The bear stole the show...

... but there was so much else besides.

We took a load of really useful aid, by van and car, thanks to the very generous support of our American friends, J & B, including household products, tea, coffee, tinned fish, meat and fruit, biscuits and, for children, cartons of juice and sweets.

A new connection may have been forged between this community and our American friends, thanks to homemade compote and pastries!

Now to the bear, which was brought by J & T from our friend and volunteer, Tomasz, in Krakow, Poland. We named it after him.

Tomas the bear made the children at one of the UNICEF centres in Kherson happy. There were only half the number of children there, because the shelling in the centre of Kherson was so bad that a number of parents had taken their children home. How difficult must that decision be - whether to bring your child to the UNICEF centre or not, particularly if it happens to be in the town centre? The shelling is so random that a shell could just as easily fall on a child's home. And the psychological impact of not mixing with other children also has to be considered. These children have not attended school for several years - COVID and then the war - and school will continue to be online this September.

We played with the ubiquitous parachute, which never fails to be a winner. As always, the children were very boisterous and found it hard to follow instructions. It feels as though they can't find a place to fully use all the energy they have, like normal children, because most of their life is spent inside for safety reasons. As always, Bob managed to find a way to let the children release their energy and have fun, and also calm them down - not quite sure how he does it...

We can only stay an hour or so before it becomes too dangerous for us and, potentially, for the children. The staff are always keeping an eye on the level of shelling,. Before we left we once more handed out the much-loved teddies and other toys, knitted by the women in the Penparcau Hub, Aberystwyth, Wales. We also left stationery packs that the hub provided.

It's hard to say goodbye to these children, especially when we know we're going to be away for several weeks. They're such sweet kids, even the boy who didn't want to be in the photo and just lay down with his eyes closed! 

There is always a sad note here - during this morning's shelling, two civilians, a woman and a man, were injured and a 53-year-old man was killed in a high-rise building.