It's been a month since our last update and to the untrained eye it would appear that things have been very quiet, far from it. 

Whilst there have not been any announcements with regards to aid being delivered since before Christmas, we have been working in the background with our partners around Europe to plan for the coming months and the year ahead. 

2020 brought us COVID challenges, many of which will continue throughout 2021, this year's challenges are being added to by Brexit. 

You will have heard on the news that certain industries, such as the fishing industry, are facing increasing pressure and mountains of paperwork to export their goods.  Well, if the trade agreement between the UK and the EU was short on detail for many industries then it was completely devoid of detail for charities and the supply of humanitarian aid. 

Currently customs duties and paperwork requirements are unclear and given the vast amounts of goods that we transport to the EU on any one trip we need to navigate this minefield before we can commit to any further supply of aid over the coming months. 

We are of course not alone in trying to work out the best way forward and we, I say we when actually I mean Chas and Roddy, are having many discussions with Freight Forwarding and Customs agents, and HMRC Departments, and working with many other organisations including our partners in the EU and the Group Leaders Group (a group of UK grassroots charities) to pool resource and knowledge to ensure that not only Hope and Aid Direct but also many other charities can continue operations as soon as possible. 

We know already that regulations and paperwork have increased considerably, but some aspects of these are as yet still uncertain. Nonetheless we are optimistic that there is a route through, despite all the new bureaucracy, and we will keep you all up to date as soon as we have all the answers and can get the aid moving again.

What does this mean for aid collections?

Things are clearly rather in limbo right now, but we remain confident that operations will be back on line in the not too distant future. With that in mind we would suggest that you do not refuse any essential aid (e.g. sleeping bags, blankets, tents, toiletries and sanitary goods) that you are being offered, however we would recommend that you do not actively push for much greater quantities of things like used clothing until things become clearer. If you are one of our wonderful knitters of blankets, please ‘keep knitting’ as blankets are always going to be needed.

What does this mean for fundraising?

Definitely keep this up.  Whilst there are challenges, the people we are supporting are still hugely in need of help.  Heavy rains and cold weather is currently what many people are having to put up with in the temporary camps.  Whilst we can't move goods to the islands, a lot of the warehouses remain stocked with items from our last couple of shipments however this won't last forever so we desperately need these funds to ensure that our operations can continue regardless of how, keeping in mind the end goal, which is to provide humanitarian aid to as many people as we can and to make a difference to as many lives as is possible.