New friends

First, we went shopping today with Yana, a young volunteer who delivers aid to village communities in Chernihiv Oblast (district), where there was fierce fighting in February and March 2022. The Russians occupied part of the oblast until April 1, shelling homes, killing civilians and looting.

With a donation from Paszki dla Ukrainy (Packages for Ukraine), we bought items specifically requested by the volunteer leader in Ivanivka village: flour, sugar, coffe, tea, cooking oil, laundry detergent, etc. We were informed that there were 27 families who lost their homes due to bombing, so we bought 27 of everything and divided the items into separate bags. We then delivered the aid to the volunteer centre in Ivanivka, which is run by a handful of women. We handed the bags individually to each family, other than those who were working. 

The gratitude of people was both rewarding and humbling. I had to remind myself, again, that people in this village were very much like me (and you) until just under a year ago. Our translator, who is an English teacher, was one of the 27 families whose houses were destroyed by Russian shells. She showed us a photo of her house - nice, semi-detached - now, only a few walls standing; otherwise, rubble. She and her family now live in temporary accommodation, with no electricity and no heating, and she is standing in line for a grocery hand-out.

We heard more about the looting, Not only did the Russians take everything they wanted from houses, they made sure there would be no use for those things they left behind - they defecated in cooking pots.

However, there is no self-pity, but a determination to survive and rebuild. There's also a lot of emotion just held back, which seems to be released by us being there, far away from home, because we think it's important. We sat, and had tea and cake with these volunteers, who now feel like our friends. 

The only downside to the day was Bob getting a fine for speeding!! The two very young policemen who stopped us were quite cheerful, praising "Boris!" Somehow, they didn't appear to see the contradiction between this and fining a volunteer driving humanitarian aid! A Ukrainian friend commented that Bob getting fined for speeding qualifies him to be a fully fledged Ukrainian driver - £8 well spent!!

We need to make a few clarifications about the painting highlighted in Bob's blog yesterday. It's very much up for auction but the starting bid is £50 (not £500). Bob's fault, just saying, in this no blame culture...The painting is on canvas, stretched over a wooden frame, and its dimensions are 50 cm x 40 cm.