It's been a day...

Each day, here, often works out very differently to how you have planned or organised it.
Setting off worked, then flexibility was the name of the game. The morning started in autumnal mist...really beautiful...

So, I had thought that I would bring the aid to Kherson about 11am and distribute it, then and there, at the centre....well not quite....they said that they would have to do it at 13:00, as they had planned it for that time. 

That allowed me time to drop of products with Anastasia, a community leader, who, over the course of the day, distributed some £500 worth of aid, ranging from incontinence pads, to torches, to children's exercise books, hand wash and wipes etc. As usual, I received endless photos to show that the aid had been distributed.



This having been done, I returned to the centre where I had left the fruit and veg. I'd also learnt that a class I was going to give had been cancelled. 
On the way, I passed by a busy midday market, all hustle and bustle (or not!) This is the reality of Kherson. The last photo is of the main road of Kherson at 13:09.

So back to the fruit and veg. Well, to say that it went well is an understatement. It was well organised, with the fruit and vegetables available in a line for people to move along. I managed to get involved, which was a lot of fun.... 

It was all good humoured, with many thanks being given for the aid delivered.
Who would ever have thought that Kherson, a city at war in Ukraine, would ever have heard of Trawden?

So, the aid having been given out, I did my last bit for the day. A class with the children at the UNICEF centre. I call it a class...it isn't as such, it's sharing time and songs, and little moments with the children. How could it be otherwise, given that, some of the time, the lesson had to be underground in a makeshift bomb shelter...
The children are wonderful, as are the UNICEF workers and volunteers. The photo is a still from a video of the children singing, "1,2,3,4,5 once I caught a fish alive..."

I asked them, before I told them why the fish had been let go, what the reason might have been? You couldn't possibly imagine some of the answers they gave. It was with a sad heart that I left them, but I was at my end.

And the mood music of this day? The sound of constant artillery shelling. A shell lands in the distance.

You actually stop noticing. How crazy is that? Finally, temporary home, with the moon rising above the apartment blocks of Kherson....over the apartment blocks, and a couple of miles away, are the Russians, continuing to kill indiscriminately. Another 2 today.


Please don't forget Ukraine. They still need to know that we care.
Fiona is still in Spain but will, by Monday, be back in Ukraine. She says she can't wait. Crazy bat....(can say this as she's too far away to hit me!)

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