Restaurant owner Ciro Orsini on the Polish border next to Ukraine.Ciro Orsini
Orsini, 73, owns a London-based Italian restaurant called Ciro's Pizza Pomodoro. He's also the founder of Help Children Now, a charity that provides aid to children impacted by conflict.
In an interview with Insider, Orsini said he traveled to Medyka on the south-east Polish border the day the Ukraine war started to work with his charity which had set up a base there.
As soon as the refugees cross the border from Ukraine to Poland, there's an 80-meter long tent that they enter where there are mattresses on the ground, blankets, and pharmaceutical supplies, Orsini said.
Next to a soup stand in the tent, there's Orsini's pizza stand. His volunteers also give out biscuits, chocolates, and coffee, he said.
Hundreds of people who have fled from Ukraine line up outside the pizza tent every day, Orsini said.
"They're so traumatised, they're scared," he said. "They have no food, they want something hot."
Orsini said there is a proper wood-burning pizza oven at the camp, unlike his electric oven at his restaurant in London. "You can taste the pizza and see what it's like before we take it out," he said.
It takes between three and four minutes to make the pizzas at the camp. Some pizzas are long in shape and around 14 inches big, while others are round-shaped and 10 inches big.
The charity offers whole pizzas, half pizzas, and single slices.
The toppings include margarita, salami, ham, oregano, and other meats, Orsini said.
"We wear funny hats when we cook and serve pizza for the kids ... it gives them some happiness," Orsini said.
"We work globally but think locally," Orsini said, adding that the charity tries to source ingredients that are popular with the crowd they're feeding.
Orsini said he's been going to Kyiv, the capital of Ukraine, for 20 years. He also spends time in the Zaatari Refugee Camp in Jordan, helping the children who need the charity's support.
Copyright © 2023. Times Internet Limited. All rights reserved.For reprint rights. Times Syndication Service.