Back to the usual day job...

... distributing and collecting aid, with the aim of preventing aid languishing in distribution centres and getting it to where it's needed as soon as possible.

Our other aim is to try to connect some of the numerous aid workers and organisations, so that aid can be shared and used most effectively. For example, we share aid with our our near neighbour, Старі Місто Львів (Old City Lviv), and vice versa. They need approximately 20-30 pairs children's shoes, which we don't have, but we put them in contact with Albert from the large warehouse in Lviv, who says that he can help.

After some admin work at home, we took the aid we collected from Ternopil yesterday to a refugee hostel in Lviv. Some of the aid is from Penparcau Community Forum, Aberystwyth, Wales. It was transported to Ukraine by Shaun, UK4UA and stored in the Mitsubishi garage in Ternopil - another example of people/organisations working together.

We visited this hostel before the winter and took some aid there. They remembered us immediately and greeted us with such enthusiasm. They said that the calor gas stoves, particularly, had been very useful during the electricity blackouts.

There are currently 167 families in the hostel. They have a roof over their heads and are safe from bombing, but their living conditions are very basic. Each family has one small room with bunk beds; there are very few washing facilities and just a small kitchen with one oven on each floor. 

As usual, we had a wonderfully warm reception (see main photo). People are sometimes so grateful that it's hard to know how to respond - there are only so many times you can say, You're welcome (Буд ласка). So, as we were leaving, I said the customary "Слава Україні," which led to the response, shouted in unison, "Ґероиам слава!" (Glory to heroes!) One of those moments to remember.

Once we had unloaded the aid, our next stop was the large warehouse on the outskirts of Lviv. As we have a van available we asked Albert, one of the warehouse coordinators, if there is any aid we can take to a specific destination. He said, yes, there is a village in the Kherson region that is being constantly shelled, which happens to be the same village, Kozats'ke, where our Polish colleagues recently donated solar panels to power half the community. We'll leave on Sunday, drop the aid in Mykolaiv on Monday, and someone local will take it to the village. We also have some aid to take to a community hub in Kherson.

The aid was loaded into our van very quickly. It's a really valuable load, including wood burning stoves, food, household products, good quality clothes and blankets.

I have to say that Albert would make a good Turkish carpet salesman!

I find that it always helps for someone to oversee the workers!

As always seems to be the case, there is a long period of waiting at the warehouse - for paper work, etc, to be completed. So we had plenty of time to reorganise the load and have a good look around. There was a whole convoy of old American ambulances, including a unique pink one... 

Then there was the spectacle of a group of soldiers trying to load windows into a van, initially in a way that was never going to work. I only thought it appropriate to take a surreptitious photo...

Finally, as we drove over the railroad track back to Lviv, the woman who operates the level crossing made the shape of a heart with her hands. That was another of those moments - that makes all we do worthwhile.

Without Yaroslav, of Coza Dereza and Wheels of Victory in Ternopil, none of today would have been possible. We thank him for having such trust in us to use one of his company vans as we see fit. As he would say, "We will win together."

And last, but not least, we have the heart-warming news that the Trawden4Ukraine collection box in Trawden community shop has raised nearly £320, which has been forwarded to us to use in whatever way we feel appropriate during our aid runs.

It’s an amazing amount of money, which will be put to very good use. As well as what we're taking in the van, we'll be able to buy whatever additional aid we find is neeed. We'll certainly buy some dog and cat food, as we know this is always welcome. Thank you to all involved. 💙💛

The background to all this is that ordinary, innocent civilians continue to die. The death toll from the overnight Russian missile strike on an apartment block in Uman, central Ukraine, has risen to 19, including two 10-year-old children. Russian missiles also hit a home in Dnipro that killed a young woman and a 3-year-old child. There are no words to describe the sadness and pointlessness of this.