Rebuilding and rehabilitation
In hospital I have a lot of time for reading. On the first year anniversary of the massacre in Bucha (and other towns near Kyiv), I read an interesting Guardian article on the scale and problems of rebuilding:
"In the last year, Ukraine has cleared debris from 2,100km of roads, of which it has repaired 120km, rebuilt 41 of 330 destroyed bridges, created 80 temporary passages and renewed 900 railway points, such as train stations and train depots."
The deputy minister of infrastructure, Oleksandra Azarkhina, says they are aware that what they have rebuilt could be destroyed again, but it's a risk they have to take; "rebuilding is also part of our resistance.”
"As of January, Kyiv School of Economics reported 149,300 residential buildings damaged, 330 hospitals, 595 administrative buildings and more than 3,000 schools and university buildings...Ukraine’s prime minister, Denys Shmyhal, has said that the cost of rebuilding could reach $750bn."
Projects are already underway but some investors are wary, not only of investing in a country still at war, but also because of "widespread corruption...Transparency International ranked Ukraine as the second most corrupt country in Europe in 2021, behind only Russia" (ironically).
Donald Bowser, founder of Support to Ukrainian Recovery Initiative, points out, however, that there is "a new cadre of voices who are serving on the frontlines who won’t accept passively sitting by while the country is looted again...One million Ukrainian veterans returning from the war, with missing limbs, who bled for this country, are not going to accept things as they were before 2014.”
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/apr/01/ukraine-rebuild-bucha-prompts-corruption-reconstruction
Which brings me back to the start. The hospital where I am being treated has a Rehabilitation Centre. Bob says that he has never seen so many young men with legs missing. They will be part of the generation that should - must - demand, and vote for, change to the status quo and hold their politicians to account.
Bob is preparing for another aid run, hopefully with a volunteer colleague, as I'll be out of action for a few weeks. As always, we seek donations to supplement the aid that we manage to source from Poland and wherever else we can. We've recently received a kind donation, sufficient for Bob to buy a few large bags of dried dog food, which is always welcome.
If you would like to support with a donation, however small, please:
1. Open PayPal and, when asked for name of payee or email, enter trawden4ukraine@hotmail.com.
Or, if you live in/near Trawden:
2. Use the collection box in Trawden community shop.
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