A slow journey to Odesa

The goats in this photo may have reached their destination faster than us today as our van broke down - again - third van. We're thinking we may be jinxed! But actually, this is the reality for aid vans in small organisations - they're old, they've driven hundreds of thousands of miles, they're loaded with aid and they drive a long way - so they break down.

This time we were on the highway to Odesa, which has no hard shoulder to speak of and, although it's not incredibly busy, it has a lot of big lorries that often travel side by side, one overtaking the other over several kilometres. This was probably the most dangerous situation we have found ouurselves in here. Whilst Bob was fixing a major oil leak that had also managed to damaged the turbo, I was 50 metres up the highway, behind the barrier, waving our Ukrainian flag to attract the attention of lorry drivers so that they pulled into the outside lane.

Bob managed to fix the problem sufficiently for us to limp along to the next lay-by where, fortunately for us, there was a small convoy of army vehicles, one of which had also broken down. We communicated with translation Apps, the army mechanic gave a probable diagnosis  and, we're almost sure, put a plastic bottle of vegetable oil into the oil reservoir.

Bob went off in an army van even more delapidated than ours, to buy several cannisters of actual engine oil. He said that the passenger side window very nearly fell out on the way and the driver's window was held in by a screwdriver. But even with equipment like this, the Ukrainians never doubt that they will win the war.

As Bob said, what are the chances of someone from Trawden being taken shopping for engine oil in a Ukranian military vehicle? On his return from shopping he noticed soldiers' clothing hanging out to dry over the radiator of the broken down army truck!

We managed to reach our destination in Odesa, unload the aid and drive slowly back to Uman, where we are over-nighting. Distances are so vast here that driving from one town to another takes several hours and it was 7pm by the time we arrived.

As usual, we were impressed by the support we had, not just from the military guys who happened to be there, but background support from UK4UA and MAD Foundation. We never feel alone here, which is important in a country that does not have the services we take for granted in the UK, let alone being at war.

As for the van, it will be fixed on Monday, thanks to an organisation called Wheels for Victory that has found a used turbo and will change it for free.

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