What is Heroes of Doxy.me? Transcript
Mary Johnston
So that’s a wonderful segue to the project you’re initiating with these stories. I would love to hear what your hopes are fordoxyme these initiatives and how you want that to affect your listeners. Yeah.
Brandon Welch
Yeah. So I had the chance to, to go to Ukraine last week and, and really see what, what is going on there. And it, fromhere in America, we get this perspective on the news and we probably have a little bit more insights because we’reactually talking to people and who are on the ground there we’re reporting. And so we have a little bit more insight ofwhat’s going on, but that still doesn’t capture the full picture of everything that’s going on. And, and I, I knew these thingswere happening, but to understand how amazing they are and incredible, you can’t fully understand until you’re there andseeing it. And what I found was most profound as I was, there were even though their countries in chaos being invadedand their homes could be completely lost. And that, that people are dying that complete their countries completely turnedupside down, right?
Brandon Welch
Despite all that people are still happy. They’re still positive. They’re hurting that this has happened that this has happened. They, they, they feel hurt, but they are also finding the opportunity to serve and help others. So many of the people on theteam are volunteering at a refugee, like a distribution center, where supplies come in and then they give out the supplies tothose who need it. They spend hours a day doing that. Many are coordinating logistics of bringing in things that thecountry needs, and then distributed to other parts of Ukraine. Some have volunteered to serve in the armed forces todefend their country and their freedom. And, and to see that that they’ve been invaded to see these things happen and theystill find the time to serve. And, and also to stand up, many of them have said that they could, many of them are womenwho could leave the country, but they’re saying, no, this is my country.
Brandon Welch
And I’m going to stay here and I’m going to help defend it. This is, this is, I need to be here. I’m not going to leave. And, and then to see that, to hear that and to see it in action is incredible and inspiring. And, and it’s a perspective that I don’tfeel as very well understood here in the United States. And, and so when I got back and I was like, how can we get thesestories out, more people to here? I started thinking like, how well we have a podcast and we have a blog and we havesocial media channels. How can we leverage that to get these stories out? And this is where this idea for the, the Heroes ofdoxyme series to come out. So we can highlight these people from Ukraine and the amazing, incredible stories that theyall have, and they are serving, they are doing amazing things, but they’ve also gone through horrific events.
Brandon Welch
Some have been threatened and, and some of them have been in dangerous, very, very dangerous situations. And they’vebeen able to fleet some of had that full, true refugee experience where they’ve been on the road, or are walking for days to, to get out, to get someplace safe. We know these things are happening on the news, but to know somebody personally, who’s had to go through this. That’s, that’s incredible. We need to tell their individual stories. So it could be betterunderstood that it’s not just a general, oh, there’s 2 million refugees. No, each one of those refugees has a story, and weneed to understand that better.
Mary Johnston
And in your wildest dreams, what will be the effect of hearing these stories? What are your hopes?
Brandon Welch
I hope that people will have a personal story to go along with the general stories of Ukraine, crisis refugees and stuff like that. I would love to say that, you know, through hearing these stories, that it would prompt the Russian people to standup against their government, right. That it would prompt the NATO and the U S and those who do have the power to help these people to stand up and do more and defend the people. I, you know, do I think these stories alone will do this likely not, but could it contribute to it? Could it be another voice in the course of people singing for these sayings? I hope so. And, and to, if it can, you know, move, move the needle that much more, I think it will be a victory, but I, I think it’s very important to understand these things at a personal level, because you have an even deeper connection to, and in a deeper sense to what is going on there and the impact and the pain that it’s having and flicked on people and how unjust this, this invasion is.