Friends driving British aid into Ukraine
Dave Nolan, Mike Abreu, Nathan Yates and Graham Allen, also a volunteer with New Forest for Ukraine, have just finished an extraordinary journey driving British aid deep into Ukraine.
The majority of NFFU aid is shipped by lorry, but at regular intervals visits are needed to meet NGOs, and Graham jumped a ride this month in this van.
What an amazing journey it was! This is the 28th time the blue van has been used to deliver aid.
As one of the Ukrainian volunteers they could provide these essentials to explained: “when you give us a saucepan or a jersey, it is more than just an object. We know it is all sorted, packed and delivered with love!”
And it is the love that makes the difference.
In case you wondered, Graham is the “bald bloke” (as he describes himself) in the black T-shirt on the left.
Tears and determination
But behind the smiles are tears too…
“We visited a school, which had posted up photographs of six of their former pupils who had died fighting for Ukraine,” Graham explained. “They were just making room for four more.”
It is written on the faces of everyone they donate to, young and old.
These kids are playing in Bournemouth AFC kits sourced by Simon Cable, a Councillor at Ferndown.
The British drivers travel onwards, through the capital, Keiv.
Kiev’s Independence Square, is filled with flags for each of the fallen. It’s a painful reminder of the price the people of Ukraine are paying for the Russian aggression.
But there is a steely determination too.
The two vans travelled as far as P’yatykhatky, to the west of Dnipro, the country’s fourth largest city, and targeted by Russian missiles.
Along the way they came across what Graham describes as “cottage industries”. These have been established by local people to make the vital equipment their troops need.
One, close to a school, produces vast quantities of camouflage netting, to hide guns and armoured vehicles. These women make a colossal two hectares of the netting every month!
