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I read a plea for a driver to join a humanitarian aid convoy to Cherkassy in the Hope Now October newsletter. As Chairman of Balkan Aid Relief Foundation I had personally led 20 convoys to Bosnia Herzegovina and organized a further 5 in the last 10 years. So I had a good idea of what would be entailed! Nonetheless, I agreed to participate. A large amount of aid which had been accumulating in the Hope Now office over the last 3 years and this was a unique opportunity to transport it to Cherkassy through the good offices of Felsted Aid for Deprived Children who have been running such convoys to Chernigov for a number of years.
The convoy was due to leave the UK on October 21st, but first I had to go to Essex to collect the van in which we were to travel a total of 3,500 miles there and back. When I arrived at the Hope Now office in Southampton to load the vehicle, I saw that the office was jam-packed with boxes all of which had been labelled, weighed and listed in a manifest. To our delight and amazement, we managed to pack each and every box into the van so Jon Budgell could have his office back.
I awoke at 4 am on the 21st and set off to meet up with the other two vehicles at Dover. We then boarded a ferry at 8 am and began our long and wearisome journey. After disembarking an hour later, we were off. We stopped for lunch – “convoy stew” at a service station in Germany – a very welcome and cost effective meal. That evening we stopped at a hotel just west of Dortmund having covered around 520 miles. The second day we drove through Germany into Poland, and stopped overnight at a hotel in Osiecza having covered 939 miles. The next day we drove through Poland, however we endured lengthy traffic jams as we came to the end of an excellent freeway and had to continue on narrow, bumpy and pot holed roads. The weather was atrocious – very heavy rain which made keeping up with the others quite difficult and stressful.
We eventually arrived at the Polish / Ukraine border around 7 pm having travelled 1,254 miles. There was an enormous line of car & trucks waiting clearance to enter Ukraine. Our experienced convoy leader, Alan Hilliar, said “follow me” and we did weaving our way through the line right up to the front. We then approached the Polish Police and Customs post. This is where we were leaving the EU and, hopefully, entering into Ukraine. After 30 minutes or so we were clear to approach the Ukrainian Police and Customs. Like all East European borders, there is an awful lot of bureaucracy with lots of forms and the requirement for each and every piece of essential documentation to be stamped 4,5 or even 6 times. We were eventually cleared to leave the border area and enter Ukraine. I was travelling third in the convoy and acting as “Tail End Charlie” ensuring that all 3 vehicles kept together. Just as we were leaving the border, a Policeman jumped out and flagged me down. I contacted the others by CB radio to advise them that I was not with them. The Policeman was quite obstreperous and demanded my “passport” which we eventually surmised was the vehicle log book not my personal passport. He scrutinized it thoroughly a number of times and kept looking at me and rubbing his fingers together. However, I resolutely ignored his blandishments for a bribe. He glared at me and I smiled back, telling him that the documentation was all in order. Eventually, he gave up, threw the log book back and went off muttering to himself. That evening, around midnight, we stopped at a small hotel, where we arrived hungry as well as exhausted. We were now firmly in Ukraine but still had a long days’ driving to do.
We stopped for lunch by a beautiful Orthodox church in a small town called Charkiva. Off we went approaching Kiev in the late afternoon. The transit through Kiev was extremely difficult due to the enormous amount of traffic, chaotic roads and trying to keep together. We did make it through and drove on to Chernigov 120 miles north of Kiev where Felsted Aid is located. We eventually arrived at the Revival Center at 10 pm having driven a total of 1,721 miles from England in four days. We were given a meal and transported to a typical East European hotel where nothing worked. We were picked up the next morning at the Revival Centre by Misha who was going to drive us the 200 miles to Cherkassy. After a hair-raising drive with Misha, we arrived at Alpha House to be welcomed by Leyna. We were shown to our rooms and had a very restful evening. Misha and Leyna were very good to us and fed us lunch and dinner in their house downstairs.
On Sunday we went to the House of Gospel church where Vic was preaching. There was a wonderful choir visiting from another town and we joined in trying to decipher the words. Here I met Larissa and was introduced to Pavel Zaritsky who we have just started to sponsor for a 3 year car mechanic course, which was very special. Sunday afternoon was free so I went off to explore Cherkassy. I walked for around two hours and discovered a market which had everything from guns and knives to fresh fish and meat.
The next day, Misha took us to Kamyanka where there is a Special Needs Orphanage for 93 children at Mikailivskoya. As school was out, there were only 13 children there since they had no homes to go home to. We stopped and bought 15 ice creams and bananas, which were a big hit! We were shown around the school which is bright and clean with wonderful, caring staff. The dormitories were tidy and the children were a delight.
We were then treated to a Concert by four of the girls dressed in traditional costumes. It was very clear that the Director and his Deputy were loved and respected by all the children there. A lovely lunch was laid out for us. There were local crayfish and “bony fish” which is a very apt description, all caught locally by the Director. After, we were taken to the classrooms, which were also bright and airy.
There is a small shrine on the grounds with the Lord’s Prayer in Ukrainian. We also saw the newly completed addition financed by Hope Now which includes laundry facilities before heading back to Alpha House.
That afternoon, Vic asked if I would like to come to a recording session at the Cherkassy Philharmonic building for the young musicians Vic is taking on a USA concert tour next year. The pianist, Andrey Vaskevych, played Chopin’s Polonaise and Inna Kostyunina, the cellist played a very poignant cello solo. It was wonderful to see them playing together at such close quarters.
October 28th was our last day in Cherkassy. Vic invited us down to the office for Bible study and prayers with the staff. This was followed by a visit to the Study Center for people aged 16 – 30 with Special Needs. Much work has been done by Hope Now supporters to re-furbish what was once a very run down building. We saw young girls being taught cooking and we were happy to accept their lunch invitation to join them for Borscht and tea. We then went to see other classrooms where we saw students learning to type on a variety of typewriters which would give them keyboard skills. There were also dressmaking classes where girls started with hand stitching and went on to learn how to use sewing machines.
That afternoon, we visited Kompas Park with Alla Kostyunina, the Director. The main building accommodates 64 children in 8 dormitories. Kompas Park and its excellent facilities are very popular and now, there are often waiting lists for the summer camps. We then went back to Alpha House for our final night.
The next day saw us packing and preparing for our long drive back to Chernigov via Kiev as we had to drop off Vic at Kiev airport for his return journey home. Misha had some business to conduct in Kiev so we were able to spend some time there. We drove past the Parliament which is a striking building, but what stood out was the enormous number of expensive and exotic large black cars all with blacked out windows belonging to the parliamentarians, parked anywhere and everywhere. Misha then took us to a Ukrainian “fast food” restaurant which is housed in an underground shopping area. There was an amazing choice of salads, soups, fish, meat and desserts. Not knowing what was what, I helped myself to a variety of items all of which proved to be a treat to eat. We then set off for the final leg of the journey of 100 miles or so to Chernigov where we arrived around 4 pm and were given a room in the Revival Center.
October 30th started with a hearty breakfast which included a local specialty, porridge with carrots and fruit in it, which actually tastes much better than it sounds. We packed our belongings in the 3 vans and set off at 8 am for the long and weary drive back to England where my car was parked. We had to cover the 1,750 miles over the next 3 days and were booked on the 3:15 pm ferry from Calais on November 1st. The weather was atrocious with non-stop, very heavy rain. We had an overnight stop in Poland, where we arrived at 9:00 pm to find that there was no restaurant or even a bar open. I awoke to find the carpet in my room soaking wet and also some of my clothes. The radiator was emitting a very steady drip of water all night.
The next night we spent in the same splendid German hotel near Dortmund where we arrived after driving 1,120 miles in 2 days. Everyone was too tired to eat so we all collapsed in our rooms. The final day we sped on at the same nerve wracking pace. As the day drew on, with very heavy rain making driving very difficult, we were apprehensive as to whether we would make it to Calais but we did arrive exactly at 3:15 pm to find a long line of cars due to the inclement weather. We pulled over to one side and had to wait in pouring rain while our van was inspected by Immigration. We finally sailed at 5:45 pm and disembarked in Dover at 6:15 pm to face the long drive to Essex still in torrential rain. I finally handed the van back to Felsted Aid around 8.30 pm.
In conclusion, the journey was long, tiring and exhausting but it was more than offset by the wonderful welcome we were given in Cherkassy. To be able to see first hand everything we have read about over the last few years, as Hope Now supporters, was a real blessing.
Neil Ross Newitt
"Hope Now wish to thank both Niel and Graham Leighton, the second driver, for giving up their time and making this trip possible."
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