Aid Run to Letychiv


Technically, this was a separate aid trip as we returned to Lviv and spent one night at home. But it felt like Part 3 of the same journey.

The snow and the road conditions worsened the further east we travelled...
...so we couldn't spend as long as we would have liked to at Pastor V's distribution centre for refugees in Letychiv. This is a small town on the main arterial road from east to west, where people fleeing Russia's invasion were stuck for days. Many stayed and Letychiv's population has increased from 10,000 to 15,000. Refugees are really struggling now, with few possessions, little money and the onset of winter.

The aid was quickly unloaded in the falling snow. The food will be kept in a cellar, before divided into bags for each family.
Clothes, shoes, etc, were distributed straight away in a dark, semi-basement. Aid is distributed every Monday and Thursday. There is some warmth from one of the wood burning stoves we left on a previous aid run.
As usual, we were offered delicious fresh food before we left. Behind us, women were busy making paraffin candles out of cardboard, paraffin,melted wax and tin cans. They work really well, apparently, but paraffin is in short supply.
When we returned home to Lviv there was a power cut, which continues - no electricity, no heating.  Thank goodness for gas stoves!
Home in Trawden seems a long way away. But people here are reliant on the support from the UK and elsewhere. We received a message today that one of the stalls in the Trawden Christmas craft fair is going to donate its proceedings to  Trawden4Ukraine to support our continued provision of essential aid and equipment. People here continue to tell us how grateful they are for the support of people from countries that seem so far away, knowing they are not forgotten.

Finally, a picture of sunflowers that we remember so well from the summer - now standing, brown and withered, in the snow.

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