Fourth ATO Veteran Andrii Balan: “Previously, All the Thoughts story. Now, about the Community” Were Only about the War

ATO Veteran Andrii Balan: “Previously, All the Thoughts Were Only about the War; Now, about the Community”

Each ATO veteran wants to feel needed after returning from the battlefield. That is why Andrii Balan founded the NGO “Haidamatskyi Prostir.” This is a story of how the idea emerged and what ex-combatants are lacking in.

Andrii is a fireman by profession. Before the war he worked in Donetsk, but after the self-proclamation of a pseudo-republic he decided not to stay there. He refused to take the oath of allegiance to the terrorists and, together with his friends, moved to Kostiantynivka –a town controlled by Ukraine.

“Almost at once we began to ask the people there where their military commissariat was located. We wanted to join a volunteer battalion. But we were stopped. They told us that we would be needed in the town itself,” Andrii recalls. That was the start of the story of the public formation “Haidamaky” which was made up of 17 ex-combatants. The veterans help the police to protect public order; and if necessary, they, in Andrii’s words, “put things right.”

Andrii Balan has been active in public life after he returned from the war

Andrii takes an interest in the history of the Ukrainian Cossacks and is dreaming of “raising the Cossack spirit.” He is certain that this is particularly important for the Eastern region, so as not to give a chance to separatism. A public formation alone is not enough for such work. Something else is needed. And Andrii devised that “something” during the East Europe Foundation’s All4One Project. Three months of work with a coach helped him form a concrete action plan. “I decided to set up a nongovernmental organization which will be in charge of rehabilitation of veterans and will unite them with the community during joint sessions,” Andrii says. “Haidamaky” had only one function, while the newly created “Haidamatskyi Prostir” will have several. “They will now be able to address more problems of the community,” coach Oleksandr Lomov comments. Andrii adds, “The public formation remains with us; but the organization will take a wider direction. We want to provide legal, psychological, rehabilitation assistance. Until now, there has been nothing of that sort here for ex-combatants. And it is necessary to show them that they are not alone.” The organization already has premises where they have set up a training hall. At present, they are planning to make a separate sports hall for people with disability. Moreover, they are looking for a plot of land for joint events: “Will you show me where here in Kostiantynivka there is such a place in which people can get together and relax? There isn’t any! Therefore we will create it. Among other things, we will light a bonfire there and prepare Cossack yushka [soup].” Andrii knows only too well how hard it is for veterans to get back to the usual life and feel being part of the community. He tells us about a combatant who did not know what kind of work to take up and eventually took up alcohol abuse: “He didn’t know what to do with himself. We started slowly bringing him back to life again –involving him in this and that. Now he is fishing with children and he likes it. This makes him feel that he is part of something bigger.”

Stronger together

In the opinion of coach Oleksandr Lomov, the hardest thing in the work with veterans is to evoke confidence in the process itself. “It was necessary for Andrii to understand that it was to his own benefit. As soon as he felt it, at once he began to form his plans better.” In his turn, Andrii says that coaching was a “magic kick in the butt” for him: “If you want something, this doesn’t mean that you will do it. But when there is support, you gain self-control and organize yourself faster. This communication helps a lot. Previously, all our thoughts were about the war only –that it was necessary to impose order and fight separatism. But now our thoughts are mostly about the community.” More than that, experience inspired him to get a degree in psychology. During the coaching sessions under the All4One Project, Andrii drafted not only an NGO but also an environmentally friendly house. The latter was for his comrade, a retired ATO veteran. Andrii helped his friend to implement the ideas that he had worked out during his sessions with the coach.

“I told him: start doing it and I will be at your side. Me and the boys came and helped him with everything –the piles and the foundation and the reed plates. We are together, we are a community,” Andrii says. He tries to pay attention to everyone coming back from the frontline. He phones them, asks what the call recipient needs and how he feels. Andrii invites them to get together and go to the sports hall for veterans, to discuss things: “Well, it is pleasant –to know that people think about you, remember you. A soldier feels that he is needed. He knows that there are people he can turn to.” Veterans team up, create associations, but that is still not enough. In Andrii’s opinion, ex-combatants feel unneeded and neglected. It is necessary to unite them with the community. “You know, a soldier without work is worse than a criminal. He only lives on memories of the frontline. And there is no one to motivate him to lead a civil life in the community. The man must understand that he is not at war any longer, that he is living in a town, that he is part of the community. He himself is involved in creating that community,” Andrii says. “Haidamatskyi Prostir” will be the place that will unite the community of Kostiantynivka. Andrii has a dream that all –from adults to kids –will regularly meet there and spend time together. He vividly describes how veterans will be preparing the Cossack kulish [millet soup] and telling stories by the bonfire. He is certain that both ex-combatants and the other residents of the town need such togetherness. “We are not just ex-combatants. We are many-sided people and so we want to show this. I can see that the attitude towards us has already been changing. And so we will continue in the same vein,” Andrii smiles.