Driving and dancing

We will be out of action, from an aid point of view, for a few days, as we are taking Sam back to Krakow and returning our van, en route. 

We had a long, hot drive from Odesa to Khmelnytskyi yesterday. We took our usual break by the the lovely lake in Letychiv, where the stork babies look as though they are nearly ready to leave the nest.

In Khmelnytskyi city centre we were entertained by a traditional Ukrainian singing group, who were raising money for a car to send to the army. When they realised what we do, they sang a song especially for us - quite moving. They then invited us to dance with them! That was too much for Sam but he recorded the event.

We also visited the long line of photos of heroes who have lost their lives in Russia's aggression since 2014, which is in the hundreds - just from Khmelnytskyi. 

In 3 days Sam will be returning to England. As he says, this will have been a life-changing experience for him. His ticket was booked some time ago and I think it was brave of him to still come to Ukraine, after we had moved from the relative safety of Lviv. Making aid runs to Kherson, which is under constant shelling, is really being thrown in at the deep end. But he coped well and, after just a few days, has an understanding of what life is like for people here - even away from Kherson there are frequent, daily air raid sirens. He also thinks Ukraine is a beautiful country, as we do, and I think he'll return...

Bob and I have a few days, before we return to Odesa, to think about how we make best use of our time, knowing that there is a terrible situation in Kherson and a great need for volunteer drivers to deliver aid there. But it's a dangerous place...