The day started with a walk by the wintry-looking lake in Khmelnytskyi, a city which, we were told, suffers an average of 5 soldiers dying every day on the front line. We see evidence of many funerals as we travel around, the passage of the funeral cortege strewn with flowers. And this is to say nothing of the civilians killed every day by missiles and air strikes. We know this is no longer reported in the UK because we often listen to the news headlines.
We carried on trundling in the van in need of repair, to a city about 2 hours from Lviv, where it will be repaired. We find ourselves staying with another family willing to provide a home to two complete strangers during these repairs. Not only that, but this father and son, who run the charity described in the paragraph below, housed 17 refugees. They even installed a slide for the children on the stairs - a very fast one, as I discovered! Only in Ukraine, as we would say!
We would like to give a 'shout out' to “Wheels of Victory,” a Ukrainian charity that works with volunteers from all over the world to procure vehicles for the war effort. Volunteers look for vehicles abroad, mechanics here repair them and volunteer drivers deliver them to the front lines. Vehicles are essential, not only for soldiers, but also to evacuate civilians from areas that are being bombed. Wheels of Victory also provides logistical support for the transportation of humanitarian aid. They have managed to find a second hand part for the van and will repair it free of charge.
So, although this could possibly not be said to be our most successful aid trip, we now know another small organisation that is doing invaluable work here, which we may be able to link with in the future.
And there is a guitar in the house, which made Bob happy as he misses his.
Comments
Post a Comment