"It was in the summer of 2023, in June, at a conference in the office of the Ukrainian Parliamentary Commissioner for Children's Rights. We were presenting a project to train psychologists who work with children under chronic stress.
We had a unique experience: rockets have been falling continuously in the south of Israel for 20 years. Local psychologists who themselves live in these conditions have created special programs to help children. This is the methodology we have designed.
The project has been recognized. After the conference we organized two training courses in Lviv for Ukrainian school psychologists and another one at the University of Latvia in Riga. In total, we probably trained 80 psychologists."
"Basically everything I do in Ukraine is connected to Jewish or Israeli organizations - it just happens.
When the buses left for Mykolayiv, the bombing started. I was told: 'Let's cancel it, they're children! How will they travel under fire? They are safe - they are sitting in a bomb shelter'. But I insisted on continuing the evacuation. I reasoned that it was better to take the risk and evacuate them once than to leave them under constant rocket attacks.
We were fully aware of the responsibility we were taking on. I can't even imagine if that bus had been hit by a rocket how we would have lived with it. Fortunately, everything ended safely.
But then another bus arrived - from Kharkiv. We were short of money and time was running out. Then I called a woman I knew only by phone and said, "We're short ten thousand dollars. Can you lend it to me for the company? I'll pick up the money in a fortnight and pay you back."
She transferred the money - the bus left. I sent her a picture and thanked her. When I asked her to return the money, she said, "You used the money to take the children. Forget it - you don't owe me anything, I paid for it." So I looked at her.
"Probably the first big project I had was in 2009, when our friend was diagnosed with leukemia. We started collecting bone marrow samples to find a donor for him.
Israel ranks third in the world in the number of registered bone marrow samples. And if you count per capita, it's number one by a wide margin. In absolute numbers, it is surpassed only by Germany and the United States.
But bone marrow cannot be taken from just any person - it must be selected according to special genetic markers. My friends and I organized a headquarters: we raised money, paid for the tests, attracted donors. People helped in any way they could - some donated blood, others donated funds.
It was especially important to find donors among people from the former Soviet Union, because they have a better chance of a genetic match. However, many people refused because of the myth that bone marrow harvesting is a scary and dangerous procedure: supposedly, a huge needle is taken, stuck into the spine, and then you can become paralyzed.
In fact, everything is much simpler now: samples are taken from the blood, and even the transplant itself is done from a vein."
Evgeni Neimer, born in 1978 in Kharkiv, Ukrainian SSR, is an Israeli-Czech social activist, programmer and philanthropist, known for organizing large-scale humanitarian projects in military conflicts. He was born into a German-Jewish family. He repatriated to Israel in 1993, where he served in the Israel Defense Forces. He worked as a computer programmer. In 2009, he organized a nationwide campaign to find bone marrow donors, which helped save several lives. In 2010, he moved to the Czech Republic to start a family. His wife Elena Pavlova is a doctor. They met at an intellectual game and founded the CGK club in the Czech Republic, which organizes the Crystal Golem Festival. They are raising two children. The witness is engaged in humanitarian activities. Since 2022, he has been actively involved in helping victims of war conflicts. He organized the evacuation of more than 2,800 Ukrainian refugees through fundraising and later with the support of the Jewish Relief Network (USA). He has developed psychological support programs for Ukrainian children exposed to long-term stress in cooperation with the Israel Trauma Coalition and Early Starters International. Coordinated the delivery of desalination plants to Ukrainian cities with destroyed infrastructure. Created a system of temporary assistance for Israeli refugees in the Czech Republic, such as a preschool and school for children and help with adaptation.
Hrdinové 20. století odcházejí. Nesmíme zapomenout. Dokumentujeme a vyprávíme jejich příběhy. Záleží vám na odkazu minulých generací, na občanských postojích, demokracii a vzdělávání? Pomozte nám!
