the project and dig more wells to supply water to more people. Looking ahead, we aim to expand our impact through government-sponsored projects, further solidifying the financial and operational linkages between Western support and Ukrainian resilience.
We participate in the United Nations WASH Cluster to coordinate with and access the expertise that other NGOs bring to this sector. This is crucial for our projects on rehabilitating and restoring water systems after the Kahovka Dam catastrophe. So far, we have enabled permanent water access for almost 100,000 people, focusing on hospitals and schools affected in the Dnipro and Mykolaiv regions.
Mariupol Now on Telegram
From the start of the war, Dnipro became a critical logistical hub for humanitarian aid and a reception point for people fleeing the conflict. It is estimated that there are 625,000 internally displaced persons (IDPs) in Dnipro and its surrounding communities, putting immense pressure on the infrastructure, which has endured bombardment, destruction, and damage. Just this past March, Russia bombed the Dnipro Hydroelectric Station, which supplies electricity to the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant, Europe’s largest nuclear power installation, cutting off the main 750-kilovolt power line to the plant. Fortunately, the dam at the hydroelectric station was not damaged. If it were breached, it would not only disrupt the water supply to the nuclear plant but also cause severe flooding, similar to what occurred last year when the dam at the Kakhovka Hydroelectric Power Plant was destroyed.
JT: What is a priority focus of Bird of Light Ukraine currently?
Children. The Russian war has affected 7.3 million children, with 4.3 million displaced. Of particular concern for Bird of Light Ukraine is the archaic childcare system, a remnant of the Soviet era, which needs reform. Before the war, Ukraine had one of the highest rates of child institutionalization, with more than 105,000 children—approximately 1.5% of all children—in over 700 institutions across the country. (Note: See Reuters article for more on the extent of the challenge.)
We are assisting the Ukrainian government in decentralizing and de-institutionalizing the childcare system to meet EU standards. One goal is to work with families with disabled or special needs children, ensuring the children stay with their families and receive the necessary support. By training social workers to support families, we aim to reunite children with their families and enhance the families’ capacity to care for their children, preventing institutionalization. We have a pilot program in Chernivtsi underway.
For orphaned children, we are collaborating with the three Ministries overseeing child welfare to build a foster care network. Our partnership with European Disability Forum experts supports a pilot program aiming to end institutionalization in the country by 2028. This involves strengthening families’ abilities to stay together and receive the necessary assistance. Additionally, we are partnering with Artolution to train foster parents in art therapy techniques, allowing them to provide therapeutic support without needing specialized psychological training. We are also building large family foster homes that can accommodate 6-10 children, transitioning orphans from institutional settings into nurturing family environments.
A lot has to be done.
JT: What are the challenges the organization faces? Sadly, the war in Ukraine no longer shocks people around the world. They have become numb to the genocide happening here. With that, we have seen a cascade of diminishing support for the needs of Ukrainians. We can’t allow the normalization of inhumanity and injustice. The challenge is to refocus the world’s attention on the plight of Ukraine, of everyday Ukrainians who face daily bombardments to their homes, businesses, infrastructure, hospitals, schools, etc. We can’t allow this to become the new normal. That’s our challenge- how to keep the focus on the daily challenges of Ukrainians at the forefront of the news, and people.
JT: What is a success story that stands out to you?
Trucks of staples from Turkey.
Driving 19 hours to Istanbul with Isaac to pick up $50,000 worth of food staples and turning around and driving back in two semi-trucks to Ukraine.
JT: You left Ukraine in 2005. How has your perception of Ukraine and Ukrainians changed? What changes have you seen over time?
I was born before the collapse of the Soviet Union. The 90s were a strange time- chaotic, confusing and challenging. Then the 2004 student-led Orange Revolution inspired a whole new generation to participate in protecting and building their country as they saw it could be. I left soon after and, when I returned in 2021, I had had a broader life experience so I saw Ukraine and observed things differently. I saw a modern advanced European Ukraine. A vibrant new generation of Ukrainians who were creative, innovative, and inspiring and had a can-do attitude to adversity. Ukrainians who will not accept being subjugated by Russia. Ukrainians who will not give up their goals of being free, independent, and democratic.
JT: What is a critical need of Ukraine today?
Supporting the generation that is coming of age during this war. This war was not of their making. The Bird of Light Ukraine community centers serve as a nexus of government and civil society support for IDPs, families, and children, as well as the broader community, providing access to resources and government services to rebuild their lives. Donate here to Bird of Light Ukraine.
Ukraine has lost a generation of men…single heads of households will be and are predominantly women. We must support them emotionally, financially, and socially as they will guide the next generation of Ukrainian leaders. I visited the cemetery in my hometown, a small town of about 20,000 residents, and saw new gravesites for soldiers who had fought for our freedom and democratic future. I personally knew 14 of them. They must not have died in vain. They died for something better. I must support their hopes and dreams for Ukraine and bring in a ray of light. Donate here to Bird of Light Ukraine. Support Ukraine’s military. Donate to United24.