Cooperation

The photo is of the ticket validator on buses and trams in Lviv. You insert your ticket and pull down the handle at the top to punch holes in it, as must have been the case for decades. Buses, in particular, get so jam-packed that you can't move, which makes it impossible to get to the front of the bus to validate your ticket. And ticket inspectors hop on and off all the time. So when a passenger can't reach the front he/she passes his/her ticket to the person immediately in front and says "Bud laska" (please). This person passes it to the person in front and so on, up the bus to the person nearest the machine, who validates the ticket. And then the ticket makes the reverse journey to its owner. 
This seems to be a good illustration of cooperation in practice, which we're trying to emulate.

Whilst we're aware that the number of sponsors  appears to be dwindling, we think there will continue to be a high level of need for the sponsorship scheme. We're working alongside a charitable organisation, based in Lviv, called Make a Difference (MAD) foundation that generally shares our philosophy, e.g. the importance of families getting to know each another on either side. We think it makes sense for us to inform MAD of any sponsors we have and refugee families that we come across who wish to apply to the scheme, as MAD has the resources and technical ability to complete the visa applications speedily and efficiently. We've agreed to continue to do the linking between refugees and sponsors we have got to know.

We're also looking for the best way of supporting the situation here and have decided on a combination of delivering (and possibly driving) humanitarian aid, improving cooking facilities in refugee centres and English lessons (Bob), whilst continuing with the Homes for Ukraine sponsorship scheme. 

With this aim in mind, we met with the coordinator of another, mostly medical, humanitarian aid distribution centre, mainly delivering to the front line of the war. She gave examples of medicines that are needed, which include hay fever tablets - so obvious when you think of the time of year.
Picture of validator may not make it into Instagram photo of the year! (Bob's addition!)

Comments

  1. Mum24 June 2022 at 00:12

    We came across the same validation "passing down the tram" system in Rome.!



    ReplyDelete

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