Convoy4Ukraine's aid delivery, March 2024

St John's was a collection point for the donation of warm sleeping bags and various basic supplies to be taken to Ukraine in early March by James Crawford for Convoy4Ukraine. Here he reports on his trip:

First, I’d like to thank all of you who lent your support and donations for my trip to deliver aid to Ukraine with Convoy4Ukraine last week. I would like to share with you my own experience of taking part in the convoy itself.

After 6 weeks busily engaged in sourcing vehicles, obtaining sponsorship, collecting supplies, and completing paperwork, convoy departure day arrived on a Monday 4th March. My co-driver, Peter, and I set off at 7am from Cambridge in a 19 year old 4x4, christened “Barry” on account of the Barracuda transfer on its side. “Barry” was packed full of food items on the list of supplies requested by our partner NGO in Ukraine, the Trinity Foundation. These included teabags/instant coffee, personal hygiene items, sleeping bags, clothing and nappies/incontinence pads, kindly donated by St John's parishioners, Queen Edith's residents and local businesses. Four vehicles set off from the Cambridge area at the same time, including nine drivers and passengers.

The first hurdle was to get across the border into the EU area without attracting undue attention from customs. We were pulled over briefly, in Dover ferry terminal and in Dunkirk, but were quickly waved on once they heard about the nature of our trip. Our next customs post would be 1,100 miles away on the Polish/Ukrainian border.

We drove to our first hotel in Holland through rush hour traffic arriving mid-evening, tired but excited. The next couple of days involved lots of motorway driving and early starts through Germany and then Poland, with all four vehicles arriving safe and sound in the city of Rzeszów on Wednesday afternoon, our final stop before Ukraine.

Ready for a break from driving by then, we applied humanitarian aid stickers to our vehicles and spent Thursday exploring Rzeszów, with its pretty main square; we also took the opportunity to contact Ukrainian support groups in the city and stock up with more supplies. That evening we were joined by a larger, Irish convoy, including two fully equipped ambulances.

Feeling a little nervous about what the day would bring, we got in line at 6.45am on an icy morning for the final leg into Ukraine. Together with the Irish group we formed a convoy of twelve vehicles with an ambulance at either end. Representatives from our partners, the Sunflower Network, joined us so as to facilitate the border crossing.

The one hour drive to the border was uneventful except for a picket line of Polish farmers, blocking the approach road. However, when they saw our humanitarian aid stickers and the ambulances they waved us straight through. The blockade probably explained why the border post was fairly quiet when we rolled up. It was still a slow process getting through Ukrainian border control but Ukrainian speakers from the Sunflower network did all the processing/paperwork for us so we just waited in the vehicles.

It was exciting to finally drive out the other side into Ukraine. We sped past golden onion-domed Orthodox churches on quiet roads to a motel on the outskirts of a small town, the meeting point for the handover of our vehicles and aid.

After lunch and some moving speeches from the local mayor and “Katya the carrier” from the Trinity Foundation, we went out into the carpark. There we located the driver who would take our vehicle on the next leg of its journey, to the NGO’s distribution centre. In addition to the vehicles and supplies, each driver was delighted to receive some paper guardian angels made by Ukrainian children in Cambridge, which their school had asked us to give out.

Later in the day, we got a lift back to the Polish border and walked through passport control to the most beautiful of sunsets, an unexpected reward after a long day. We flew back to Stansted the following morning, relieved, exhausted, but happy to have been able to meet and help such lovely people. They really appreciated the time, money and effort that we had put in, to show our support and solidarity with the Ukrainian people.

Thank you for your support,

James Crawford

Further reading:
Convoy4Ukraine
Sunflower Network

Photo below: James Crawford hands over the vehicle to the Ukrainian driver.

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