Afghanistan

You will have all witnessed the upsetting scenes from Afghanistan over the past week.  The lack of planning in relation to the removal of troops from the country have meant an almost inevitable humanitarian crisis.  This will manifest itself on a variety of levels, in a variety of countries and regions and in a variety of ways that are still unknown, but that will play out over the coming months, years and longer.

We know from our experiences of the past 25 years of operation that any situation such as this has long term implications from there being potentially million's of Internally Displaced People, to more millions of refugees, most of whom will stay in the neighbouring countries, to those who venture to shores further away.  The political, social and economic impacts will be far reaching, there will be many negative consequences but there will also many heart-warming stories we will encounter along the way (Please share them when you hear them).

As is so often the case, the NGO community has gone mad over this crisis, let's hope that the industry mobilises itself in a way that can benefit the many thousands, millions of people that need help, and will continue to need it for many years to come.    

Hope and Aid Direct are in discussion with a few potential partners in the region and will report back when and if we have way of getting aid and funds into the country without the fear of any money being used for purposes other than what it is intended for. 

Walk with Amal

As you read this the Hope and Aid Direct team are in Bari, ready to board the ferry to take them to Patras on the Greek mainland where they will meet up with The Walk team to begin their journey back to the UK. 

For those of you who have not been following the walk so far, do a binge watch and catch up on 'The Walk' Facebook page 

We have a Luton, 2 minibuses and a 7.5 tonne truck ready to board the ferry accompanied by Bernie and Susie, Sean, Ziggy and Brian and we would of course like to thank then all for giving up their time to support this project and wish them well, safe travels to you all. 

We are thrilled to support #LittleAmal on her awareness-raising 8000km journey from the Turkey-Syria border to Manchester in support of refugees.

Find out more about her and the project here walkwithamal.org.

Volunteer co-ordinator

I would like to take this opportunity to both welcome and introduce Kathryn Brooks who is going to take on the role of volunteer co-ordinator.

Kathryn is a social work manager with experience across a range of sectors, including children and families, learning disabilities, criminal justice and adolescent services. She is currently devoting her time to fostering and charity work.

Kathryn has worked with refugees for a number of years; as both a host and home visitor for Refugees at Home; with two refugee support projects in Birmingham and with two spells in each of Calais and Samos. In addition to these endeavours Kathryn has volunteered on a range of other projects including painting a community centre in Romania, in a soup kitchen and emergency night shelters & on a number of conservation projects.

She is currently chair of trustees for a homeless charity in Birmingham in addition to volunteering with local initiatives in mid Wales where she lives. Kathryn has worked as a volunteer and with volunteers for many years in a range of settings. She is keen to use her social work experience to help those engaged in humanitarian endeavours to process their experiences of the work and indeed to support volunteers more generally because we all give of our best when we have others looking out for us too. 

Her role as volunteer co-ordinator is one that will grow from the proverbial seed, however we felt there was a need to have a central figure that volunteers could come to and who liaises with them over their roles, their input to the charity and to be on hand should there be any questions. Once we are back on the road Kathryn will be able to co-ordinate the volunteers for the convoys as well as looking at things such as how we use the resources we have available to us for the best operation of the charity.

Good luck Kathryn and I look forward to working with you in your endeavours.  

The next convoy?

OK, well maybe not the next convoy BUT we are progressing with our discussions surrounding Brexit and Customs/EU regulations. 

If he wasn't an expert before on the subject I am sure Chas now knows more about customs codes and shipping agents then he ever wanted to. Rather than send you to sleep here I am sure he can provide you with the necessary information on request!!! 

Suffice to say, we believe that we may have cracked it.  As with all best laid plans it has the potential for challenges but there is a possibility that we will be able to do our first run to Europe in around 18 months.  We are looking at taking 2 trucks out to Calais as a test run and to assist with the much-needed aid in that part of France in the second or third week of September. 

We will of course let you know if this gets firmed up and there will be updates on the website.

One final thing just before you leave...

Chas. Hmmm what to do.... You see I have a problem, on the one hand I know that he doesnt want a fuss to be made, but then on the other hand it is his birthday on Monday and a fuss is surely deserved.  Oops, did i publish that, i was supposed to keep it quiet, apologies Chas.

Oh well, now its out there, he is going on holiday for a week for a well deserved break.  Love him or ...... we are all involved with Hope and Aid Direct in some part due to you and the never ending hard work you put into the charity.

I am sure we all want to wish him a very Happy Birthday. 

PS: It's a big one if anyone is interested.