On the road home - and reflections

We left our wonderful host, Svitlana, in Mykolaiv this morning for the first leg of the journey home. We went through the outskirts of Odesa, passing by Bob's favourite Ukrainian trams. They consist of only one carriage, they're very old (as they nearly all are here), but they're always smartly painted in the same colour scheme.

There's something about trams  - a timeless, economical, 'green' way of travelling - and they're always very well used. The only problem is that they can't run without electricity... but the frequent power cuts caused by Russia's war on Ukraine isn't their fault!

We travelled up to Uman in cold, dense fog at a 'pootling' pace, to make up for the stress of yesterday and the breakneck speed of leaving Antonivka, rattling and bouncing along atrocious roads. The main road from Kherson to Mykolaiv is made up of more pot holes than tarmac. 

We did some reflecting on yesterday's aid drop, amidst fairly frequent shelling. Some may ask if it was worth risking our lives, which is always a difficult question. We took some really valuable aid, both financially and practically, to a previously occupied area that is without electricity and lacks even basic amenities, like shops and petrol stations.

That is only part of the answer, however, because we could have asked someone from Antonivka to come and collect the aid. The real answer is that we feel it's necessary to understand, just for a few hours, what it's like to live in such conditions of war, not only the daily practical deprivations, but the psychological toll of constant shelling and its random nature. Mrs T, who was a police detective, never leaves her house because you are much safer inside a solid structure, she said; the nature of the kind of shelling they suffer is that walls are usually left standing.

It means such a lot to people in these circumstances that people with comfortable, safe lives like us choose to come to support them. We make friends for life. Mrs T said that we have to come to stay with them after the war is over, which we'll do, without a doubt. 

Someone asked us if we would have made the journey, had we known what it would be like. The answer is yes.

We want to say thank you to the few people who make comments on our blog. We never did figure out how to 'publish' the comments, or respond! However, we always read them. 

Thank you, also, for any donations, however small. As an example, £30 would buy a bag of basic food provisions that would last a family several weeks, such as the approximately 50 bags we took to Antonivka.

Mrs T and her son are really organised in how they distribute the aid. They have a list of all the families in need, with names and passport numbers. So they know (and we know) that the aid is going where it's needed. 

If you can help, please donate in the usual way:

1. Open PayPal and, when asked for name of payee or email, enter trawden4ukraine@hotmail.com. 

2. Use the collection box in Trawden community shop. 

Thank you.