Meet the Group Supporting Black Students 3 Years After Invasion of Ukraine

“It made me think to myself, ‘Well, within the international development sector, why aren’t we prioritizing [hiring] Black people who can actually understand and relate to the challenges that we’re trying to solve?’” she continued. “That, alongside the George Floyd protests and the global movement that was happening, is what really inspired the start of NoirUnited—really trying to find a place for Black people, for marginalized people, to come together under an organization and start creating solutions, community-based and community-led solutions.”

NoirUnited’s first major project involved supporting five Black-owned businesses in Atlanta, Georgia, particularly those that were affected by the double whammy of the COVID-19 pandemic and the aftermath of the George Floyd protests. “That was our first initiative to show that we had a commitment to economic empowerment for Black people,” said Aribot. “As we’re advocating for social justice, [we’re] also looking at the importance of economic justice.”

“It felt really good to be a young person who had just graduated from school, to get together with my friends and organize something good for our community,” Aribot recalled. “I think we raised about $6,000 and at the time it felt like so much money!”

Two years later, as footage from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine flooded social media, it was hard for Aribot to ignore the accounts of Black people being discriminated against and denied access to trains and other means of evacuation. These accounts spurred her into action.

“The whole thing started very organically, with me reaching out to people on social media,” said Aribot, explaining that NoirUnited used GoFundMe to raise money to cover students’ transportation costs to evacuate Ukraine.

Aribot and NoirUnited co-founder Ashford continued to support students remotely, particularly a group stranded in Kherson, Ukraine. They worked with Russian and Ukrainian translators to connect with the local community and coordinate evacuations for students via buses, trains, and in some cases, flights. In addition to offering support for transportation costs, they also used the funds raised to help provide students still in Ukraine with basic necessities like food, water, and clothing. When spring break came around, the two, who had already planned to spend the week break in Europe anyway, decided to use the time off to offer on-the-ground support to the students they had been supporting remotely.

“Once [the students] finally left Ukraine, they traveled for four days and we met them at a train station in France,” said Aribot. It was a moment she could only describe as “surreal”: finally coming face to face with the students they had been working with and advocating for over the previous weeks. Aribot and Ashford then traveled to Krakow, Poland, where they continued their humanitarian efforts, this time with around 40 to 50 African students who had been sheltering in a monastery. They were able to help these students access basic necessities that they’d been living without.