Lifts...or, for anyone reading across the pond, elevators

So, I will get to the serious part of the day in a moment. But first the lift. As I'm staying overnight in Kherson, I was found an apartment on the 8th floor of a Soviet-built 9-storey apartment. Not the safest, when shells and rockets are flying, but the owner wouldn't accept any payment for the apartment.
So there's a lift. But the catch is that you can only use it twice in any 24-hour period. If you go up or down, it doesn't matter, you get two goes. You have a card, a bit like a credit card that you put in a slot. A voice reminds you that you have only one more ride left...I was told always walk down the stairs...again, I say...you can't make it up...

So aid was delivered to Kherson. That all went well. Hand-knitted baby blankets from Wales. There was a bit of grumbling about expiry dates on some items but nothing to get excited about. Above, a children's playground, where we deliver aid in a high density area.

The underground teaching went really well. It's underground because, essentially, it's too dangerous to have classes in schools. It went well, especially with the older group, which we think we will concentrate on.

Here's an interesting thought. As far as I'm aware, this is the only face to face teaching experience that children are getting in Kherson.
As I'm writing this, shells are still being heard, as they have been all day. It's not a good place to be..but people are living here and trying to manage.

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