Ukraine 12.-17.8.2024
Mirva’s report from the August aid trip:
Our last aid trip was special in the sense that I had the van three weeks before the departure date, which gave me plenty of time to pick up, pack and plan the load.
In addition, most of the goods came from the Turku area, so there wasn’t much to do on the morning of departure in Helsinki.
A much more relaxed feeling about the departure when everything was ready in time.
Except that… At the last minute we received a request for a couple of freezers and a fridge, for which we had to make room with the rest of the stuff all of a sudden.
A positive problem and fortunately easily solved.
A week before the trip, the car was serviced by friends and a visit to the garage was made to make sure everything was in order before driving 1600 km with a full load.
I am so very happy about how much help and support I always get from my close friends and family.
Thank you, you are so very important. <3
The biggest project at the start was a big bag of dog food donated by Rovio Pet Foods.
Kreivilän Tila in Oripää provided the facilities, which were filled with laughter as we worked hard to pack the almost 600 kg into smaller packages.
We shovelled the pieces from a large sack into double plastic bags and then into boxes, which were then easy to pack into the car so that the weight was evenly distributed in the load space.
Labels and product descriptions were glued onto these boxes, which the city of Naantali had kindly printed for us in real colours.
Many thanks to Rovio, Kreivilän tila and the City of Naantali!
The car was then filled with medical supplies donated from Turku and Naantali, animal food, insect repellents and aggregates collected by the LC Leidie of Köyliö, aggregates collected by the women of Vallila, food and treat donations from private individuals, wheelchairs and tablets.
In Helsinki, another aggregate was brought to the warehouse, along with lots of brand new tools!
They were then counted and the missing kilos were filled with food trays and shower chairs by the brave members of Fin Aid on the morning of departure.
The first bump in the road came when my phone beeped while I was packing in Helsinki.
The night before, I had been staying at a friend’s place in Nokia and had photographed the car registration and my passport to get all the necessary information for the customs declaration, and now this friend had sent me a message that the car papers had been left on their desk when I had snuck out of the apartment in the early hours of the morning.
We tried hard to think of any other alternative than going to Nokia, but nothing helped.
Fortunately, one of our members lived right next door and was able to lend me a car for the trip.
Of course I missed the 13:30 ferry to Tallinn and the next one, but at 19:30 I had another chance.
The next adversity came at the port.
Miika had flown to Riga to wait for me to pick him up as co-driver and just when I had got inside the port gates and everything was fine, I got a message that he had to go home immediately due to a medical condition.
I quickly conferred with the vice-president of Fin Aid and it was decided that, as a huge amount of effort had now been put in and there were still a couple of days to go, I would go on the initial journey alone and we would try to get another driver from somewhere along the way.
So all we have to do is get on board and find food.
Then, over potatoes, I calculated that the best thing would be to stay in Tallinn for the night and find a nice place to stay on the outskirts of the city.
And it turned out to be just as nice as the advertisement promised, a beautiful old inn in a quiet area, a big and comfortable bed and a hot shower.
On Tuesday morning, I set off for a drive and drove quite a bit: 13 hours minus a few refuelling/coffee/eating/rest breaks.
I drove through Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania and on the Polish side I ended up in a town called Bialystok, where an acquaintance of mine was staying with his family on a summer holiday.
He had arranged a nice hotel room for me at a small discount, so I drove straight there and got under the covers.
There’s not much to tell about the trip, everything went well and the spotify playlists were efficiently checked.
On Wednesday, I met this Polish-English friend of mine, Alex, for morning coffee and he guided me across town to find an open tyre shop, having talked before leaving about finding new front tyres for the car somewhere along the way.
I couldn’t find any suitable all-weather tyres, so I went to the shop to buy some fruit and a drink for the journey, and just as I was about to set off for Ukraine, I found out that Miika would be at Warsaw airport that evening, so I wouldn’t have to cross the border alone.
I had time to have lunch with Alex while I was waiting, so we had a chance to catch up with each other.
In Warsaw, the traffic was a surprise and with the temperature outside above 30, I was quite happy to have had time to shop for all sorts of drinks.
When I finally got to the airport and saw Miikka’s big smile, I sighed so loudly with relief that I could probably hear it all the way to Finland and so we continued our journey together towards the Polish-Ukrainian border.
It was already getting late, so we stayed overnight in Zamosc, so we wouldn’t get caught by the curfew on the Ukrainian side.
On Thursday we left the hotel after breakfast and drove in the warming morning towards Ukraine.
It took us a little over four hours to cross the border because the queues were so long.
Even though humanitarian transports are allowed to drive past the queues into their own lane, there were still so many people passing through that I was again immensely pleased with the supplies of drinks and fruit I had brought.
The border formalities themselves went quickly and smoothly and we were able to continue our journey towards our friends in Lutsk in good spirits.
First we drove to the New Boratyn warehouse and unloaded all the hospital supplies, the fridges and freezers they had requested, tools and canned goods.
I handed over a tablet donated by a private individual to Kolya so that she could get right to drone work.
We took photos and videos for social media so that donors could see where their donations were going and had a quick chat about the most important news.
As we had very little time on this trip, we decided to take the toys and food for the children of Lviv to the post office.
Kolya accompanied us to the post office and acted as an interpreter so we could get the goods on their way right away.
They weighed over 100kg and were placed on a pallet which was lifted on board the postal van at a cost of just over 8€.
Nova Poshta is reliable and fast and I received a message the very next day that the pallet had arrived.
Kolya knew a good tyre shop where we finally got the front tyres and it was a pleasure to drive towards the second and final unloading point of the trip.
Waiting for us at Anna’s animal shelter in Kivertsi was our old friend Andrii, the hitchhiker that Eva and I had picked up a year and a half earlier.
We quickly lifted over 600 kg of animal food, blankets and food out of the truck, took the necessary photos and then I had a moment to scratch the animals.
Anna showed me around her wonderful facilities, where the animals seemed very happy and welcomed me with great joy.
I could have stayed longer, but my stomach was growling and I was getting tired.
After a wistful goodbye, we headed to Hotel Ukraine to check in and then straight to the pizza before curfew.
Then a little evening drink before going to bed.
Thankfully, we didn’t have to be alone.
The unfairness of the world is a little easier to bear in the best of company.
Since we were supposed to be back in Finland and at work the following Monday, we left Friday morning straight from breakfast towards the Ustyluh border post.
On the way we stopped to buy some souvenirs for sale in Fin Aid’s online shop, to see if they would provide us with a few litres of fuel for the next trip.
The air was hot and we drove with all the windows open, looking wistfully at the scenery.
Ukraine is a beautiful country and it is so very sad that someone is deliberately destroying it.
There was no queue at the border and we got to the Polish side quite quickly.
We drove to an Ikea in Warsaw for dinner, as there were shops next to it, where we thought we’d find an air mattress so we could drive through the night taking turns while one of us slept in the back.
We found a good wide mattress in Jula and a small cigarette lighter compressor to fill it up.
The plan worked fine and we were in Tallinn a couple of hours before the ship left.
We had really crammed into the cabin to get a shower, as after a good 24 hours in the car we were feeling pretty stuffy.
In Helsinki, we went to deliver the items for sale to the Fin Aid online shop and then I accompanied Miikka to the airport.
While there, a child and his grandmother appeared looking for a hotel and as the route was a bit difficult to explain, I promised to take them to the door.
A quick hug with Miika and off we go again.
After dropping them off, I started driving towards home, but I didn’t quite make it there because I was just so really tired.
I called my brother on the way and went to stay with them for the night and in the morning everything was much better again.
It’s been almost a week since the trip and the fatigue is still quite strong.
I haven’t had much time to think about anything, but I guess I can reveal that the next trip is already being planned in the background and the little positive buzz that comes with it is very welcome.
I probably won’t be in the mood to go again right away, but I’m happy to be a character in the head.
Thank you to everyone who keeps on supporting and donating!
We couldn’t do it alone.
We only carry when you make it possible.
Thank you, дякую!
