To the anniversary of the start of the full-scale war, the rating agency EliteExpert together with the International Expert Club made ranking 10 Kazakhs who most supported Ukraine in the hour of great calamity.
Ukrainians are certainly interested in knowing what motives drove the citizens of distant Kazakhstan, so we are starting a series of interviews with people who entered the rating. And our first guest was a well-known Kazakh public figure, the founder BF "HAQ" Tozhan Kozhaly. Her foundation collected and sent aid to Ukraine (various goods, products and medicines) in the total amount of about two million dollars.
In an interview with ElitExpert, Togzhan told whether it was easy to convince Kazakhstanis to help Ukraine, how it was possible to build the logistics of supplies, considering that there are thousands of kilometers between our countries, and how people connected with Russia are still trying to hinder the work of the fund.
- You were one of the first in Kazakhstan to support Ukrainians. What exactly prompted you to take this step, why did you decide to help people in Ukraine - a country very far from you?
- Everything started on the first day, February 24, and the initiators were a group of my like-minded people - there were 12 of us. At first, we all experienced a great shock and from the very morning we started thinking about what we should do. First, we decided to make a collective appeal that we are for peace in Ukraine. They created their Telegram chat, posted an appeal, and it received a response from more than 8 people.
Seeing such support, the idea came to transform our common vision into some material form of aid to Ukraine. Then we announced a financial collection from the people of Kazakhstan to Ukrainians — and in the first week, more than 20 thousand people of all ages from all regions of Kazakhstan responded! Thanks to the caring people of Kazakhstan, we collected a huge amount. I think that such a large sum for humanitarian purposes was collected for the first time in the recent history of our state. Moreover, as you rightly noticed, it was about a country quite far from us, which is not our closest neighbor and whose pain we felt very recently.
- It's just amazing how you managed to attract so many people to help Ukraine - from ordinary citizens to businessmen. Thousands of Kazakhs immediately responded to our disaster...
— I think that this was facilitated by the fact that literally a month before the Ukrainian war, the so-called "January events" took place at our home in Kazakhstan (mass protests that turned into armed clashes and were accompanied by numerous victims - Ed.), that is, the Kazakh people also experienced this feeling of fear, when peaceful life changed in one moment, when clashes began, and everyone felt a threat to their lives and the lives of their loved ones. We just experienced it ourselves, so when we learned about the war in Ukraine, the desire to help people who found themselves in a similar situation was very strong.
— Did the state take any part in your initiative, or did the volunteers act only of their own free will and desire?
- Initially, it was exclusively a civil initiative. Ordinary people, companies, businessmen came to us. And then, a wide response from our action, prompted the official authorities of Kazakhstan, two weeks after the start of the war, to also provide humanitarian aid to Ukraine. If I'm not mistaken, in the amount of 2 million dollars.
— What was included in the humanitarian aid that you provided, and what sums are involved?
— I can provide the data of the report of our fund based on the results of 2022. We collected about 500 million tenge in cash, which is more than a million dollars. And in total, we delivered 800 million tenge worth of goods to the affected population in Ukraine - that's about 2 million dollars. What goods are we talking about? We bought medicine, painkillers, antibiotics, bandages, we even bought socks, shoes and sleeping bags. Then, of course, the basic necessities — pasta, buckwheat and 20 dry rations, because we knew that in the most affected cities, people had neither electricity, nor gas, nor the ability to cook food.
In autumn and winter, generators began to be supplied to Ukrainians who have been without electricity for weeks.
— By the way, were there any requests from the Ukrainian side, or did you just collect what you thought was necessary?
- In the first days, everything was quite chaotic. The flow of aid from citizens was huge - from medicine and food to diapers for children. In the future, when the work was systematized, we already made requests to the Embassy of Ukraine, besides, we ourselves began to receive requests from charitable foundations and volunteer organizations in Ukraine. Therefore, we already had an approximate list of what was needed first, and made specific purchases based on the list. For example, we equipped several polyclinics in Ukraine with medicines and equipment - we sent what they needed. In particular, we were asked for ventilators, and we supplied 11 ventilators manufactured in South Korea, Switzerland and China. By the way, this was the main demand of the Ukrainian side - no goods from Russia. Therefore, all goods to be sent to us are either our own, Kazakh, or from neighboring countries, with the exception of the Russian Federation.
— Does your "HAQ" fund work only with humanitarian supplies? For example, I know that Ukrainian journalists working on the front lines lacked bulletproof vests, helmets...
- Our position is very clear. We do not send anything that could be interpreted as supplies intended for the conduct of hostilities. No one can accuse us that under the guise of humanitarian aid to the suffering population of Ukraine, we are handing over some military equipment, thermal imaging cameras, body armor or something similar... And there were, of course, such requests from the Ukrainian side, but we always explained our position: we do not help soldiers, but the civilian population, which suffered from the war. And all our boxes always say "Not for sale" and "For civilian use".
- You have already handed over hundreds of tons of humanitarian aid. At the same time, it is several thousand kilometers from Kazakhstan to Ukraine, and it is now impossible to get there by plane or train. How did you manage to work out and coordinate the issue of logistics through third countries, and what difficulties did you have to face?
— Yes, the situation with logistics is very difficult. At first, we transported our cargo on Air Astana planes, which were chartered by the government to take our citizens out of Ukraine. And with these boards flying there empty, we sent the collected humanitarian cargo.
However, it did not last long. Already in two weeks, when all the Kazakhs were returned home, we had to switch to land transport: we started renting trucks. At the same time, I admit that it was very problematic to find drivers. Practically all drivers of our humanitarian vans are Ukrainians. Of course, we contacted various companies and looked for people here, among the locals, for a long time, but, as you understand, there was not a large number of people willing to go to a warring country.
At the same time, the road is really very long. The trucks go through Aktau, then through Turkey, and in general, the route from Kazakhstan to Ukraine took about a month. Now, taking into account the experience gained, we were able to reduce this period to two weeks.
By the way, in good months we sent one truck every week. In total, today we have delivered 20 full trucks, that is 400 tons of humanitarian cargo directed to Ukraine. According to our memorandum with the Ukrainian embassy, we provide humanitarian aid, and the Ukrainians themselves distribute it to the needy on the spot. Then we set up six "Indestructibility Yurts" across Ukraine - from Odesa to Lviv, where people in conditions of power and heating cuts could warm up and use electricity. This is such a significant initiative - if you are not able to come to our home, then we send our home to you so that you can feel our Kazakh warmth.
— In Ukraine, volunteers and philanthropists often complain about gaps in legislation, the lack of clear laws regulating their activities and establishing their legal status. Are there such difficulties in Kazakhstan?
- In principle, no, but in the first days we still encountered problems, because, as it turned out, the state system of Kazakhstan did not have such a function as humanitarian cargo for foreign countries. Even the airport administration did not know how to process our cargo, because they had never encountered such a thing before. Then everything got better.
Fortunately, in Kazakhstan, the rules for the activities of charitable foundations are quite clearly prescribed. All foundations are required to submit an annual report on their activities, and we are currently preparing it. It will fully reflect all contributions and expenses, all funds allocated for assistance to Ukraine.
Realizing that this is a big responsibility, from the first day we processed all receipts with appropriate documents.
At first, all the funds went to the bank cards of our employees, from the beginning of April they were transferred to a special legal account, and since then any income goes only to it. Therefore, any movement on the accounts is easy to track and they are completely transparent. We have all the documents, all the receipts from every purchase, we know what every tenge was spent on.
— And yet, probably, over the past year, the initial shock has already subsided, and the Ukrainian war has become commonplace for many. Has the desire to help Ukraine not disappeared among Kazakhs?
— Of course, in the first 4 months, and especially in the first two weeks, the flow of people wanting to help was much greater. More than 100 people came to our office every day, and all our premises, in fact, turned into a large humanitarian headquarters and logistics center. Then, somewhere from June, the process went into decline, but I still want to note the carelessness of our people. As an example, I can cite one of our regular donors named Petro. Every week, starting from February 24, he sends 1500 tenge to our account for aid to Ukraine. And if he misses a certain week, then he sends 3000 tenge immediately in two weeks and apologizes profusely for not being able to send it the previous week. At the same time, the person is clearly not rich.
On the other hand, in fact, now the aid has decreased, and our "haters" had a hand in this not least. These are the people who, according to the media, work in connection with Russia and the FSB. Naturally, the Russians and those who sympathized with them were very dissatisfied with the fact that we provide assistance to the population of Ukraine, so they started a campaign to denigrate us on the Internet. They began to call on people to stop helping the fund, because we allegedly steal funds and nothing reaches the Ukrainians. Of course, it is easy to check that this is not the case, everything is open and transparent with us, but, unfortunately, many people are fond of loud headlines and do not evaluate information critically.
However, we did not leave it like that, and one such hater who spread false information was sued. Now a criminal case has been opened against him and an investigation is being conducted, because he must be held responsible for defamation. Moreover, as part of this case, we conducted a full audit of our expenses in Ukraine, submitted it to investigative bodies, and no questions about our activities arose. Now the prosecutor's office will deal with the fate of this person. After all, this is a clear element of a hybrid war: to denigrate us so that people stop helping Ukraine.
— And finally: how long will your Foundation be engaged in a humanitarian mission for Ukraine?
- Until the war ends.
Olena Ovchinnikova spoke
