Calgary aid worker helps build tiny homes for war displaced Ukrainians

Long time Calgary-based community activist Paul Hughes travelled to Ukraine intending to help fight Russian invaders.

But he quickly shifted gears and started offering humanitarian aid to Ukrainians, including building micro homes for people who've been displaced by the four-months-long war.

"When I got here, they just weren't ready for that for me and for many foreigners to actually get involved in the taking up of arms, they weren't prepared for that… but I wasn't going to sit around and wait for something to happen," said Hughes, who is also a Canadian military veteran.

Hughes, 58, has been in Ukraine for four months now and has done everything from serving soup and sandwiches, to building fires and tents and delivering medical aid through dangerous war zones.

He is currently staying in Borodyanka, a small farming village outside of Kyiv, that had been occupied by Russian troops. 

He says Russian forces bombed the community, burned down its homes and killed the local livestock.

"There's a lot of people that do not have homes who are living in their barns or living in their root cellars … everything they own is gone," he said.

Despite the ongoing war, many Ukrainians are beginning to return home to try to reconnect with their support networks and their communities. 

Hughes says the tiny homes provide much needed shelter.

And he has hundreds of local volunteers helping to build them — often right next to their destroyed properties.

Hughes says there's a bit of a deadline looming as time passes and inches closer to winter when the temperature will drop.

"I hate to say it when it's plus-33 here today, but, you know, winter is coming and these people don't have homes and this isn't going to happen overnight," he said. 

"There's a looming crisis if they do not respond to accommodations here."

Hughese and his Calgary-based non-profit called Helping Ukraine Grassroots Support or (HUGS) has so far raised about $20,000 to build homes and provide other necessities to Ukrainians.

Hughes says he plans to stay at least a full year, depending on the need and his ability to assist.

"I kind of joke when people go, 'How long are you going to stay?' It's like any party I go to, I'm going to stay until they tell me to leave."