Being home gives some time...

to catch your breath (or not as I still have some covid symptoms).
The last aid run was really informative and has given us a lot of food for thought, as to what we might be doing for the next 6 months or so. More to follow on that in due course.

What really struck me was the enormity of what will need to happen after this war that Putin started, ends.
Both the physical rebuilding of the country, as well as the emotional and psychological healing that will have to happen. 
However, mental health and psychiatric services, here, really are the Cinderella services. Some time ago we visited a psychiatric unit near Odesa. To describe it as Dickensian is to sell it short. 
There will also be Ukraine's internal political and cultural challenges to be met, as well as managing the gross inequalities that we see.
This will not be the work of months or years, but possibly even decades. It would be good to see this happen.

Finally something that I forgot to mention a few days ago. As we were returning home from Ivanivka, we saw our first stork. All along the roads, and in many villages, you see poles, possibly specially erected, for storks to build their nests. It brought a real smile to our faces to see this. Probably the first of many. 
It also reminded us that, in other times, we would be walking the beautiful hills and moors around Trawden. The sound of lapwings and the haunting voice of the curlew echoing around. Maybe we might be lucky enough to hear it here in Ukraine.

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