Initial update on Ukraine and Hope and Aid Direct's respose

A week ago today Russia invaded Ukraine.  It feels like a different world this week.

Imagine what a different world it must feel like to the new wave of refugees that are crossing into the EU.

A week ago they were hoping that the world was wrong and this whole sorry nightmare would go away, and then it happened.  Imaging having a limited amount of time to condense your whole world into one bag, work out what to do with the dog, stop your kids from crying and try as though your life depends on it, which possibly it does, to jump on a train to the border.  You must say goodbye to your husband who has never held a gun, but now has to stay and fight, not knowing if you will ever see him again, that is their new world.

Many people have responded and at times like this whilst seeing the worst of some people you also see the best of others.   I watch I awe and admiration at how people wat to help others that they have never met, nor ever will. Every day you see another local group popping up hoping that they can assist by running a collection or having some sort of fundraiser.  The reality of humanitarian aid is that although these actions are good for the soul, they unfortunately do little to help the people that are arriving at the border.  Initial emergency needs are always provided by governments, local NGOs and communities and currently they all of the crossing points have enough aid to last them.  It is unfortunate to report that in a lot of cases, a large amount of black bags of clothes are only good for the bin as they have been sat in the snow and rain for the past week.  As tempting as it may be we would kindly ask that you do not contribute in this way, we need to ensure that we have a sustainable solution to this emergency need.

It may surprise you to not have heard from us for the past week, that is not down to lack of activity, far from it, we have been too busy to communicate, apologies. 

The International NGO machine has truly sprung into life and we have been offered aid In all shapes, sizes and quantities.   Our key aim is to ensure that the people that are fleeing into new countries will not only have their immediate needs met, but that there will be a long term aid solution in place for when, rather than if, it is needed.  Many people have been working tirelessly in the background to understand these offers of aid in more detail, where they are, what they weigh and how much room they would take in one of our trucks.  In tandem with this we need to understand where this aid is needed, by whom and what local NGO’s on the ground can receive this aid and ensure that the right aid gets to the right people at the right time.  We are close to all of those pieces of the puzzle coming together and the plan for an initial convoy or two is coming together. 

In an era of fake news, we don’t want to tell you exactly what we are doing until we know for certain, but we are hoping that in the next few days we will be able to provide you with that detail and it will of course be updated on the website.   There are many options, Poland, Slovakia, Hungary, Romania and Moldova but the key is having quality NGO partnerships to ensure that the money, time and support you provide us is not wasted.  With that in mind, one of the trustees is flying out to Poland and Slovakia today (I am in fact writing this on the way to the airport) to cement these relationships so we can get the trucks rolling as soon as possible.

Although firm plans are still a few days away, to give you an idea of the type of aid that we are being offered, yesterday we were given the possible opportunity to obtain many tens of thousands of pounds of field hospital equipment (that we currently believe we will be able to get directly to Lviv) and 40 tonnes of toiletries, two calls that I took before breakfast!  Again, once these offers turn into something solid we will let you know the outcome.

Until we have an exact needs list in place we are not opening an appeal for physical aid, however it is likely that some of the main items will be blankets, nappies and hygiene items.  I do want to stress, please do not start sending lots of these yet, we will communicate with you over the coming days when it is needed and were it must go to.   Now more importantly than ever the thing that we and other operations need are financial donations to keep our operations going and provide us the resources needed to get the aid to those who need it the most .  Monthly recurring donations are invaluable and please don’t forget to tick the gift aid box.

Lastly those that want to help please raise your hand now.

We are run off our feet and we need your help. 

Behind the scenes there is lots of admin going on, and at the moment we need some committed volunteers to take some small but time consuming jobs off of our hands.  Please contact us if you want to help, we will find something for you to do to help this cause.  

For now, many thanks for the donations, to the knitters that are busy making blankets and all those who are taking calls, liaising with too many WhatsApp groups to mention and dealing with the day to day logistics nightmare that this has the potential to become if not well managed.

We will speak again soon.