Another aid run to Dnipro

We delivered sterilising fluid for wounds to a hospital in Dnipro again, today. It was a long, hot day - a prelude to what it will be like in the van in Summer. Another 1000km run. This time, the staff found an ingenious way of using a stretcher and a disabled person's wheelchair accessible lift to get the boxes up the stairs.
We had some items for children - a cot, soft toys, etc - that the hospital did not want. And we didn't want to take these items all the way back to Lviv. So we drove around Dnipro a bit, trying to find an appropriate place to donate them.
Finally, we saw some Police outside a station, explained our situation and had the good fortune to be met by the Police chief, Serhii, who invited us to his office and gave us black tea (English Breakfast) and chocolates, whilst trying to find a solution.
 He called in one of his staff to help interpret - Anton - who told us that he was working with the UN in Sudan before the war. He was incredibly helpful and ended up taking us to a rehabilitation centre, for children with physical and mental disabilities. We left the remainder of the aid here and found out what this centre, which accommodates 60 children, needs: toys, food, carpets, devices for moving and sensory stimulators.

By this time, it was late afternoon and Bob found out that our apartment booking had been cancelled. Luckily, Anton was able to find us somewhere, although not what I would have chosen in a city prone to shelling and occasional missile attacks - an apartment on the 11th floor, accessed by a very cranky lift.

Now, the Police are our friends, despite speeding fines!

Anton also told us about a park area in Dnipro by the river, with a pedestrian bridge over to an island. Whilst we were walking over we decided to take a selfie of us in our new trawden4ukraine T-shirts. As we were fiddling around trying to accomplish this task, a group of young people came up and said that they wanted to take a selfie with us!
One of the group gave me a present - a moose, what else?!
It struck us here, in Dnipro, as with other places in Ukraine, how distant the war seems for some. Incredibly powerful and expensive cars are racing through the streets of Dnipro.
And, although there were several air raid and shelling warnings, ordinary, people are just getting on with their lives. What else can you do?

We did say we would model our new Trawden4ukraine T-shirts - here they are...

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Third Christmas of the War.

Image
I remember when we first went to Ukraine, we thought we'd better hurry up and get over there to help before the war finished, and there'd be nothing for us to do. How naïve were we? The situation in Ukraine at present has got even worse, especially in the areas in close contact with the Russian forces, although with the constant Shahed and missile attacks nowhere is safe. Kherson has become particularly difficult, and delivering aid there is a direct threat to life. Any vehicle or person can be targeted by Russian small killer drones. This week, a vehicle that is used to deliver aid that we have sometimes used, was attacked and badly damaged beyond repair. Miraculously, the driver, a person I know survived but suffered injuries.  The occupants of a bus were not so fortunate. It was attacked, 3 people died and several more injured. It's really terrifying.  What's really sick is that the Russian's then post o...
Read more

The killing goes on.

Image
Time diminishes things. News cycles bring new, more pressing concerns. But the war here in Ukraine grinds on, with deaths a daily occurrence. The killing seems to have become more incideous and heartless.This weekend in Kherson, delivering aid, under the fairly constant sound of artillery and drone attacks, I heard and saw the inhumanity of this senseless war. There is now a real tangible fear about going out in your car in Kherson. Over the last few months, individual cars have been targeted by Russian drones. These carry small bombs or grenade type munitions. . A car is targeted. An initial bomb dropped. The man realises he's  being targeted and tries to drive away at high speed. He then stops suddenly, hoping to get away. Opens his door to run away, but about two metres away from the car a small bomb explodes. With the door open, nothing seems to happen, then as in slow motion, a man falls from the driver's seat onto the road. Dead. It...
Read more

Krakow to Lviv

Image
We left Krakow at 3am because we had heard that there have been up to 3 hour waits on the Poland-Ukraine border. The balance has changed to more people returning to Ukraine (to the relatively safe western Lviv region) than leaving Ukraine. As it happened, we drove through the fairly haphazard border controls with no hold up. The first thing we noticed on the Ukrainian side were miles (literally) of lorries lining the side of the highway, which was only 2 lanes so made for fairly scary driving. On the Polish side was an equally long line of parked cars, waiting to be sold. We also noticed more potholes on Ukrainian roads than even East Lancashire! The purpose of our visit to Ukraine is 2-fold: firstly, we drove our friend, Romana, home to Lviv (in her car) with her 4-year-old daughter, as she decided against coming to England in order to be with her husband and family. Secondly, w...
Read more