By Shay Reitzes
On the United Hatzalah delegation to Ukraine, we met so many incredible people who like us came from all over the world to help the Ukrainian refugees in their plight. Based in Kishinev, Moldova, we’ve met plenty of locals who assisted us in helping the refugees. This past Friday, an act of kindness gave me a new understanding of the impact we are making, not only on the refugees but on the local community as well. The story began when we were having car troubles.
To put the story in context, I will start by saying that the car was given to us by a Jewish Ukrainian family who fled to Kishinev with their vehicle and then flew on one of the rescue planes to Israel as part of Operation Orange Wings. When the family left for Israel, they gave the keys to their car to our team leaders and told us that we could use the vehicle to help other refugees and the Jewish community.
On Friday, as we were driving in the car with a team of volunteers to visit Ukrainian refugees in one of the local refugee centers in the city and bring them supplies, a cloud of smoke rose from under the hood. We stopped at a gas station to take a look, thinking maybe there was a problem with the oil and it had to be changed. As we were checking everything out, three local Moldovans came over and offered to check the engine. They said they recognized our orange jackets from the local news and knew we were the “Orange ones” who came to help Ukrainian refugees. They did what they could and after a few minutes, the problem was solved temporarily. There was no more smoke, but we knew we still needed to have the car checked out by a professional as soon as possible.
We started driving again, and in the afternoon realized that the air pressure in the tires was low. On the way to a gas station to fill them up, large amounts of smoke started drifting from below the hood again, this time even more than the first time. We slowed stopped on the side of the road. We realized there was a real problem that we had no idea how to fix and we were already late.
Luckily, we spotted a repair shop a few meters from where we had stopped. We went inside and asked for help. It was difficult to communicate with the staff because they didn’t speak English, but we figured it out with translation apps and lots of hand gestures. We brought the mechanic over to our car and he just raised the hood and began working silently.
We thanked the staff so much for their help and asked what they thought the problem was and what we could do to help. They said that one of the pipes was clogged and there were some other minor problems which were easy to fix. They needed some fluid for the engine, so we said we’d take a taxi to go buy the fluid, but one of the owners said he’d drive us.
When we came back with the fluid and they finished fixing the car, we asked the owners for the bill. They said they didn’t change any parts, just fixed what was there, and didn’t accept any money from us. We kept insisting they take payment, after all, they deserved it, they had worked hard on fixing our car for nearly an hour. But they insisted they would not accept our money.
While we were waiting for them to pump our tires with air, they brought us coffee, cigarettes, and food. We didn’t understand what it was all for and assumed it was just complementary to the services and all customers were treated this way. Before we left, they still hadn’t asked us for any money so we handed them a tip for their service, the equivalent of about five dollars. They refused even this.
That’s when we finally understood why they kept refusing our payment. They told us they recognized us from the news and knew that we came all the way from Israel to help the refugees at the border, so they couldn’t accept money from “the orange ones.”
They said they know how much we did for the Ukrainians and how we help each and every person that needs us. They were not willing to take a single Leu from us. We were so shocked by their kindness and their respect that didn’t know what to say.
These people are proof that there are so many good people in the world. The Moldovan citizens who helped us in the morning and the mechanics who helped us in the afternoon had such caring souls. Anyone can be an angel by helping someone in need, it’s not something you need an orange jacket for. And when these people saw our orange jackets, they amazed us and became our angels, helping us in a time of need without accepting payment.
