As civilians started to pour out of the country, Ballack, who is an ethnic Kurd, began a four-day trip to Kyiv, a city he has called home for the last eight years.Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.comDuring his journey by plane and train, the 45-year-old started to think about how he could use his businesses, including restaurants and an e-commerce company, to help Ukrainians under fire.
"Fighting is not only about holding a gun. Because of who I am, I am more useful getting support, finances," Ballack said. "Growing up during war times in Iraq gave me some sort of resilience. I grew up being able to adapt to tough situations." After a childhood in Baghdad during the Iran-Iraq war, Ballack and his family fled to the Netherlands. He later settled in the United States before coming back to Iraqi Kurdistan in 2012.Emad Ballack, an Iraqi-American Kurd and businessman, who owns a restaurant in Kyiv, takes a selfie near the TV tower that was hit in the attacks during Russia's invasion, in Kyiv, Ukraine March 12, 2022.
After arriving in Kyiv on March 8, the entrepreneur started preparing free meals for security forces and civilians in his restaurant, while raising donations mostly in the United States. Using his e-commerce company Zibox as a tool to manage the relief support, Ballack is organising the delivery of goods to the Polish border with Ukraine, where local authorities assist with logistics to deliver the aid to those in need."I am nervous about everything coming to a halt now," he said. "But what I tell people to reassure them is that I myself am a war child. But look ... I managed to rebuild my life.