Teddy Bears Picnic...

Yesterday evening we returned to Odesa, following a weekend in Kherson. Sunday morning, we had our planned visits to 3 UNICEF centres in the city. We were going to do "bobbing for apples" with the children, who are preparing for Halloween - indoors, it probably goes without saying. But, as we were driving into the city centre, there was a guided missile attack on key infrastructure, which caused an electricity blackout.

This is a precursor of what's to come this winter. When there's no electricity there's not only no light, but no heating and no water; bank machines and shop tills - anything that depends on electricity doen't work.

When we arrived at the first UNICEF centre in Kherson, there was no power and the children were sheltering in the basement bomb shelter in the dark. Only phones for light. We thought of finding a bowl for apple bobbing, anyway, but the UNICEF coordinator politely suggested that the children might get a bit wet and cold in the basement! However, we had knitted teddies to hand out, which children always seem to find a comfort. Of course, what else would we sing but "Teddy Bears Picnic," which is also known in Ukraine...

As always, we say a huge thank you to the dedicated and talented knitters in the Penparcau Hub, Aberystwyth, Wales.

We learned that were very few children in the other UNICEF centres on Sunday morning, because of the missile attack and the shelling that is constant, anyway. Two people were killed and three injured, after more than 100 shells bombarded the Kherson region over 24 hours.

So we put the rest of our visits and planned activities on hold.

But at the centre where we were, staff got a generator going and, after the all clear siren sounded, the children were allowed back upstairs and apple spinning became an unplanned activity...

We also had time to watch one of the UNICEF coordinators perform "Poi" (originating from the Māori people of New Zealand), which involves swinging tethered weights through a variety of rhythmical and geometric patterns. This was done in the dark, with luminated balls on strings and this is how the photos came out...

Bob had a go, too...

As always, when we left, children hugged us. There is always one little girl, maybe about 10, who hugs us so tightly it feels as though she doesn't want to let go. Maybe she doesn't; maybe we're a lifeline to an outside, peaceful world that must seem far away. I'm not sure these children would be able to articulate their feelings about living in a war zone, at this time, whilst shells, machine gun fire and sirens are a constant backdrop to their lives. It will take a lot of unpicking and psychological support, at some future time.

As always, it was hard to leave these children.

We will return - one last time (we promise!) - later this week. We hope there will be apple bobbing...

We're very grateful to people who have donated, some of whom we don't know, who have seen our blogs posted on Facebook. 

We think we'll be able to make a really good, final aid run to keep the communities we support going for a little while, as the hard winter approaches. We're giving a lot of thought to what might be needed. Power 'banks' are always requested, but they are very expensive and we want the funds we have to reach as many people as we can. So we're thinking of torches, batteries, candles, matches, etc., as well as long life food supplies, e.g. cans of meat and fish, and large bags of rice, kasha, etc., that can be divided into smaller amounts.

If you are able to make a donation, however small an amount, towards our last aid run please:

1. Open PayPal and, when asked for name of payee or email, enter trawden4ukraine@hotmail.com

Or, if you live in/near Trawden:

2. Use the Ukraine collection box in Trawden community shop.